Money as Debt

The concepts presented in "Money as Debt" were very informing, but also pretty depressing. As someone with admittedly no financial knowledge, it surprised me that the banks could simply create money on a whim (or, as the video puts it, take the borrower's promise to pay as money in itself). The fact that all of this hypothetical money is floating around is pretty unnerving, especially if the film-maker's prospect, akin to something out of "It's a Wonderful Life" (a run on the bank), becomes a reality. Without enough actual money to pay off all of the hypothetical money out there, banks would effectively shut down the economy if this were ever to happen.

With the parable of the Banker, the video did a good job of presenting for us the key concepts of the issue and the process that led to it. What started out as a simple way to get more money, however, based on real money existing SOMEWHERE, has become a very flimsy system and the foundations of our entire economy, seemingly balanced on a hair over the precipice of total depression and utter ruin. This isn't exactly the way I think anyone wants to live.

While I'm definitely not a conspiracy theorist at heart, you can't help but feel that this entire system has been engineered to keep a few people on top with the rest rushing to pay their debts to them and fuel the economic fire, but it's not even that simple. Those people at the top, too, have a heck of a lot to lose and very high chances of losing it, just as our own chances of seeing the entire economy swallow itself whole are pretty up there. As it stands, this isn't really a system that works for anyone, even those at the top, in the long run. It's more like everyone is working to feed the system, a grueling, tiresome process with no end in sight.

One possibility the video offered as a possible solution is a system based on merit and work (essentially communism) where people are rewarded based on how many hours they put in, and these hours could be turned in for goods or services. It's a little strange that he did not mention the ideology by name, but being a system that works in theory but has never been effectively realized elsewhere, it's very hard to believe this would actually work.

A possibility I did like, however, and forgive me if I'm wrong since the video itself is a little foggy in my memory, is the idea of money from debts being held by the state and going toward paying for actual utilities and useful structures like bridges and roads, which will eventually end up paying for themselves through tolls and things of that nature. By putting this money to good use and not creating the money through debt, but by leveling off this debt with actual things, I think we'd be on the road to a more productive and stable future.