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Where does money come from .. explained

Jeffreys

Grundy think you handsome!
It was really interesting, the current monetary system definitely needs to change. Though I don't know if that will ever happen, we will probably be crushed by our debts and interest due in the future when the working class can no longer afford much due to extreme inflation. Just wish we had an idea of how to fix it.
 
Yeah, I've been aware of the gist of this for some time now, and that the current system exists to keep us "enslaved," and that, sometime down the road, the economy as we know it will collapse as it simply can not sustain itself.

Keep in mind though, switching to Gold and Silver alone is not a solution, as even they have fluctuating values and have throughout history.
 

Thead

Noob
A start would be making economics and politics a mandatory subject in schools, considering how much of a significant affect they have on our society, the entire nation should have at a minimum a basic understanding of how they work. Schools for the most part educate the masses to accept authority and do as we're told from a young age.

In my opinion, we need a system where everyone works to help everyone, not work to acquire and possess wealth. Of course, the first problem with this is it needs to be on a global scale - although with social media people are becoming more aware. The second problem is people, you can't monitor every single person, and there's always gonna be people out there trying to get one over on somebody else.
 

Under_The_Mayo

Master of Quanculations
A start would be making economics and politics a mandatory subject in schools, considering how much of a significant affect they have on our society, the entire nation should have at a minimum a basic understanding of how they work. .
You couldn't be more wrong. Teaching people these subjects just creates elitist liberal commies. Schools should be focusing on teaching creationism, climate change denial, and abstinence. Then we might be able to save our society from the homosexuals. Get your priorities straight.
 

Mortal Komhat

Worst Well-Established Goro Player Ever
You couldn't be more wrong. Teaching people these subjects just creates elitist liberal commies.
Either that or elitist libertarian xenophobes!

THERE IS NO MIDDLE GROUND. EVER.

(For real though if economics were taught in schools it would essentially be to reinforce the current economical system rather than to actually study and improve on it. IIRC schools around here are required to have an economics course, at least they did when I was in high school, and what I learned in economics was essentially how it functioned and how it was inevitable and a perfectly natural, non-human created thing)
 

Zoidberg747

My blades will find your heart
Economics and Government is required in the U.S., or at least most parts of it.

My AP classes were very good but ive heard the regulars classes are a joke and dont really teach you anything. Problem if someone doesnt care about something they tend not to want to learn it.
 

Thead

Noob
Economics and Government is required in the U.S., or at least most parts of it.

My AP classes were very good but ive heard the regulars classes are a joke and dont really teach you anything. Problem if someone doesnt care about something they tend not to want to learn it.

What makes it required, other than the fact that everyone believes in it? As far as I can tell, this system has been in place and forced down our throats since we all were born. Being subjected to something like that from every angle since birth makes it hard to imagine any other way of life - but it doesn't make it the right or best way to live.

I agree if someone doesn't care about something they usually don't want to learn it, that goes for all subjects in school but they still teach them anyway. Arguably teaching students as a staple subject where money comes from, what it really represents and how the political system of their country works (after all they are all meant to vote someday) are much more important and practical than say, Geography or Drama.
 
The video is not wrong, but it's extremely misleading to the extent it presents certain things as extremely devious when they are not.

It's typical of any video that uses an Economics perspective but doesn't have any knowledge of International Political Economy, which is the driving and sensible force behind a lot of ideas that are presented as "evil"

You're first warning sign is when a video says it's giving you "secret info that the bad guy doesn't want you to know" or says things like "wake-up America!" They're common tag lines designed to make the viewer feel special- like they're miles ahead of the unwashed mashes because they have this info. When in reality they're being spoon fed just enough of the subject to know it looks bad, without enough to know why it is the way it is. It's basically "outrage porn". Knowledge that is just enough to make you angry, but not enough to make you informed.

Not that all of the policies are justifiable. The US in particular has a bad system, mostly given how we have something called a "debt ceiling". As I like to say to most people in my field who spout out a "wrong or right" answer:

It's more complex than that
 

Thead

Noob
It's typical of any video that uses an Economics perspective but doesn't have any knowledge of International Political Economy, which is the driving and sensible force behind a lot of ideas that are presented as "evil"
Care to elaborate on International Political Economy?
 

