Most of these videos are short, less than fifteen minutes each. They all appear on YouTube and of course we don't know how long they will be up there, but we hope they are up there long enough for people to see them. At the outset, despite our present differences as regards solutions, we commend Bill Still's tremendous contribution to our understanding of the problems. He has been both dogged and diligent. We would certainly welcome his input. All of the comments in this, as in the other similar series, are of course mine.
David Burton
2009-10-26: #1 The Still Report on the Economy
From Yosemite, Bill announces the award for his documentary The Secret of Oz at the Yosemite Film Festival. He claims that the symbolism in L. Frank Baum's books relates to the current monetary system. The renowned 1939 motion picture starring Judy Garland was a mere glyph on this book, so perhaps it's time to read it in full, and perhaps the other books in Baum's series as well. Still then goes on to describe the role of North Dakota's state bank. Of course we regard state banks as a statist solution that is more of a stop gap measure than a real permanent solution which only the ideas of E. C. Riegel provide.
Homework:
L. Frank Baum- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
2009-11-1: #2 The Still Report on the Economy
Still reports Wilbur Ross's dire economic forecast in commercial real estate. There are plenty of empty shopping malls and strip malls since then, buildings and property falling into decrepitude, and yet the building boom seems to be ongoing in places like Manhattan. Yet the bankers and investors want more, their claims to gains on idle money without creation of value must be maintained in support of the fiction that capital can be grown without effort. The 1896 conspiracy of bankers before the 20th century began is restated so that more may know about it. Yes, there are real conspiracies in this world and they mostly originate with bankers who maybe should be referred to more widely as usurers.
2009-11-8: #3 The Still Report on the Economy - HI REZ
Still starts with unemployment, debt and the truth concerning the government's inability to solve the economic problem. He knows that only production can bring us out of current problems. He agrees with Jefferson that the government should NEVER borrow money. We'll state right here that eventually all national debts worldwide will be repudiated, and it will be very bad for bankers who have led us down this path. Still agrees with Milton Friedman, that without removing fractional reserve banking and national debt, there is no solution moving forward, a position in which we solidly concur. Friedman was not without his faults, but he always tended to side with liberty and opposed repression. I sincerely doubt he had ever heard of E. C. Riegel.
2009-11-16: #4 The Still Report on the Economy
More bogus unemployment statistics, once more proving that the government cannot be trusted to report these figures accurately. People tend to believe numbers are true, when they are almost always merely a smokescreen to obscure reality. Robert Reich is mentioned. We'd also like to extend an invitation to Reich to contact us and discuss monetary policies with us from an E. C. Riegel perspective. Part of William Jennings Bryan's speech is recounted. We of course do not think the government should be in the banking business, nor the banks in the governing business. Our other features on this blog question many of the basic assumptions people still hold concerning the worthiness and legitimacy of government interventions. More monetary history is recounted. A Quaker, Elizabeth Phillips invented the Monopoly board game to demonstrate the evils of monopoly. Woodrow Wilson's touting of J. P. Morgan is also recounted. Current research reveals the kind of man Wilson really was and for whom he really worked.
2009-11-21: #5 Special Edition
Secret of Oz is banned from Amazon. Amazon's CEO is revealed as a billionaire from Wall St. A former Bankers Trust VP. That company was sued for derivatives fraud, etc. No coincidences.
2009-11-22: #6 The Still Report on the Economy
More unemployment figures but the mainstream media still reports a recovery that hasn't started yet, causing further confusion. Since then, quantitative easing has been used to stave of the inevitable. We believe this will end in a tidal wave of debt or hyperinflation, or they just wont lend governments any more money and then things will get very bad. Again the national debt issue is raised. Gold backing, as we have already pointed out, is not the solution either. Still doesn't think so yet, but state banks are not the solution either.
