Some reactions to Susmita's paper

I’ve just skimmed through Susmita’s paper. Here are a few quick reactions.

I agree that the capitalist system is one of the key things that need to change if we’re to have a sustainable future. (Another is the materialist scientific view of the world, see my book “The Science of Oneness”).
I’ve believed in the benefits of a ‘guaranteed minimum income’ for many years. Apart from eliminating poverty, it would slash the social welfare bureaucracy to nothing. No more aged, widows or other pensions, no unemployment benefit, etc etc. Just an annual tax return and then you either pay tax, or get a ‘negative’ income tax. So simple and effective.

There are many moves around the world to create alternative currencies. Perhaps the best known is LETS (Local Exchange Trading System) in which people in a local community exchange goods and services for ‘Acorns’ (or whatever else they choose to call the currency). A central register of debits and credits is kept for each member, with limits on how much you can go into debt or credit. There are hundreds around the world. Just Google LETS for lots of info. My personal experience of the system here in Morayshire (Scotland) is that there are few offers of the things i want to buy, making it hard to participate. But many other people are active traders.

Another alternative that is growing rapidly is to create a local currency. Here in the Findhorn Community we have the EKO for use in internal transactions. A key advantage is that the money cannot leave the community and hence feeds our local economy. By contrast normal Pounds (or Dollars) soon end up in the hands of big corporations in the cities. Again, there are lots of local currencies now - Wikipedia claims 2500!

A variation on this theme is time-based currencies such as Ithaca Hours, in the city of Ithaca, NY. Advantage? Everyone gets paid the same for their time. Once again, Google will get you the full picture.

Over 10 years ago Margrit Kennedy wrote “Interest and Inflation Free Money: Creating an exchange medium that works for everybody and protects the earth.” It’s a clear and concise discussion of the technicalities and potential for anyone wanting to delve into the detail.

By the way, Margrit lives in the Lebensgarten ecovillage in Germany - along with Findhorn they are one of the founders of the Global Ecovillage Network. Ecovillages are small (typically 10 - 500) communities that are seeking to be ecologically, economically, socially, culturally and spiritually sustainable. Very inspiring places.

Blessings, Malcolm

Re: Some reactions to Susmita's paper

Dear All,

It's great to see the great money swindle making its presence felt here at Zaadz. I don't want to repeat what others have said but just add that i have been involved in money reform for about 10 years after reading Michael Rowbotham's “The Grip of Death”. I was a member of the Forum for Stable Currencies in the UK (www.monies.cc and www.ccmj.org) and now of Living Economies here in New Zealand (www.le.org.nz).

I think we have all identified and understood the ramifications of our money system and now the question is how to address it. Malcolm mentions many of the complimentary currenices in circulation and there is alot of work going on there. Deidre Kent wrote a good book here in NZ called “Healthy Money, Healthy Planet” which looked into a wide range of proposed solutions.

One area I am working on is trying to change the balance of cash (interest free) money in the system and thus reduce the interest burden. I first proposed this back in 2001 at the FFSC and since then there have been 6 Early Day Motions in the UK Parliament, each one a little better presented than the previous one.

I think it's important that the Central Banks acknowledge what is going on and that Parliaments relcaim the sovereignty of the coin. The right to issue money should be the role of Parliament as representative of the people.

As we now interest free money is inflation free. The irony is that as soon as you mention this people scream out “but it's inflationary”. Of course inflation is built into the current system and all around the world governments measure this incorrectly.

Maybe we can use this pod to keep everyone up to date with our work and feedback from whatever we are doing. We are moving slowly towards change but that change is coming. Capitalism is facing challenges from ecological, social and even monetary limits.

Warm wishes to all,

Raf

Re: Some reactions to Susmita's paper

Thankyou malcolm and Raf for your thougthful contribution. Wonder whether Margrit's paper is online or is there a link for it?

One problem I see with LETS despite its popularity is the need for keeping central accounting of every transaction - debit/credit and it does not do anything to change the false perception and definition of money as IOU, which fiat money is not in reality. It imposes equal and counterproductive limit on debit credit to balance books and the type of exchange that could be done is also limited.

Raf I am aware much work is going on in New Zealand and my primary goal is to educate and engage people in actively engaging in discussing what money is and how best to design it, issue it and circulate it so self-sustaining collaboartive economies can be build at every level. Their would not be need for exploitation and financial imperialism, war and poverty. How would we live together if we are not afraid?