EdFig81

Original OBS mbr/VSM/G4S
Thoughts on this?

(1.20 if you want to skip intro)
going to check this out later tonight when i have a second. I remember showing a video to my friend a yr ago who doesn't care at all about politics yet i showed him a cartoon which actually opened his mind a bit and got him thinking a bit different. Heres the link and yes its a cartoon but it gets to the point for those that look at real life videos and don't care. (not taking away from the original post/video which i respect and look forward to watching)
 
Care to elaborate on International Political Economy?
Basically, it's the system by which you can no longer look at economics in a vacuum.

So, you get economics, and naturally, Debt = Bad. And that makes sense.

But take into account an international system, and you see strategic debt, strategic inflation, and strategic deflation (Not strategic deflation usually- this is pretty much economic cancer). All these things you normally want to avoid like the plague, make sense when you want to accomplish a certain economic goal with other countries.

So if the United States and Japan have an imbalance of payments: Japans exports 4 million of goods to US, and us exports 3 million worth of goods to Japan. There's now more money in Japan, and Less money in the United States. This affects prices in Japan in a way that shifts their economy from an export to an import economy- as they now can buy more local goods.

But given the previous export relationship, Japan has built a larger export industry rather than import industry, and they will have a harsh restructuring due to this change. so their goal is to keep the export imbalance with the US, such that they can keep exporting more than they import, (there will be less money in the United States, so their product will be worth less if they export, thus, a certain economic activity is needed to benefit from continual exporting)

And this is where you see those strategic uses of the "bad things' come into play. The US can borrow money, which creates inflation, however, they can keep supporting the Japanese export economy and the US import economy. OR Japan can actually sell currency back to the United States (this actually happens) in the form of debt. This keeps the amount of money in each country stable, so the previous imbalance is kept (and remember, they want the imbalance because the economies adapt to the export/import imbalance)

Other strategic uses allow banks to in a way create money, but this is HEAVILY influenced by a central government bank setting the exchange rate between foreign countries. If you cease to look at economics in a national vacuum, you understand why bank ability to create money is always going to be limited on how much that money is worth in other countries. Lower/Raising interest rates is pretty much the main tool of the Federal Bank, and yet this is an indirect way to influence nearly every aspect of private banks. And the lower/raising of interest, is often in accordance with the previous example of one country wanting to keep its currency at a relative value to another country they have an import/export relationship with.

"Balance of Payments" as it's called, is a main driver of how much money is being created, and it's largely a product of international economic relationships. It's basically 1) do we print more money, 2) Do we float our exchange rate, 3) or do we revalue our currency?
 
As for the arbitrary creation of money, it's extremely important.

When you can't create capital, it's a problem- that's deflation, which is extremely dangerous to an economy, much moreso than inflation. My favorite quote from the US fed chairmen: "I will throw hundred dollar bills from a helicopter if it's needed to avoid deflation"

When you can't create currency, you have only existing currency- so look at Gold or Bitcoins, which are both examples of finite currency.

However, because they're finite, as more people come into the world, there's less Gold or Bitcoins for each. The price of each therefore is continually rising. And you'll see this fact espoused by gold enthusiasts, such as the video creator. "You can't make more gold, so the price never fluctuates from inflation!" That'd be awesome, if inflation weren't the only threat. Instead, you get deflation.

Deflation occurs when the currency constantly increases in value because you can't make more.

For a person with a deflating currency, you don't want to spend it, because just HAVING it is making more money. 1 ounce of gold now becomes MUCH more valuable in 10 years, and 20 years, and so on and so forth. The result is that gold isn't being spent, it's being hordes, because spending it is a waste, much better to save it and use it when it's more valuable.

And that decreased tendency to spend is catastrophic, as it discourages people from participating in the economy. In the worst case scenario (hyper deflation), people don't need to work at all. The value of their currency actually increases at a rate that is stronger than the income generated by a wage. That's the nightmare scenario because you no longer have people working and creating economic activity, in addition to not spending much.

