What really bothers me about our current economic system
is how technology has been used to efficiently turn this country into a debt
prison powered by computer databases that track purchases and credit
worthiness. Through the use of our debt based fiat currency, most wealth
exists as binary digits on a computer hard drive. It is nothing more than an
illusion as binary digits on a computer hard drive have no real value. This
illusion has allowed banks and credit card companies to build databases that
contain information on where you shop and how much you spend. It has turned
the average American into an economic slave.
In the 1970�s
credit cards were primarily reserved for the wealthy. In addition, obtaining
mortgage loans were difficult unless you had the ability to put down a huge
down payment. Fast forward to the 21st century and we see first year students
at colleges and universities get bombarded with credit card offers. We see
banks giving away home loans using all sorts of creative financing packages.
There are a couple of key reasons why I believe these things have changed so
quickly.
The first reason is because the system needs people to become a slave to
the fiat debt prison as early in life as possible. The U.S. educational
system leads students to believe that unless they get a college education
that they won�t be
able to succeed. This is of course a lie, but it is a good way to get people
into debt at a very early age. The higher educational system in this country
is ripping people off with tuition and housing fees just for the privilege of
earning an undergraduate degree. Most students end up majoring in something
that is of little to no value in the marketplace. In fact most of the
undergraduate degree programs fail to provide students with any desirable job
skill. The grade point average system actually discourages students from
pursuing challenging degree programs with difficult courses. A class in
sports management is given the same weight as a class in chemistry which is
simply not a fair comparison. The chemistry class is obviously more difficult
but someone earning an A in the sports management class is considered to have
a higher GPA as opposed to someone earning a B in the chemistry class. This
is one of the reasons why we see the science and engineering programs in this
country filled with students from India and China. It is a common practice
that schools base scholarships contingent upon a student maintaining a
certain GPA. Additionally there are many parents in this country who expect good
grades from their kids even if it discourages them from taking more difficult
classes. As a result, the science and engineering programs which would give
students truly desirable job skills are simply not being pursued by those
born in this country. These distortions leave many graduates swimming in debt
with a degree that has little value.
Already in debt with student loans, many graduates are burdened with
finding a job that will enable them to find a place to live and pay for the
basic necessities of life. On top of that, they have to deal with the
Internal Revenue Service stealing their money through the communist inspired
income tax system. They also have to deal with the Federal Reserve which
devalues the purchasing power of the little money that they are able to save.
This forces them to take on additional credit card debt and loans in order to
maintain a decent standard of living. This brings me back to the main point.
The whole system is designed to put people into debt at an early age. By
bombarding students with credit card offers and making student loans readily
available it puts them into debt right away. Credit card companies know that
the average student will not be able to make a sufficient income while they
pursue their degree so they become a perfect target. The more people who are
in debt, the more people there are that are forced to provide labor to the
debt prison.
The second reason why we have seen an explosion in credit issuance is
because when people use credit and debit cards it enables institutions to
track what people do. Almost everything can be purchased with a credit card
today. Credit cards are the main method of choice used to purchase items on
the Internet. Credit cards can even be used to purchase fast food, gasoline
and almost anything else you can think of. Even just a decade ago, you couldn�t use a credit card to buy
food from McDonalds. Now, it is common practice for someone to use their
credit card to buy fast food and all sorts of items. We are quickly turning
into a cashless society which gives more power and control to the private
banking and credit card companies. It doesn�t
sit well with me that all of my cash withdrawals, deposits and credit card
transactions are stored on a computer database. It is a total invasion of
privacy. Unfortunately in today�s
society it is very difficult to maintain a good standard of living and
function without a bank account and a credit card. Invasion of privacy is
essentially imposed upon you in order to operate with any sort of efficiency.
This is not the way our economic system should be. Transactions should be
private business between the buyer and the seller. Technology is enabling
banks and credit card companies to create a cashless society that can be used
to track what people buy and sell. People have voluntarily entered into this
system because credit cards have been sold as an easier way to buy things on
a line of credit. You also need to establish a line of credit in order to
obtain loans for cars and homes. The only catch with this is that by using
these debt instruments you give up the anonymity of any transactions you
conduct.
As technology advances, privacy will be eroded even further. Even cash
transactions may no longer be truly private. The European Central Bank (ECB)
announced several years ago that they would be putting RFID tracking chips in
Euro bank notes by 2005. RFID chips are small computer chips that emit a
radio frequency enabling the bank notes to be tracked wherever they go. It is
almost 2007 and it is safe to believe that all of the new Euro bank notes
have the RFID chip embedded in them. It would not surprise me if the same
plan is or has already been implemented by the Federal Reserve in new Federal
Reserve Notes.
Implantable RFID chips for humans have already been developed and approved
for use by the FDA. RFID chips are already being used on animals. It is not
hard to see a future where these chips are implanted in people and you will
need to use them in order to buy or sell in modern society.
This brings me to gold and silver. As our financial privacy continues to
erode with all of these technological tracking mechanisms put into place,
gold and silver can be used to escape from the system. Unlike binary digits
stored in a database, gold and silver are real tangible items that store
value and protect privacy. If the cashless tracking grid really starts
ramping up, I wouldn�t
be surprised to see an underground black market form where bartering tangible
items like gold, silver, guns, food and water becomes a common practice. It
would be a way for people to work around a society where debt enslavement is
common and financial privacy is becoming a thing of the past.
December 23, 2006
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