Mad_Aussie
07-10-2011, 11:09 AM
Hey guys, saw this post on Reddit and thought it would be definitely worth mentioning here.
tl;dr - this is what's wrong with the world, and the reason there's thousands of Americans now rallying across their country to push for reform. The Arab Spring is going to be replicated in the US, and potentially around the world. And it's going to potentially affect us too.
It's a very interesting movement happening over there right now.
--------------------
In order to understand Australia's relevance in this matter it is first important to understand how reserve banks operate and their relationships to financial sectors and governments.
When the Government needs money eg to pay for a war, major info-structure, natural disaster relief etc they call the Federal Reserve Bank. The FED is a Central Bank that regulates things like interest rates and the flow of money. In Australia we call it the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).
So the Gov calls the Fed and they borrow $10,000,000 with promises to repay the debt. The Gov deposits the $10 mil. This new $10 mil is kept safe in a bank and can now be use by that bank to grant loans. Loans to you and me or business or whoever. Of that $10 mil the bank is required by law to have a 'reserve'. This is an amount kept by the bank in case of withdrawal. The reserve minimum is approximately 10%. So of that $10 mil deposited, the bank can lend out 90% or $9 million.
Now it gets interesting. It would be logical to think that the 90% is taken from the total amount however this is not the case. The $10 mil stays as the banks reserves and an additional $9 mil is created out of thin air and this is used to grant future loans. This process can be repeated and repeated. It is estimated that up to 9 times can be created from a single deposit. In this case, an additional $90 million has been created out of thin air. This system is called fractional reserve banking and it is how money is created.
$100 million has just been added to the countries money supply. This money is not backed by anything eg gold. It has no tangible value. It was created and is now in circulation. Further more, every single dollar lent this way comes attached with interest! Creating yet more money/debt that is also added to the supply. The more money there is in circulation the less value it has. This loss of monetary value is calculated by a phrase termed 'inflation'. Inflation is a hidden tax on the population created primarily by fractional banking practices.
So, if every dollar in circulation comes attached with interest will there ever be enough money to pay off all our debts? No. For the more money there is the more interest there is, the more debt there is. Bankruptcies, foreclosures and defaults are built into the system. In fact, they are inevitable. And that's the inherent flaw within our financial systems.
The 99% of us who are not 'elite' millionaires are the ones who face the pointy end of this paradox.
"Give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes it's laws" — Mayer Amschel Bauer Rothschild
Capitalism further perpetuates this cycle. In a society where a stagnant or backwards quarterly profit statement can mean corporate suicide, infinite growth and infinite profit is placed above social, environmental and ethical concern.
Predatory loans (approving loans to people that cannot repay them), credit card offer after credit card offer, 'refinancing' promotions, all these are designed to keep us in debt and keep us borrowing. World Stock Exchanges (notoriously Wall Street) then hedge bets on foreclosure rates, defaults and bankruptcies and actually make profits from our failures. This was a major precursor to the GFC. The saturation of unstable high risk (high reward) opportunities being misrepresented as safe, solid investments.
After the crash, Wall St together with the Fed pushed through congress a rushed 'emergency' bailout package to the total of $700 Billion. Of which, amazingly, billions is reported to have gone to CEO bonuses, 'family salaries' and unrelated corporate spending. This did nothing to ease those forced out of their homes or jobs. To this day no charges have been laid for the biggest fraud in American history and no compensation has been received by the millions affected globally.
Obama's cabinet includes mostly Wall Street tycoons. Corporate powerhouses lobby congress (provide financial endorsements) in return to (hopefully) win favorable legislation within their sector should their politician become elected. Thus, political legislation is designed for the benefit of the few, on the backs of financial contributors, bought votes and multinational corporate support and not for the benefit of the many.
The Australian Reserve Bank Board currently consists of nine members. Amongst their appointed duty of regulating our money supply and 'guiding' our interest rates their 'other jobs' include:
Chairman – Fairfax Media Limited Director – Wal-Mart Stores Inc Director – Australian Securities Exchange Director – Woolworths Limited Chairman – BlueScope Steel Limited Director – CSL Limited Director – Origin Energy Limited Director – Securency International Pty Ltd Chairman – Mayne Pharma Group Limited Chairman – PrimeAg Australia Limited Chairman – Brambles Limited Director – Djerriwarrh Investments Limited Director – European Australian Business Council (EABC) Executive Vice-President – BG Group Regional Managing Director – BG Australia
Corporate influence within Australian politics is an intrenched strangely unreported phenomena. We are fortunate enough to have free health care, higher wages, and a less corrupt government than the US. None the less, our government is still a self serving entity. A fundamental problem within the current political system is the short sightedness of our policy makers. No politician assumes to be in power for longer than 4 years, in fact, recent history has shown us it may be significantly less, it is better for the party to propose short term policy that appeals to the voting majority even when it is against our progressive long term interests, as it so often is.
