An old Cree Indian proverb:
“Only when the last tree
has died and the last river
has been poisoned and the
last fish has been caught
will we realise we cannot
eat money.”
An old Cree Indian proverb:
“Only when the last tree
has died and the last river
has been poisoned and the
last fish has been caught
will we realise we cannot
eat money.”
There is an old Cree Indian proverb which goes something like “Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realise we cannot eat money.”
It is now common knowledge that money is created almost entirely by the banking system, that the banks have in effect what C.H. Douglas called the monopoly of credit. Furthermore, as I was told recently by the Treasury, this monopoly is now enforced by law, The Treaty Of Maastricht – ie the European Central Bank – forbids Britain, and every other member, from printing its own money to finance its spending.
While the banks can and do create money out of thin air, the rest of us, including multi-national corporations, have to obtain ours from others by fair means or foul, the only way we can play the game and put food on the table is to coax existing money out of somebody else’s hand. This can include providing goods or services, something which is often both honourable and of benefit to the community, but the shortage of money and the desire or need to acquire it leads frequently to us cutting corners unneccessarily. Usually, this is no big thing, but when big business cuts corners it can have serious consequences for all of us, or can even lead to disaster on a colossal scale.
We live on a planet that is rich in natural resources beyond all meaning of the word, none more so than energy. We have no less than three sources of energy which are almost totally free. Once the generators have been manufactured we can extract free, clean, renewable energy from the waves, from the wind, and from the Sun. Which begs the question, why don’t we? The simple answer is that governments, subjected as they are to the tyranny of the banks, do not have the money to construct alternative generators on all but a token scale, and big business has cheaper ways of producing energy.
The enormity of this dreadful folly has recently become apparent to every informed person on the face of this planet with what is already surely the worse single man-made environmental disaster in the history of the world.
The other week, as I watched a TV report about a still expanding oil slick the size of Jamaica drifting slowly but irrevocably towards the coast of Louisiana, I was overcome with an impending sense of doom. The same news report mentioned almost in passing that bee colonies were dying throughout the United States, and that in Britain, the Government had invested the princely sum of two and a half million pounds in research to ascertain why. One of the presenters mentioned, again almost in passing, that there were no or far fewer songbirds to be seen in the British countryside, and I thought instantly of the terrible Silent Spring prophesy of Rachel Carson.
I am in no position to appraise the accuracy of these reports, and I have since been chided by one apparently knowledgable person for suggesting that the BP oil disaster heralds the end of life on Earth, but surely it cannot be far off.
Taking a more parochial view, Louisiana has not yet recovered from the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina five years ago; the oil slick will as things stand cause even more devastation to the local economy and to an area of both outstanding natural beauty and resources. And where will the money come from to rebuild the economy and save what can be saved of its flora and fauna? From the banks, of course, money created out of nothing and sold at irredeemable interest in perpetuity.
While in Europe, our leaders have far more pressing problems, namely to ensure that Greece does not default on its debt, for this may mean that others follow suit, and then what would happen?
If you believe our leaders, including Gordon Brown (did I say leader? Not anymore, Gord, goodbye), this will lead to a worldwide recession, depression, collapse, and Heaven knows what else. So “we” must find a way to keep servicing this debt. This is of course pure propaganda, and suitable only for proper geese, for if our principal creditor dies, and his debt dies with him, we can start anew without the burden of his debt on our shoulders. Chance would be a fine thing.
Every rational person should ask what is the real problem here: the BP disaster or the so-called banking crisis?
If and when this leak is plugged, the US Government and governments from around the world must come together to reduce if not totally eliminate mankind’s dependence on our rapidly diminishing fossil fuel resources. Who knows, if they invite Iran and promise that much maligned country a few billion dollars to invest in alternative technologies, perhaps it will abandon its nuclear programme? Rather that than bombing it.
This is a serious suggestion, if the trillions of dollars that are currently used to service the imaginary debts created by the world’s banks were diverted into renewable energy sources and alternative fuels, we could almost totally eliminate oil and everything that goes with it, as well as stimulate the world economy and create millions of real jobs. This would of course mean a massive restructuring of the current oil industry, and this would meet with equally massive resistance, but the same financial incentives – call them bribes, if you will – could be used to bring the oil giants into line. At the end of the day, all they are really interested in is making money, and there is surely no less money in renewable energy sources and eco-friendly fuels, and by the same token there will be far less to pay out in cleaning up after oil spills, and shelling out for the law suits that will undoubtedly follow.
Over the past week or so my pessimism about the future of man has lightened somewhat, but none of us should have the slightest doubt that we are still in very grave danger, and unless we act now, our children may inherit nothing from us save a colossal, irredeemable debt, and a world where no birds sing.
Doom-mongering is by no means new, let us not forget the story of Noah’s Ark and the Great Flood, and of course if people keep predicting the end of the world, one of us will surely get it right, but a cold appraisal of the facts can only lead to the conclusion that we are now very close indeed to that end. World population cannot keep doubling every twenty years for the next Millenium or even for the next century; we are running out of natural resources, out of water, out of space. And on top of that we have a world financial system, indeed a world order that is geered to accelerating these problems while small-minded ideologues make mountains out of molehills such as “banning the burka”, “sexism”, “homophobia”, creating make-work jobs at any cost, and reality TV trivia.
If Mankind is to survive much less prosper, we must overthrow the corrupt debt-based money system, and divert our much needed precious resources into combatting the real problems we face. We can start by clearing up the Louisiana oil slick, and ensuring this is the last one we ever need to.
[The above article/essay started life as a small mailing I sent out to various parties and posted to Usenet. I was asked by Mathaba if I would like to expand it, which I did, without the pessimism. Well, without most of it. It was first published in this format May 14, 2010 by Mathaba. A few minor alterations have been made; the original (archived) version can be found here.]
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