Will we ever see a world without money?

If you doubt it, think about these famous words from experts of the past–t.h.g.

“The bomb will never go off. I speak  as an expert in explosives.” – – Admiral William Leahy , US Atomic Bomb Project

“There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom.” — Robert Millikan, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1923

“Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons.” — Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949

“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” — Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943

“I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won’t last out the year.” — The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957

“But what is it good for?” — Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.

“640K ought to be enough for anybody.” — Bill Gates, 1981

This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us” — Western Union internal memo, 1876.

“The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?” — David Sarnoff’s associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.

“The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a ‘C,’ the idea must be feasible” — A  Yale  University management professor in response to Fred Smith’s paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)

“I’m just glad it’ll be Clark Gable who’s falling on his face and not Gary Cooper” — Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in “Gone With The Wind.”

“We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out” — Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.

“Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible” — Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.

“If I had thought about it, I wouldn’t have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can’t do this” – – Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M “Post-It” Notepads.

“Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You’re crazy” — Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859.

“Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau.” – – Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics,  Yale University , 1929.

“Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value” — Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole  Superieure de Guerre ,  France .

“Everything that can be invented has been invented” — Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, US Office of Patents, 1899.

“The super computer is technologically impossible. It would take all of the water that flows over Niagara Falls to cool the heat generated by the number of vacuum tubes required.” — Professor of Electrical Engineering,  New York  University

“I don’t know what use any one could find for a machine that would make copies of documents. It certainly couldn’t be a feasible business by itself.” — the head of IBM, refusing to back the idea, forcing the inventor to found Xerox.

“The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon,” — Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary to Queen  Victoria 1873.

And last but not least…

“There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.”  — Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

Time to wake up to reality, World War 3 is now underway

This video explains quite well the current geo-political situation. It’s the money, people!

The Bailout-A Parable

 I don’t know the origin of this parable, it came to me in an email message, but it captures the basic essence of the bailout scheme.-t.h.g.

Young Chuck moved to Texas and bought a Donkey from a farmer for $100. The farmer agreed to deliver the Donkey the next day.

The next day he drove up and said, ‘Sorry son, but I have some bad News, the donkey died.’  Chuck replied, ‘Well, then just give me my money back.’   The farmer said, ‘Can’t do that. I went and spent it already.’   Chuck said, ‘Ok, then, just bring me the dead donkey.’  The farmer asked, ‘What ya gonna do with him? Chuck said, ‘I’m going to raffle him off.’  The farmer said You can’t raffle off a dead donkey!’  Chuck said, ‘Sure I can Watch me. I just won’t tell anybody he’s dead.’

A month later, the farmer met up with Chuck and asked, ‘What happened with that dead donkey?’   Chuck said, ‘I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at two dollars apiece and made a profit of $998.’  The farmer said, ‘Didn’t anyone complain?’  Chuck said, ‘Just the guy who won. So I gave him his two dollars back.’   Chuck now works for Goldman Sachs.

Banker Jokes

Here are a few banker jokes, courtesy of The Guardian.

▶ A man is stuck in traffic. He asks a police officer about the hold-up and he replies: “The head of the Bank Of England is so depressed about the economy he’s stopped his car and is threatening to douse himself with petrol and set himself on fire. So we’re taking up a collection for him.” The man asks: “How much have you got so far?” The policeman replies: “About 40 gallons, but a lot of people are still siphoning.”

▶ A young banker decided to get his first tailor-made suit. As he tried it on, he reached down to put his hands in the pockets and to his surprise he found none. He mentioned this to the tailor who asked him, “You’re a banker, right?” The young man answered, “Yes, I am.” “Well, whoever heard of a banker with his hands in his own pockets?”

▶ What do you call 12 bankers at the bottom of the sea with their feet in cement blocks? A good start.

▶ A man visits his bank manager and says, “How do I start a small business?” The manager replies, “Start a large one and wait six months.”

▶ Why don’t sharks attack bankers? Professional courtesy.

▶ A London banker dies in poverty and so his local pub decides to raise funds for his funeral. One day a man walks into the pub and is asked to donate 20p for the fund. “What’s it for?” he asks, and the landlord tells him. So he reaches into his pocket, hands him a £5 note and says, “Here, go and bury 25 of them.”