Can we build an economy based on gratitude, appreciation and dignity of all human life and labor? I think we can, and it is very much possible but people need to wake up and get enlightened about money. When you give me your fruit of labor I give you a THANK YOU note (ITU not IOU) that is backed by the collective agreement of people in community, region or nation. With that ITU you the giver can fulfill some of your need for goods and services from any of the hundreds of giver or provider. Debt-free anti-inflationary ITU or money can always be issued in proper proportion to the productive capacity of the laborpool in the area to produce certain amounts of goods and services needed by the people in the area.

Now the question comes what's the best way to allocate ITUs?

Warm Regards
mita

Re: Some reactions to Susmita's paper

'I think it's important that the Central Banks acknowledge what is going…'

why should they?

Re: Some reactions to Susmita's paper

That's another good question. The answer depends on which central bank you are talking about: the ones which are “owned” by the government and the ones which are private institutions.

It's on this point that one enters the murky world of conspiracy theories so i'll be careful to stick to the facts.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is wholly owned by the Government and its finances are included in the Crown accounts. So in effect they are owned by the citizens of the NZ in so far as government is a representation of citizens.

The Federal Reserve Bank is not part of the US government though the board is appointed by the President. The regional Federal Reserve Banks are owned directly by the private banks in those districts.

The Bank of Internationial Settlements in Basle (BIS) is a clearing house for international transactions and a club for central banks .

From this your answer can come. The RBNZ should acknowledge the system they operate in but they don't. A pressure group got them to admit privately that this is the case about 5 years ago but that took years of sweat.

Who is running this show?

This question is about democracy not just about money. It's about power and who controls it.

So maybe the Fed doesn't have to do anything about it but Congress should wake up and sort it out. Of course in the US, corporate interests are too powerful for individual Senators to battle against so it's hard to see it happening.

In New Zealand its a different story and i believe we can make the change.

I hope that answers the question..if not just ask again :-)

warm wishes

raf

Re: Some reactions to Susmita's paper

hi raf-
“In New Zealand its a different story and i believe we can make the change.”

i wish you all the luck that fiat can buy. ;)

the best
basho

Re: Some reactions to Susmita's paper

About the question of ownership of central banks, I read somewhere vast majority of countries in the world adopted the bank of england and Fed model, which is they claim to protect monetary system out of politics and government intervention (that is we the people).

 I read somewhere only a handful may be 3-5 countries has publicly owned central bank.  The Indian currency Rupee shows note is guaranteed by Govt. of India. So it is under public control. Yet I visited Indian RB site, and it says they are the Banker to the Government and Bankers Banker. Banker to the Goverment means government is not entirely controlling the issue of money. Because under FRACTIONAL RESERVE BANKING System where centralized commercial banks issue credit/debt, private banks create more money (out of thin air) than they have (reserve). The effective loan/reserve ratio varies from 4-10%. So for original $100000 in deposit (depending on how often that money circulates and the loan interest rate) they can create from $90,000 to several hundred thousand dollars in new credit money in a few years or months. This is the reason bor inflation, boom, bust economic cycles. Compound interest (usury on long-term housing loans or high interest credit cards) creates great need for excess money to repay the loans, so house prices go up very quickly in growing areas.

Search Fractional reserve banking (wikipedia do not show the long term effect of FR banking). It is also the source of war, and finacial imperialism of a few country dominating international trade by virtue of unfair currency advantage. US do not have to balance trade as world needs dollar to do import of oil and industrial goods.

Thanks for all the posts. Please make key phrases bold for easier scanning.

Re: Some reactions to Susmita's paper

Thanks, Susmita

Margrit's work is a published book, and I'm not aware of it being on the web. A google search might turn up something though.

Publisher was Seva International, Okemos, Michigan. Edition I have is 1995. Amazon.com list the paperback version at a rather high price.

Blessings, Malcolm

Re: Some reactions to Susmita's paper

Dear All,

Margrit's book is available online here

http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~roehrigw/kennedy/english/

Happy reading.

