Ending the Global Casino? by Ad Broere

Author:Ad Broere
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789059724730
Publisher: Eburon Business
Published: 2010-01-18T05:00:00+00:00

Is the ‘solution’ chosen by the U.S., the euro zone countries, U.K., Japan, etc. the right one? I don’t think so. It is no more than postponing the inevitable moment that debts have to be cut back. Now already Greece, Iceland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Ireland are deeply in trouble. More countries will follow if the present policies of ‘keep the economy going and hope that the economy will find its way up again’ have lost their effect. The European research institute LEAP/E2020 2 compares the approach of the governments of countries to their troubled economies with the treatment of people who are suffering from a grave disease, with no prospect on recovery. As long as the system remains unchanged, crises will occur. It is inherent in it. Countries, businesses, and private households are heavily in debt. Debt that has been created during times of booming economy. Due to the crisis, debt has become a too heavy burden. People, businesses and countries are not able to repay their debts. Large numbers of private and business bankruptcies, and countries in trouble are the consequences of this. And the rich? Well, this is what Thomas Jefferson, third President of the U.S. said about it:

‘If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of currency... the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of their property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.’

Banks and corporations. Yes, but in that sense that they are merely the instruments of the financial elite. The cynical part is, that they ‘harvest’ the properties of people during times of crisis. First countries, businesses, and private households are flooded with money (as debt) during times of a booming economy . This money has been created out of thin air, so strictly spoken no man owns it, neither does the financial elite. Consequently, man is deprived from his property during times of a downturn in the economy because being unable to repay the debts the property is appropriated by the banks. The only reason why this can happen over and over again, is because we collectively have come to believe that money has value in itself.

Money has no value, no more than being a medium of exchange. Neither is money a product. The real value can be found in what we produce in goods and services. People, working together in a business or organization create a value chain. The only real purpose of money is to make things possible, and to support the creation and maintenance of these value chains. If we point an accusing finger at the financial elite, we should be aware that we are the ones that have collectively believed in this monetary system, as if it were ‘God-made’, and therefore allowed it to be what it has become.

In Chapter 5 I have explained that due to the crisis the position of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) is under pressure. Our present monetary system is rather hostile to SMEs.

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