So the creation of currency is often a way to say "Hey, spend your money while it's still worth something" when you aren't seeing the economic activity you want given the amount of currency in the system. Money is only useful if it's being spent. So that's why it's so normal for banks to create currency- the bond, or IOU is useful, because it can ONLY exist in an example where someone needs money, and it's being spent. It's not something that is hoarded. Money in circulation is more valuable than money that is stored, at least from a macro-economic perspective. So the idea of "creating money" is not crazy, because the money created is often the type of money that circulates, whereas money that isn't created (such as gold) often stagnates. Gold might be worth a lot to you, but in terms of economic activity, it's almost useless because of deflation.

**Edit**

And having gone to the website of the guy that made this video, unsurprisingly, they are a Gold and Silver advocate. These people benefit off the uncertainty of government backed currency. So that "instructional video" that purported that the currency system is a scam, is actually a scam itself. It's not there to teach you, it's a 30 minute advertisement for gold. "Hey! Your money might become worthless! Buy gold!"

And remember what I said about deflation? It's bad because people hoard money and this hurts the economy. Well people buy gold based on the speculation that government backed currency will drop, thus they hoard it until this event happens. Thus, the "buy gold!" scam is kept up, because gold continually increases in value, because people keep hoarding it on the idea a major currency will become unstable and collapse- a idea that is conveniently invented and circulated by them.
 
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KIllaByte

PSN: playakid700. Local name: BFGC MonkeyBizness
I actually kind of like how this video assumes the lowest possible level of intelligence for its viewers. Everybody will get it.
 
Not that all of the policies are justifiable. The US in particular has a bad system, mostly given how we have something called a "debt ceiling". As I like to say to most people in my field who spout out a "wrong or right" answer:
The real irony of the "debt ceiling" is that it's essentially unconstitutional under literal and semi-literal interpretations of the 14th amendment. While the concept itself "could" be used to curb post-cold war defense spending (which is pretty stupid at this point) and neoconservative upper income bracket tax breaks (also really stupid), it's devolved into a political nuke that will get anyone in Congress brave enough to threaten a national default what they want the way they want it.

The video tl;dw is: OMG FIAT CURRENCY IS WORTHLESS THE FEDS ARE LYING TO YOU THE SKY IS FALLING HOARD GOLD/SILVER BECAUSE IT'S SHINY AND WILL ALWAYS BE WORTH $$$ THAT IS NOT BACKED BY EMPTY FED LIES.

Remember kids, utopia political ideologies are dangerous, regardless of what side of the left/right/FREEDOM/statist spectrum they happen to fall under.
 

Mortal Komhat

Worst Well-Established Goro Player Ever
The video tl;dw is: OMG FIAT CURRENCY IS WORTHLESS THE FEDS ARE LYING TO YOU THE SKY IS FALLING HOARD GOLD/SILVER BECAUSE IT'S SHINY AND WILL ALWAYS BE WORTH $$$ THAT IS NOT BACKED BY EMPTY FED LIES.

Remember kids, utopia political ideologies are dangerous, regardless of what side of the left/right/FREEDOM/statist spectrum they happen to fall under.
Y'know the best part about the video is that they don't consider that gold and silver have no intrinsic values. Other than be shiny metals, they don't serve much purpose other than for extremely specific needs (Monster Cables need not apply).
 
The real funny thing about gold and silver is that for most industrial purposes graphene will be a far superior material, and in a good 20 years graphene will probably replace both gold and silver in most everything made.
 
Learned this in my History 112 class, just from the first 30 seconds I have an idea.

It does start with politicians, earliest political influence on money began with Robber Barons which than turned into capitalism.
 
(For real though if economics were taught in schools it would essentially be to reinforce the current economical system rather than to actually study and improve on it.
Keep in mind though, governments generally want people in debt, as it keeps them working and keeps them in tax brackets.

I don't think economics should be taught in school, money management should be, but isn't. Why? I theorize for the reason I mentioned. Everything's a business, including post secondary education. Most people graduate with large student loans, already in debt before they've properly embarked on their careers.

Keep 'em in those tax brackets!