Love

Raf

Re: Some reactions to Susmita's paper

Thanks Raf for finding that link. I just scanned Margrit's paper and there is much value in the enlightened discussion there. However, I do not see an explanation of why charging usury or compound interest on money itself is indefensible, except that it is mathematically impossible to sustain an exponential growth and more significantly ….

why fiat money is not “a store of value” and should not be traded as a commodity itself for speculative purposes. Confusing a symbol or token for real thing (fruits of labor) has been the cause of mankind's most confusing dilemma. We need to have a new definition of money.
Also address.. who needs to control the issue and allocation of money and the best ways of doing it. If people's basic survival needs are met through collective agreement of basic income for all for life, there would be no necessity to accumulate or hoard money or exploit and profit at other's expense, nor there would be shortage of basic necessities in the market place. Adequate supply of money is needed for all non-basic goods and services (wanted beyond physical survival).

Correction: Now that I printed it, I see Margarit actually does expalin cancer-like exponential growth of compound interest in the begining and mankind's inability to comprehend the ramifications of it and how it has led to innumerable feuds, war and revolutions in the past..I will say even now.

Re: Some reactions to Susmita's paper

Dear Mita,

You raise some important issues. Why is usury bad? Well history tells us that it wasn't allowed and as you say it leads to a continuing scarcity of money which requires constant growth and more credit to be issued (as outlined by Richard Douthwaite in “The Growth Ilusion”.

Of course in Islamic banking you can still charge a fee for lending money and microfinance is not free of interest either. JAK bank in Sweden operates a different model which seems to work for them.

So as you note the issue is how to provide enough money in the system to ensure people can trade their goods and services.

Ideas like Basic Income rear their head here but for me right now i am focusing on democratising the money supply and returning soveriegnty to parliament. my proposal is the change the cash/credit ratio in the money supply which currently is 3/97 and move it to 20/80 as a starting point.

This means parliament would authorise notes and coins (digitial or real) to be put into circulation as they currently are now. This proposal immediately comes under fire for being inflationary. However, there is a second part to this. The money supply must be constrained so that the overall annual increase remains the same as it would have been or actually set within a certain limit.

The money supply is out of control and it needs to be otherwise the whole system will fold on itself. So that 97% of the money supply issued by banks needs to be reduced to 80%.

This actually would be disinflationary as the government would no longer be paying interest on borrowings it would no longer need.

Somehow we must make this first change which forces those in power to recognise the problem. Conquering Troy was easier however…..strategy is everything as Odysseus recognised.

The Green Party here is not interested in the issue because there are no votes in it. It's a non sexy issue..no one understands it. I explained this to the head of private banking for a NZ bank and he had no clue what i was talking about. My dad was a banker for 42 years…it's like explaining quantum physics to a car mechanic. His job is to fix cars!

Overall i believe we need a top down and bottom up approach: so somehow reclaim the monetary commons and spread local currencies.

Above all we must educate our children about money……as you say about the nature of money..what is it?

blessings

Raf

Re: Some reactions to Susmita's paper

My post on Stephen zarlenga is relevant here. The 80/20 ratio you mention may be a very short term adjustment but it does not really change the structural problem or the misperception that money is a commodity with store of value, neither shift the power of issue to people or Parliament.

The biggest problem with usury is it is unearned income….no labor or skill is expended to charge compoud interest…creates invsible exploitation and slavery of unsuspecting mass and their government as well as artficial scarcity of money.

Thanks for your input.

Mita

Re: Some reactions to Susmita's paper

Dear Mita,

Thank you for posting Stephens work. I am familiar with it and in fact would love to get over to Chicago for the annual meeting of AMI.

My 80/20 proposal is grounded in reality in that we must show categorically that we can actually make this change without everything falling apart. It's really about taking small steps. This first step would be an order of magnitude not seen since the US abandoned the gold standard. Many things need to be in place for it to work such as ensuring the physical money supply is managed as much as is possible.

I have spent a lot of time reading about what is wrong with the system and how it should be replaced by x,y or z. My interest is in making that happen and i have looked for the most likely strategy to succeed. Once the ratio is changed to 80/20 then it will be possible to plan for the next step.

At the same time moves towards a range of local and virtual currencies will help take power away from the banks.

Thanks for your comments.

Kind regards

Raf

Re: Some reactions to Susmita's paper

Rafi I do appreciate your effort. We all need to work together. My emphasis is on eduacting people about money itself, demystify the many aspects of monetary system we inherited without understanding….even the framers of our constiution except a few were not sure about how to handle control or issue of money, because of the deep suspicion of government from the colonnial experience.