Unlike the US, our issues parallel a different trajectory. Like the proposed mass agricultural development of Queensland and the damming of 5 major rivers. This will be sold to the public as a necessity and will make many (already rich) people within the agribusiness sector even richer. However the long and short term costs associated with this plan are disastrous and far outweigh any short term benefits. The many negative ramifications of dam and crop field agriculture is well documented and undisputed.
Australia's average growth rate currently stands at about 2%. Not much right? This actually means that the doubling time will occur in 36 years. That's right, by the year 2047 the population of Australia will reach 46 million. That's within our lifetime! Imagine an extra 4.5 million people on Sydney's roads! Has any Australian politician legitimately proposed development info-structure plans for doubling the amount of schools, cities, hospitals, roads, airports, police stations, energy consumption plans, desalinization plants, sewerage treatment by 2040? Or a population plan to prevent or slow this growth rate? Indeed, many politicians 'Believe in a big Australia', I doubt they actually know what that means.
What about the unprecedented purge by mining corporations for our natural resources. Raw elements that take millions of years to form and are being expediently consumed to fulfill rampant and unnecessary consumerism demands. This greed fueled short term pay day is unsustainable, wasteful and dangerous.
Very few politicians are brave enough to speak up about these issues, that's usually because they simply don't know, are too scared or are reluctant to propose policy that may be opposed by corporates in agribusiness, mining or financial sectors who pay (handsomely) for their votes.
One positive story to recently emerge is the, albeit timid, proposal of high speed rail connecting Australia's East Coast. It's safer, cheaper, easier and far more environmentally friendly than aviation. The most outspoken political advocate of this plan is sure to be on the Qantas payroll, and there are sure to be a few...watch this space.
Most of our political policy is implemented to benefit an elite few and comes at the expense of the many. The capitalistic monetary system and the institutes that perpetuate this cycle are at the core of this publicly unrealized hidden agenda. Those who demonstrate in NY and around the world realize this.
"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous than standing armies...If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of currency...The banks and the corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of their prosperity until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered" - Thomas Jefferson 1743-1826
<iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/KrFQs5X-I1Y" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
tl;dr - this is what's wrong with the world, and the reason there's thousands of Americans now rallying across their country to push for reform. The Arab Spring is going to be replicated in the US, and potentially around the world. And it's going to potentially affect us too.
It's a very interesting movement happening over there right now.
--------------------
In order to understand Australia's relevance in this matter it is first important to understand how reserve banks operate and their relationships to financial sectors and governments.
When the Government needs money eg to pay for a war, major info-structure, natural disaster relief etc they call the Federal Reserve Bank. The FED is a Central Bank that regulates things like interest rates and the flow of money. In Australia we call it the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).
So the Gov calls the Fed and they borrow $10,000,000 with promises to repay the debt. The Gov deposits the $10 mil. This new $10 mil is kept safe in a bank and can now be use by that bank to grant loans. Loans to you and me or business or whoever. Of that $10 mil the bank is required by law to have a 'reserve'. This is an amount kept by the bank in case of withdrawal. The reserve minimum is approximately 10%. So of that $10 mil deposited, the bank can lend out 90% or $9 million.
Now it gets interesting. It would be logical to think that the 90% is taken from the total amount however this is not the case. The $10 mil stays as the banks reserves and an additional $9 mil is created out of thin air and this is used to grant future loans. This process can be repeated and repeated. It is estimated that up to 9 times can be created from a single deposit. In this case, an additional $90 million has been created out of thin air. This system is called fractional reserve banking and it is how money is created.
$100 million has just been added to the countries money supply. This money is not backed by anything eg gold. It has no tangible value. It was created and is now in circulation. Further more, every single dollar lent this way comes attached with interest! Creating yet more money/debt that is also added to the supply. The more money there is in circulation the less value it has. This loss of monetary value is calculated by a phrase termed 'inflation'. Inflation is a hidden tax on the population created primarily by fractional banking practices.
So, if every dollar in circulation comes attached with interest will there ever be enough money to pay off all our debts? No. For the more money there is the more interest there is, the more debt there is. Bankruptcies, foreclosures and defaults are built into the system. In fact, they are inevitable. And that's the inherent flaw within our financial systems.
The 99% of us who are not 'elite' millionaires are the ones who face the pointy end of this paradox.