2009-12-12: #7 The Still Report on the Economy
The Secret of Oz is back on Amazon after public protest. So public protest is effective sometimes. More report on the real national debt. The debt's interest is mentioned, in the billions of dollars PER YEAR, recall they do use compounding. In the meantime, the stock and bond markets have been kept afloat by quantitative easing and other stimulus measures, all supported by debt based money, the creation of more debt. Higher taxes will surely follow. The 1836 war between Nicholas Biddle and Andrew Jackson is reviewed. Ron Paul's efforts were of course futile, as are any of the usual solutions.
2009-12-31: #8 The Still Report - December 31, 2009
The Obama healthcare reform bill is passed. What they don't mention is that behind it was more debt to foreign banks and a few wealthy individuals to keep the government solvent. Those interests expect to collect from higher taxes that shall follow. Where will people get the money to pay those taxes? Obama of course cannot do anything about it as he, and everyone else in DC, is beholden to the banks. Still is correct, there isn't enough money ever, because of the interest owed on it which as E. C. Riegel pointed out, was never created, is therefore always taken from that which was created, eventually causing inevitable bankruptcies; the “musical chairs” economy; foreclosures and seizures of hard assets by those who have no right to them; in plain English, thievery by the bankers. Still says he loves gold, and wants to see it used in exchange for real things, including copies of his documentaries. We have no problem with this as it falls into the category of straight barter. We'll cover the true nature of markets in a future paper.
2010-1-1: #9 January 1, 2010 Still Report - revised
Reducing Federal spending will not restore prosperity, because it doesn't do anything about the growing debt. Austerity measures have never worked so why expoect them to work again? Insanity. Nathan Martin understands that the world economy as currently structured cannot be maintained. What will be offered to replace it? He mentions only two solutions. We of course have a third and it is really the only solution. Still should contact us and learn what we have discovered and work along with us to restore true liberty throughout the world.
Gold bars with tungsten cores reveal that sometimes gold is not as good as gold and we further have an indication of one reason the Vietnam war was really fought, because Vietnam has a lot of tungsten which has the same specific gravity of gold so it can mimic gold's weight and density, the perfect substance with which to perpetrate a great heist. Once you understand the conspiracies of the money masters, many secrets of history open before your eyes. Still figures out the Ft. Knox scandal but hasn't drawn the appropriate connections. Yes, Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond novels, probably did know about it. Vietnam, tungsten, gold, theft on a massive scale, again by those at the top behind the scenes. More details are presented. There really are people like Goldfinger. Other discrepancies are shown, involving more adulteration of gold with copper (plum or rose gold) which is not as clever as using tungsten.
2010-1-9: #10 January 9, 2010 Still Report
Still maintains that the key issue is who controls the quantity of money. He reviews the history of money in England back in the middle ages. The first and greatest conspiracy against the public by the few was by the goldsmiths who did not invent but carried on debt based money creation which had been handed down to them by the ancient Babylonians. A few out there will understand a great mystery once this connection is comprehended. Still maintains that the opposite of plutocracy is a democratic republic. We're way beyond him in this respect. As Wes Bertrand has demonstrated, even a democratic republic is a tyranny. Only complete liberty will suffice and E. C. Riegel's ideas for (the or an) VEN are the only solution compatible with complete liberty long term.
However, Still's comments concerning gold backed money and economies are absolutely correct. Our proposal is that gold and silver be used only as a means of exchange between Riegels and other currencies. In the process we contend that eventually the price of gold and silver will fall as their use for exchange diminishes over time and Riegels take over as the universal money worldwide. More monetary history is reviewed. Still would like Congress to issue debt free money, but we contend that that only benefits interests beholden to the government, not every individual human being. Still really needs to read Riegel's works and join with us.