The best way is to create public awareness of the problem. After enough people watch this movie things will begin to change. Also the way “We the People” have organized a core support group around a related issue could set a preceedent.

There is also a small online effort to gather signature here. The Us war economy and war lobby is directly connected with the private control of commercial banking via the Fed.

Peace

Re: Some reactions to Susmita's paper

'At the same time moves towards a range of local and virtual currencies will help take power away from the banks.'

how?

Re: Some reactions to Susmita's paper

The power to create new money via interest bearing loans resides with the private banking system. This means they are in control of who can access money.

Complimentary currenices return this power to the local level where the currency is focused on community objectives.

This is an important distinction. The interest component is an unnecessary charge and is in effect a huge transfer of wealth from the state to the private sector. If you want to understand why 1% of the population holds 50% of the wealth then this is where you should look.

See www.monetary.org for further information.

peace

Raf

Re: Some reactions to Susmita's paper

hi raf-

“The power to create new money via interest bearing loans resides with the private banking system. This means they are in control of who can access money.”

well, i don't know how they do it in NZ, but in the u.s. 'new fiat' is created by the fed. which is, in essence, a private bank. see: who owns the fed

its chairman b. bernacke has been unaffectionately named 'helicopter ben' because of these statements:

'He got it after his remark that he’d drop dollars from a helicopter if that was needed to stimulate the economy - meaning, of course, he’d keep the printing press running “full out” if that’s what it took. Central bankers never run out of paper or ink.' see

why do central bankers never run out of paper and ink?

coincident with this idiocy the fed has stopped reporting m3 figures. so no one really knows how much paper is being printed. looking at the charts:
one can see that the printing presses are running overtime.

why is the € and CHF becoming more expensive in us$ terms?

“Complimentary currenices return this power to the local level where the currency is focused on community objectives.”

if one globalizes the word 'community' to mean 'country', then you have a version of 'complimentary currencies' already in place, don't you? for example, the nz 'community' (country) has its 'currency focused on community (country) objectives.' for currencies to be 'complimentary' they must be valued 'to something'. if not then each community can print all the paper they like to purchase goods from another community. a dramatic example of this is the current u.s. financial philosophy.

the problem is that if i sell merino wool to a mfg. (assuming there is one) in the u.s. for x$ a kilo, and i am paid in u.s.$ and helicopter ben is running his money press overtime then the x$ i get today is worth something less than x$ tomorrow. if i take the $us to the bank and convert to $nz i get fewer of them, because the glut of $us lowers their value. china is in this bind at the present moment along with the other asian bloc exporters. they hold billions in $us and the value is decreasing everyday. google 'central bank of china' to see how they are solving this problem.

for currencies to be 'complimentary' they have to be valued 'to something'. what could that 'something' be?

'The interest component is an unnecessary charge and is in effect a huge transfer of wealth from the state to the private sector. If you want to understand why 1% of the population holds 50% of the wealth then this is where you should look.'

money is commodity. people that are employed to deal in this commodity also must be paid for their work (how much is another question.). the cost of money is called interest. interest, as a policy tool, is a way of controlling the amount of money in circulation, in particular when fiat is not linked 'to something'.

you might these links of some interest:

http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2007/cr021507.htm

http://www2.gsb.columbia.edu/faculty/jstiglitz/

http://www.worldbank.org/knowledge/chiefecon/stiglitz.htm

http://www.jsmineset.com/

http://kitco.com/

http://www.mises.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keynesian_economics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_von_Mises

the best
basho

Re: Some reactions to Susmita's paper

'The money supply must be constrained so that the overall annual increase remains the same as it would have been or actually set within a certain limit. '

how would you do that?

Re: Some reactions to Susmita's paper

This is a good question. Until now monetarist theory has looked to control the physical money supply (M3 or similar) but has done it using monetary policy ie raising or lowering interest rates.

This experiment didn't work and eventually monetarism was consigned to the dustbin and a general inflation number was used.

The original idea was correct but the tool to use it wasn't. Interest rates are a very blunt tool and merely change the price of borrowing rather than limit change supply or demand. Of course it does have an impact just not a very precise one. Also with the expansion of capital markets the short term interest rate is not as influential as it once was with investors able to access the yield curve out to 30 years.