▶ And finally: What’s the problem with banker jokes? Bankers don’t think they’re funny, normal people don’t think they’re jokes.

 

Fascist Agenda On-track

Long-time correspondent and author of Escaping the Matrix, Richard Moore has recently circulated a message that, I think, is worth close consideration. I believe that he is right about contemporary politics being staged theater. We should not take it as real.

Here is Moore’s message in its entirety:

The fascist takeover is being facilitated by a particular psy-ops strategy.

The right-wing is being hyped up with all sorts of nonsense about Obama being a socialist, along with other disinformation, and so we have one segment of society that hates Obama, and opposes his programs, for all the wrong reasons. Simultaneously, we have what appears to be a strong conservative resistance in Congress to Obama’s legislative agendas.

Meanwhile the left, those at whom the mainstream propaganda is aimed, are presented with an ongoing snow job regarding Obama, portraying him as a modern saint, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, spreading reconciliation and sober wisdom everywhere he goes. Those on the left look at the right, and they see a reactionary force, a popular constituency plus conservative representatives who are together preventing Obama from realizing his visions. They see a battle between good and evil, between wisdom and ignorance… Obama may not be perfect, and his agendas may be flawed, but he is clearly our standard bearer in this battle. Without him on the front lines, we’d be deluged by a conservative backlash.

Reality, on the other hand, is quite different than either of the propaganda lines. For example, there is no battle happening on Capital Hill over healthcare. The healthcare bill was finalized long ago by the insurance and pharmaceutical companies, and we’re simply being presented with theater, whose final act will be the unveiling of that bill, and whose purpose is to make us think that is the best we could get.

More generally, the perceived battle between good and evil, a perception created by the effect of the psy-op campaigns aimed at left and right, is itself just theater, the final act of which will be outright fascism, and whose purpose is to distract us from the real course of events. To the extent those on the left blame the right, or those on the right blame the left, they are participating in that theater, and thereby being herded like sheep toward fascism.

Obama has been groomed over the years for one particular job, he has embraced that job, and he is carrying it out with enthusiasm and skill. That job is to be the point man for ushering in global fascism, to play a key role in the transition to a world government controlled by the global financial mafia, the same folks who funded Hitler and Mussolini. His role is to project a persona of global leadership, a wise, friendly face that can make the establishment of global tyranny appear to be the onset of global harmony and reconciliation. A bit like Woodrow Wilson, whose job was to usher in the Federal Reserve, and make it appear to be to be the onset of financial stability.

rkm rkm@quaylargo.com

What About the Money Hole?

Tim Hawkins – The Government Can

This video is extremely clever, entertaining, and oh, too true.

A Better Bailout Plan

Stimulate This!

Here is an article said to be from the St. Petersburg Times Newspaper on Sunday (I presume March 29). The Business Section asked readers for ideas on “How Would You Fix the Economy?” This response seems to hit the bull’s eye.

Dear Mr. President,

Patriotic retirement: There’s about 40 million people over 50 in the work force; pay them $1 million apiece severance with stipulations:

1) They leave their jobs. Forty million job openings – Unemployment fixed.

2) They buy NEW American cars. Forty million cars ordered – Auto Industry fixed.

3) They either buy a house or pay off their mortgage – Housing Crisis fixed.

what a great idea and I would add to this…..if you do this you can have my social security back –another problem solved.  [Item from the Rumor Mill News]

Of course, from the standpoint of the oligarchs, that plan benefits the “wrong” people and solves the “wrong” problems. – t.h.g.

Early December Newsletter

Here is my latest newsletter which went out to my list yesterday. It has elicited a number of good comments which I have asked people to post here, so watch for them to be added. – t.h.g.

What’s Happening

Yup, still on Koh Phangan, but not for long. Many of you are probably wondering about the political turmoil that has been in the news. The trouble seems to have been confined to Bangkok, a long way from here, where things go on as usual. Anyway, it seems all that was resolved yesterday (Wednesday) with the fall of the government and protestors leaving the airports and government buildings they had occupied for some time. Whether trouble might flare up again seems to depend on what kinds of political changes take place over the next couple weeks and who becomes the new prime minister. One must admire the Thais for their restraint in dealing with that crisis. If it had been the U.S. or Europe, or China, or ____, SWAT teams would have been sent in and lots of blood would have spilt in clearing the place out. After all, profits are more important than people. (Don’t call me cynical, you know it’s true).