Homework:
Wes Bertrand- Complete Liberty
David Astle- The Babylonian Woe
2010-1-17: #11 Why Government is Good - v. 2.0
Oh boy, does Still need to get with us and drop out of politics altogether. He contends that debt free issuing money is the only answer because he hasn't read Riegel or any of the liberty related literature. We have an alternative that beats government issue and literally places government back into the hands of the people and dethrones forever the power of bankers and plutocrats with their usury based frauds. Still goes back to ancient Rome for a monetary lesson worth repeating as Rome switched from a republic into an empire and then slowly imploded. We are literally repeating history right now, have passed the zenith of our empire and are in decline. Still recounts England's march toward freedom, but he is apparently unaware that even at the beginning the parliamentarians served without remuneration and therefore were drawn from the rich and well connected. His take on the gold holding cartel is correct and accounts for wide differences in wealth between the rich and everyone else in most societies worldwide. He's right, we do not need the present banking system to continue, but his ideas concerning involvement in government are at this point utterly mistaken. Still hasn't read Lysander Spooner either, otherwise he'd understand what the US Constitution really is and what it isn't.
2010-3-14: #12 Media Hits & Misses, March 15, 2010.mov
Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, according to Still were both in favour of monetary reform and did not support the Federal Reserve system set up in 1913. The true value of gold is always fictitious. It only has value as everything else used as money is devalued, but even then as Still has already reported, gold isn't even always as good as gold. Without a permanent measure of value that stands independent from everything else, the precious metals are the best we have, but they aren't good enough.
We contend that it isn't just the quantity of money that's generated, it's who gets to issue it that counts. No government should ever be allowed this privilege as this natural and inalienable right (directly associated with the right of personal property ownership) has been stolen from each and every human being. Natural rights do not stem from governments, this too is another widely held but never critically evaluated misconception. Still, like us, wants a reduction in the power of government. Only a Riegel solution accomplishes this. Serfdom didn't mean just that you worked for a lord, or for the government, it also meant that you could never leave the land, your freedom to travel was impaired. Does that sound familiar to you? Look at current events.
Still has also correctly surmised that von Mises and the Austrian school, gold bugs all, are also wrong. They never did attack usury by the way and therefore their ideas should be soundly rejected. We'll no doubt get into that in further papers. More monetary history is reviewed involving J. P. Morgan's fantastic bank note swindle, indicating that who gets to issue money is of crucial importance. Neither banks nor governments should ever be allowed the privilege of issuing money or credit.
2010-3-31: #13 NASA and Big Banks
NASA's constellation program, our manned space flight program to replace the space shuttle program was sacrificed so the money could be spent to prove the man made global warming scam, backed by the financial interests to bully the world into accepting their carbon taxation and world government scheme. Let that sink in really well. We know more about this scam than most and will never subscribe to it, not today, not tomorrow, NEVER! We do not accept the ... sanctity of academic science and know beyond a reasonable doubt that scientists are bought and dumped, just like any other resource, by those ruthlessly intent on achieving their long term goals of world domination. We know who is behind it, it's traceable right back to the very top of the banking community, not just in America, but in Europe and in the UK as well. NASA's loss is our loss because once the technical expertise is dispersed it will never be able to recover. Meanwhile China presses on with a manned space program and may be the next nation to attempt a moon landing.
Still covers the public bond scandal, which allows towns and cities to spend like drunken sailors, while the long term winners are, you guessed it, the bankers (municipal bonds were once rock solid as conservative investments, but began to fall apart in mid 2007). Still's figures on these bonds reflect compound interest, which would never be allowed in a Riegel based system. None of the inevitable losses are necessary. Still of course loves the North Dakota state bank model as a solution. Well it's one thing for a small state with slightly more than 600,000 inhabitants to be using it, but how about one of the five biggest states? Not a chance. He'd love for the NASA manned space program be fully funded, and so would we, but how such endeavours are funded matters greatly, and Still does seem aware of this.
2010-6-15: #14 Sweden
At one point in their history, the king of Sweden issued debt free money to fund a war against Russia. Yeah, I know, insane, right? This is why governments should not be permitted to issue money of any kind for any purpose. Still always falls back on the notion of a “public good” but he has never critically evaluated this concept. It cannot be backed up by real history. Still thinks this experiment worth trying again, simply because the quantity wasn't restricted in Sweden's case but he assumes could be in our case. Really? Want to bet?