"Give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes it's laws" — Mayer Amschel Bauer Rothschild
Capitalism further perpetuates this cycle. In a society where a stagnant or backwards quarterly profit statement can mean corporate suicide, infinite growth and infinite profit is placed above social, environmental and ethical concern.
Predatory loans (approving loans to people that cannot repay them), credit card offer after credit card offer, 'refinancing' promotions, all these are designed to keep us in debt and keep us borrowing. World Stock Exchanges (notoriously Wall Street) then hedge bets on foreclosure rates, defaults and bankruptcies and actually make profits from our failures. This was a major precursor to the GFC. The saturation of unstable high risk (high reward) opportunities being misrepresented as safe, solid investments.
After the crash, Wall St together with the Fed pushed through congress a rushed 'emergency' bailout package to the total of $700 Billion. Of which, amazingly, billions is reported to have gone to CEO bonuses, 'family salaries' and unrelated corporate spending. This did nothing to ease those forced out of their homes or jobs. To this day no charges have been laid for the biggest fraud in American history and no compensation has been received by the millions affected globally.
Obama's cabinet includes mostly Wall Street tycoons. Corporate powerhouses lobby congress (provide financial endorsements) in return to (hopefully) win favorable legislation within their sector should their politician become elected. Thus, political legislation is designed for the benefit of the few, on the backs of financial contributors, bought votes and multinational corporate support and not for the benefit of the many.
The Australian Reserve Bank Board currently consists of nine members. Amongst their appointed duty of regulating our money supply and 'guiding' our interest rates their 'other jobs' include:
Chairman – Fairfax Media Limited Director – Wal-Mart Stores Inc Director – Australian Securities Exchange Director – Woolworths Limited Chairman – BlueScope Steel Limited Director – CSL Limited Director – Origin Energy Limited Director – Securency International Pty Ltd Chairman – Mayne Pharma Group Limited Chairman – PrimeAg Australia Limited Chairman – Brambles Limited Director – Djerriwarrh Investments Limited Director – European Australian Business Council (EABC) Executive Vice-President – BG Group Regional Managing Director – BG Australia
Corporate influence within Australian politics is an intrenched strangely unreported phenomena. We are fortunate enough to have free health care, higher wages, and a less corrupt government than the US. None the less, our government is still a self serving entity. A fundamental problem within the current political system is the short sightedness of our policy makers. No politician assumes to be in power for longer than 4 years, in fact, recent history has shown us it may be significantly less, it is better for the party to propose short term policy that appeals to the voting majority even when it is against our progressive long term interests, as it so often is.
Unlike the US, our issues parallel a different trajectory. Like the proposed mass agricultural development of Queensland and the damming of 5 major rivers. This will be sold to the public as a necessity and will make many (already rich) people within the agribusiness sector even richer. However the long and short term costs associated with this plan are disastrous and far outweigh any short term benefits. The many negative ramifications of dam and crop field agriculture is well documented and undisputed.
Australia's average growth rate currently stands at about 2%. Not much right? This actually means that the doubling time will occur in 36 years. That's right, by the year 2047 the population of Australia will reach 46 million. That's within our lifetime! Imagine an extra 4.5 million people on Sydney's roads! Has any Australian politician legitimately proposed development info-structure plans for doubling the amount of schools, cities, hospitals, roads, airports, police stations, energy consumption plans, desalinization plants, sewerage treatment by 2040? Or a population plan to prevent or slow this growth rate? Indeed, many politicians 'Believe in a big Australia', I doubt they actually know what that means.
What about the unprecedented purge by mining corporations for our natural resources. Raw elements that take millions of years to form and are being expediently consumed to fulfill rampant and unnecessary consumerism demands. This greed fueled short term pay day is unsustainable, wasteful and dangerous.
Very few politicians are brave enough to speak up about these issues, that's usually because they simply don't know, are too scared or are reluctant to propose policy that may be opposed by corporates in agribusiness, mining or financial sectors who pay (handsomely) for their votes.
One positive story to recently emerge is the, albeit timid, proposal of high speed rail connecting Australia's East Coast. It's safer, cheaper, easier and far more environmentally friendly than aviation. The most outspoken political advocate of this plan is sure to be on the Qantas payroll, and there are sure to be a few...watch this space.
Most of our political policy is implemented to benefit an elite few and comes at the expense of the many. The capitalistic monetary system and the institutes that perpetuate this cycle are at the core of this publicly unrealized hidden agenda. Those who demonstrate in NY and around the world realize this.
"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous than standing armies...If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of currency...The banks and the corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of their prosperity until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered" - Thomas Jefferson 1743-1826
<iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/KrFQs5X-I1Y" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>