We had quite a monsoon season. I was stuck inside my house for three nights and two days because of heavy rains and wind. When the rain stopped the roads were impassable in some spots because of flooding and mud slides. There was a two week stretch with no chance to get to the beach or catch some sun. Over the past week the weather has gradually been improving starting with several days of unsettled weather — lots of wind and clouds — to warmer and clearer weather. Today was the first mostly sunny day in a long time. Maybe that signals an end to this year’s monsoon.

All of that was just as well because I’ve had my nose to the keyboard slaving over the second round edits of my book. My editor at Chelsea Green, Jonathan Teller-Ellsberg, finished his developmental edit of my manuscript and returned it to me with some good suggestions for improvement. I’ve been hammering away at it almost continuously since and I’m feeling good about the results. There’s nothing like the assistance of a professional editor to improve one’s writing.

Recent Publication

Daniel Pinchbeck is the publisher of an online magazine, Reality Sandwich. At his request I provided an article titled, Toward a New Economic Order, which was published a few days ago. You might want to have a look. I’ve been asked to provide some additional articles with specific how-to-do-it advice, which I’ll be preparing over the coming weeks. Much of that material will be drawn from my new book. The title of the book? Oh, it’s to be called The End of Money and the Future of Civilization.

With the book task competed I got inspired this afternoon to do some maintenance on my website, ReinventingMoney.com. I had to learn some new tricks to manage it but I’m proud to say the mission has been accomplished. I’ve put up a new “welcome” statement and fixed some links to the Worgl case documents that had been broken.

Information

I recently discovered that Hartley Withers’ classic book, The Meaning of Money, has been republished by Kessinger Publishing, LLC and is available through Amazon.com. They might also have cheaper copies available. My copy of the seventh edition, published in 1947, is a treasured part of my personal library. I strongly recommend that any serious student of money and banking should read this book.

On a more general topic, you might want to watch this 16-minute YouTube video by Stefan Molyneux that will coax you further to “take the red pill” and escape the “matrix.” One blogger calls it “the most dangerous video on the internet.” At the conclusion of this polemic against statism, ideology, and religious establishments, Molyneux tells us that it is reason and courage that will set us free. You can find it embedded in this blog below.

Feeling Deprived

While to cost of living here is pretty cheap, imports, as you might expect, are quite expensive, even more costly than the same items are back home. Olive oil, for example, a staple of my diet and necessary ingredient for both salad dressing and cooking, costs almost double what I pay at home; same for blue cheese. And I haven’t had a glass of wine since I left California, 5 months ago. The cheapest bottle of wine here runs about $10. Oh, how I miss Trader Joe’s. I’d gladly pay five dollars even for a bottle of “two buck chuck,” if I could find it.

Sex and Islamic Suicide Terrorism

One of my German correspondents sent me a link to a site called the SexParty. No, it’s not an erotic site filled with porn. It’s a political site. The tag line is “Politics for a sex-positive future.” It’s an analysis of the link between Sex and Islamic Suicide Terrorism, which, I think is absolutely correct. The repression of sexuality that was foisted upon me as I was growing up in Catholic schools provides the background from which my own present understanding stems. The article argues (I’m paraphrasing) that when testosterone-driven young males (who constitute the vast majority of suicide bombers) are prevented from expressing their natural sexual urges, they become enraged, unbalanced and inclined to fight. You can read the whole one-page article here. As the Hippies were wont to say, “Make love, not war.”

Along similar lines, but not specifically related, here’s a mini-lesson in “compassionate communication.”

The basic NVC approach to communicating has these basic components:

Observation

Feeling

Need

Request

This avoids making judgments or demands. The dialog process is:

Describe the situation,

Describe how it makes you feel,

Let the other person know what you need,

Make a request (but be ready to accept “no.”)

You can find good information on the websites I gave in my last newsletter or do a search on “Non-violent Communication.”

Enough for now.

Tom