I just completed some research here in NZ: since 1988 the increase in the money supply has been 326%; the increase in house prices has been 393% and the CPI has increased only 54%.

Something is clearly out of whack here.

CPI is not measuring the impact of house prices in the economy and the banks are expanding the money supply on demand.

This is not a healthy situation since wages are not rising and therefore debt is increasing.

To answer the question of how to control the money supply.

Like anything you want to control, first you have to measure it properly.

Then an annual target can be set which is possible within a domestic situation. The amount of new money can be controlled by setting the appropriate reserve asset ratios for banks so they can only create so much new money.

Thre is also the option for the government to issue all the new money for any given year and then lend it out to the banks.

International capital flows would add to this equation but again could be managed within the same framework since that money is flowing in through the banking system.

This is very achievable in NZ as we have only 4 major banks (all Australian owned).

Remember that the right to create new money is a sovereign right which has been taken by the private banking system for their own benefit. This has created the subsidy to end all subsidies, a continual transfer of wealth from the global commons to the private sector.

It represents a complete failure of democracy, government and the state acting on behalf of its citizens.

Many people have been and are trying to change this situation in a variety of ways and getting control of the money supply (the original goal of monetarism) will be a major help in this effort.

blessings

raf

Re: Some reactions to Susmita's paper

“This is a good question. Until now monetarist theory has looked
to control the physical money supply (M3 or similar) but has done
it using monetary policy ie raising or lowering interest rates.

This experiment didn't work and eventually monetarism was
consigned to the dustbin and a general inflation number was used.”

it's still working where i'm at. eu, swiss, japan central banks
are still using it. they have all raised interest rate recently.
the fed in the u.s. causes the markets to crater whenever
they 'threaten' to raise rates.
nz raised it's rates to 7.5% (http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/index.html)

if by 'general inflation number' you mean something like
 the cpi in the u.s. it is probably the most manipulated
number in 'the dark science'.
see: http://www.shadowstats.com/cgi-bin/sgs/article/id=343

“The original idea was correct but the tool to use it wasn't.
 Interest rates are a very blunt tool and merely change
the price of borrowing rather than limit change supply or demand.”

doesn't the cost of money effect its supply and demand?

“Of course it does have an impact just not a very precise one.
Also with the expansion of capital markets the short term
 interest rate is not as influential as it once was with i
nvestors able to access the yield curve out to 30 years.”

haven't researched whether or not nz has a 30 yr bond.
 the u.s. trashed theirs a year or so ago.
 that means they are working in the short term 90 days
to 10 years. until yesterday that yield curve has been inverted.
see: reuters

so in effect it's all short term interest. you get paid the same if
you lend for 90 days or ten years. that is, no risk premium for
 a longer holding. tell me would you hold a ten yr bond,
a ten yr. risk, for the same premium as a 90 day note. not me.:)

“I just completed some research here in NZ: since 1988 the
 increase in the money supply has been 326%; the increase
 in house prices has been 393% and the CPI has increased only 54%.
Something is clearly out of whack here.”

amen, brother :)

“CPI is not measuring the impact of house prices in
 the economy and the banks are expanding
the money supply on demand.”

why not?
what are the components of the cpi in question?

“To answer the question of how to control
the money supply. Like anything you want to control,
first you have to measure it properly.”

'measure it properly' is in the hands of the
folks that print the money, alas. :)

“Then an annual target can be set which is possible within a domestic situation.”

who does this in your scenario ?
who does this now?

“The amount of new money can be controlled by
setting the appropriate reserve asset ratios for banks
so they can only create so much new money.”

you mean create new loans?
what happens when you take money out of circulation ala increased reserve ratios?
where does this money go?
what does a bank do if it needs more money for loans?

“Thre is also the option for the government to issue all the
 new money for any given year and then lend it out to the banks.”

who issues the fiat now?

“International capital flows would add to this equation
but again could be managed within the same framework
 since that money is flowing in through the banking system.”

and that's the problem that china is dealing with right now. in order to keep a lid on m3
 (read:inflation).