Still notes that of course the king of Sweden who started this debt free money experiment and the war with Russia was assassinated by a money lender. That too is a frequent historical pattern (it certainly figures in the history of the United States), as these people do not appreciate competition, are ruthless and will stop at nothing to attain their goal; world government and universal enslavement of mankind.
Still reviews the community banking system that started in Sweden and was exported to North Dakota, and served as a basis for the state bank there. Still mentions the local control and the 100% reserve banking (now being instituted by Iceland), but he hasn't gotten to understanding all this as E. C. Riegel observed it. Still needs to read and absorb Riegel and then he'd know; his enlightenment would probably be similar to mine a few years back as when I encountered Riegel's work, all other economists seemed hopelessly backward in comparison. My discovery, arrived at after almost 20 years of relentless research prompted me to begin this blog.
2010-6-27: #15 Iceland
Iceland has a population of 315,000 and according to Still, an economy of $12 billion. The private bankers of course started a huge economic bubble there, which is what they always do. These things can't happen under a Value Unit system for a number of reasons all related to fractional reserve banking. Still's report here is spectacular and a must listen for all those who study geopolitics and real politik. The Icelandic system went through the same problems we are going through. The whole boom and bust cycle was quick for Iceland, being a small economy, the process takes longer for the largest economies like the United States, but is just as certain. The Icelandic people decided to shove the proffered solutions of eurozone membership and more debt away and take back their money system. At the time of this report Iceland actually wanted to use the North Dakota state bank model. There is never enough money to cover debts, but only E. C. Riegel saw exactly why this is so and he was a self taught (autodidact) economist, which if you have been following along should also tell you something.
2010-7-1: #16 Denninger 1-YouTube sharing.mov
The spirit of America is reviewed. Over the history of the United States, approximately one million Americans died, not for the freedom Still thinks, but for the profit of the bankers and their corporations, particularly those who support the military through government contracts; Eisenhower's military / industrial complex in a pattern that David Astle traced all the way back to ancient Babylon. Once that point sinks in, I'm quite sure that the mood of the average American will change dramatically, especially among the armed forces, patriots in the intelligence communities and law enforcement. It needs to, because they are also prisoners of the same financial system that enslaves us all.
Still's guest, Karl Denninger, directly points out the debt problem. He's of course correct. When the next financial crisis comes, If the government reacts by cutting Social Security and Medicare, then expect revolution as it will naturally and certainly come.
Only a Value Unit based system will ever be viable long term, so we might as well try and start setting one up now even if we are at present forbidden to put it into practice. Remember that a Value Unit system is by nature voluntary, but it will be open to all once a set of simple rules are established, agreed upon and promulgated.
Denninger's read on inflation is also correct and long term deflation will become the rule, because that's what always happens when there isn't enough money in an economy. There is an end to bubbles, but we haven't reached it yet, we didn't in 2011 or in 2012, but that doesn't mean it's never going to be reached. Recall that even now the US economy is better than a hundred times larger than Iceland's. The US economy has contracted significantly over the past six years, but It will take longer to fall, that's all. The near term solution for most people is gold and silver bullion coins, which take purchasing power out of circulation and attempt to preserve liquid capital. But as we say, long term the value of gold and silver will also trend downward.
Denninger's comments concerning credit aggregates and population are certainly important and he would be the kind of thinker who might likely be interested in contributing to a Value Unit based monetary system. Denninger favours a 100% reserve banking system, but we may have some other ideas concerning replacements for current financing models as well. In the long run, simplicity of operation and fairness related to rational and objective value will succeed, as nothing else will.
2011-2-1: #17 Ireland
Ireland had an opportunity that it didn't take and that was probably due to the same shenanigans that plague elections in every country. Most people take it for granted that their votes are cast securely and that elections are fair. This is a grand illusion, because there are factions in place behind the scenes with far too much at stake ever to allow their opponents to succeed to power and oust them. The situation in the eurosone is directly similar to the case of the United States before the Civil War; those who run things in Brussels and Frankfurt cannot allow a single nation to leave else the whole edifice would collapse. Well it will anyway, because the debt is simply not repayable and as more people understand this and that they simply have no future in the present system, more will take concerted action. It's inevitable.