“Remember that the right to create new money is a sovereign right
which has been taken by the private banking system for their own benefit.
This has created the subsidy to end all subsidies, a continual transfer
of wealth from the global commons to the private sector.”

you have vested your sovereign right to the govt. in power.
maybe that's the place to start. :)

“It represents a complete failure of democracy, government
and the state acting on behalf of its citizens.”

what do you recommend?


the best
basho

Re: Some reactions to Susmita's paper

Here's more confirmation on The British Never Quit India, and how it got hold of the USA.

http://www.boloji.com/perspective/193.htm

Also my intention got a boost as I got picked as featured member in two sites Development Gateway

and Intentblog

I firmly beleive this is where we need to focus our energy and help restore true democracy, freedom, peace, sustainability, equal opportunity and justice for all. Thank you all for your participating in this conscious power of intention experiment.

cheers
mita

Re: Some reactions to Susmita's paper

thanks for the links!

very interesting article. i followed the breadcrumbs and i found the video online: The Money Masters. i added it on Zaadz for all of us to watch :) check them out. a very long documentary…

http://videos.zaadz.com/tagged/the+money+masters/

~C

Re: Some reactions to Susmita's paper

Hi C~, sorry I've been away for some time. I myself never had the solid 3-4 hour time to watch it. Wonder what you and the team thought about it. Please post any coments for other readers here.

Meanwhile check my google news on side bar of my new blog on Deep conscious capitalism

There is an article on www.Salon.com

• only evil is ignorance and capitalism is highly unnatural

  [Read the article: Why capitalism, like nature, is beyond good and evil]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  “There is no evil apart from ignorance.” This is what Buddha said. Capitalism is a product of human mind with its attendant tendency to commit errors in perception. Unlike man-made currency, in nature balance and equity in energy distribution is maintained spontaneously from within. In human society and systems so far it had taken huge amount of external control, domination and regulations by institutionalized structures to maintain order and balance. By not using our free will mindfully we can actually grow up to go against our basic nature - the basic goodness all human children are endowed with. Instead as product of civilization we have come to believe in sin, guilt, shame, evil and such through our religious-social conditioning and schooling. We are all put on a treadmill that is not ours (citizens) by design or choosing. Nor do we have the time, patience or attention span needed to look or think deeply in a corporate driven consumer culture that rewards mindless addictive greedy habits over conscious thoughtful behaviors.

  Yes there is a real economy tied to real products, infrastructure, services, ideas and real human labor and skills and the unreal speculative economy that is based on fundamental misperception about the nature of money, capital and banking. This unreal bubble is actually undermining everything that is of real and genuine value in the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness of humankind and destroying the intricate web of life and ecological balance in the planet. We are indoctrinated to believe in the absolute neutrality and essential goodness of capitalism as the only viable system human mind is capable of conceiving so far. 'Deep conscious capitalism' is a new term I have coined to engage concerned citizens in rethinking and changing the system from within our minds and perception.
  – posted as Mitaky

• Permalink Saturday, August 18, 2007 06:39 PM

Re: Some reactions to Susmita's paper

I had shared some of my thoughts with Mita, but she wrote and suggested that I share them with the group. Therefore, this is a very quick brush stroke.  I have been studying money for a few years now, and I came to the conclusion that we were in trouble, and that is not a recent conclusion.  The banksters have been meddling with the system for far too long now.  Consequently, I really wasn't keen about a pod which concerned itself with Capitalism until I read Mita's article, that is.

I began to read the article quite some time ago, and what I read I liked.  I forgot that it was Mita's article.  I only remember that I thought the author actually knew what she was all about.   Then, I got swallowed up by the activities that normally occupy a writer's time and imagination.

The other day, I was going through one of my notebooks and found the article again.   I began reading it again and liked it primarily because she and I share much of the same philosophy regarding the global economic system….or shall I say, the lack of one.  I haven't been to the pod much because the I don't believe that anyone practices true capitalism anymore.  

For that matter, I don't think we ever have.  English terminology can be very misleading.  For example, America is not a democracy.  Rather, it is a constitutional republic based on democratic principles.  If we were a true democracy, the rat race would not exist in Washington, DC.  We refer to our economic system as capitalism when it is, in fact………..manipulation.  The Federal Reserve isn't federal any more than Federal Express is.  The list goes on endlessly.

The result being that I finally came out of my stupor and realized who the author was. 

My purpose is only to tell you how I feel about her thoughts, and frankly……I like them. 
What can we do about them?  I only have ideas, and this reply is not the place to express them.  Whether you agree with me or not, thank you for reading this.

glenn