Karl Denninger comments on Iceland's situation in regard to Ireland. Iceland's economy, not widely reported, is on the rebound. Ireland of course went with the eurozone and is still falling apart. The same thievery that occurred in Iceland happened in Ireland but the Irish were bullied into accepting more of the same. Unsound loans originate with the financial institutions themselves, because they have always understood that unpaid loans result in seizure of real assets that as has been said before do not rightfully belong to them, as is happening in Greece right now and will shortly take place in Italy, Spain, Portugal, even France (poor France!).
The euro is fatally flawed, Denninger doesn't see it survive. Germany, which remarkably accounts for half the productivity of the entire eurozone wants out right now. Of course they haven't yet, so they will suffer until they do. Each country will probably set up its own currency without contending with the real causes of problems; debt based money, fractional reserve banking, limited liability public corporations, rigged securities markets, etc.
Denninger's understanding of things, which are valid as far as they go, rests on assumptions that simply will not hold up under a Value Unit based system, beginning with limited liability public corporations, which would largely cease to exist, as none could be funded without fully disclosed risk assessment. The world of the future will value labour much higher than it is valued today and prices for everything will rise relative to present values. Average standards of living will then rise once again but probably more slowly and naturally without bubbles, because the basis for creating them will simply not be allowed. Everyone that participates in a Value Unit based system will have a far more honest chance of success then is presently possible. The plutocrats of course will be politically and socially defeated in the process and of necessity forced to live more normal lives, giving up their grandiose collectivist schemes for enslaving everyone else, as none of that will have any basis in funding under a Value Unit based system, where only the exchange of real value will count. Institutions will fall and new ones will take their place, as has happened in Iceland and will be seen elsewhere in time. The charade cannot be sustained indefinitely.
2011-6-21: #18 Iceland Ireland
Karl Denninger and Bill Still start their political action with staffers working for US Senators. They thought the economy would collapse in 2011. It didn't and hasn't and wont likely in 2012 either. Iceland began arresting bankers for massive theft. The Icelandic people were threatened but they didn't back down and by a 60% to 40% margin supported these arrests and did not bail out the bankers. Still reported that most mortgages were restructured and their economy is stabilizing and even rising. A five step plan was presented for Ireland that was not followed so Ireland is still economically sick.
Homework:
Karl Denninger- Leverage; how cheap money will destroy the world.
2011-7-24: #19 U.S. Debt Limit
We went through this one, there wasn't a default, due to the 14th Amendment. Still pushes his position that the government should issue debt free money or give it to the banks without a third option, the Riegel option which Still obviously does not know about. The debt ceiling was indeed raised and most of the government debt was sold to the central bank, the Federal Reserve. The reasons Still's proposal wont fly are two; 1) the bankers wont allow it and they hire henchmen to FORCE their way on everyone else and 2) the American people, as well as everyone else in the world, know that they cannot trust their government representatives to act for them in “the public interest” and finally Still has not critically examined this “public good” concept through the liberty literature. We sincerely hope he does soon.
2011-7-25: #20 The Debt Ceiling Debate
The game of chicken if the debt ceiling was not raised was played out and of course the game was allowed to continue. Still recommended paying off the current debt with minted coins which are not debt bearing. A little heavy but it would work, or we could print up a bunch of non interest bearing US Government notes, as Lincoln did. See where it got him? The bankers hated his greenbacks and any time they got any destroyed them and replaced them with their own issued banknotes right up until the Federal Reserve was set up with the monopoly it has had for nearly a century. Lincoln's greenbacks, when you can find them are now collector's items and trade as if they are works of art. A lot of 19th century American money is in the same category; beautiful and interesting designs and out of circulation as money.
Homework:
Bill Still- No More National Debt
INTERMISSION
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