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Editorial ~ The Biggest Usury Scheme
Fall 2008

by Scot Bergeron

We are all victims of a huge scam perpetrated by a few individuals. I can’t stress enough how important it is that everyone be informed about this scam; it is literally vital to the survival of this country.

Here is how the usury scheme works: All the money in America -- every penny on the street, every dollar in your purse, every electronic entry in every bank account -- was produced as a result of a LOAN. There are NO exceptions. There is no money in circulation not lent into circulation.

As you are well aware, loans are subject to interest, which means borrowers must pay back the original loan plus the interest accrued on top of it. This may sound just fine until one realizes this: banks that issue money into existence as loans do not print, or put into circulation, the expected
interest that the loan will generate. It is literally impossible for Americans to ever be out of debt because there is not enough money in existence to ever pay off the debt. Interest money is never printed (put into circulation)! So, we have a major problem with our banking model.

An example: (In this scenario there are ten citizens and only one banker.) The ten citizens go to the banker to borrow one hundred dollars each. The banker lends each citizen one hundred dollars and requires each of them to repay one hundred and fifty dollars in five years -- the hundred dollars (principal) and fifty dollars (interest). Since the extra fifty dollars is never created or put into circulation by the banker, the ten citizens must compete with each other to acquire not only the first hundred dollars, but also “capture” an extra fifty dollars from their neighbor’s original loan to repay the banker.

The central bank knows, even before they make the loan, that some of the borrowers never will be able to repay their debt. They know this because they know there is not enough money in circulation for all of them to do so. Loans are usually secured by land or homes as collateral. When five years is up and only four of the ten borrowers are able to repay the loan with the interest, the banker proceeds to foreclose on the land and homes of the other six. The banker now finds himself the owner of much property. He then sells the property by making loans (holding mortgages) again to people -- a certain percentage of whom he knows will default because the money to pay off all the loans with interest does not exist. This is how the banking system works.

The scenario above is replayed throughout our country. In fact, it is the way the banking system works almost everywhere in the world. The system requires that some people lose so that others can win. And while people, our friends and neighbors, are competing with each other to “capture” the money they need to make their “interest” and principal, bankers are reaping, raping, and getting fat on our labor, the environment, and humanity with their scheme.

It is my experience that most people don’t believe me when I explain how the banking system works. Those same people usually don’t know the Federal Reserve Bank is a privately owned corporation. Look it up in the phone book. The Federal Reserve is NOT under the U.S. Government; it is listed with other businesses. The Federal Reserve Bank ultimately oversees and controls every bank in the United States. The United States government borrows its money from the private owners
of the FED.

It is easy to see the losers of the banking scheme: the homeless, the destitute, the prisoners; those soldiers taking bullets for oil because they couldn’t afford to go to college or find a job that paid enough to sustain them. The bankers and wealthy people who keep this system in place make sure we see the disenfranchised on the streets, on TV, and in magazines. Keeping the losers in our face keeps us fearful. Fear keeps us competing with each other for the insufficient dollars so that we won’t “end up like the losers.” Our banking system intentionally functions to keep the super wealthy on top and the poor on the bottom.

Several politicians have tried to abolish the Federal Reserve System and return to a banking system that doesn’t endlessly generate debt; a banking system owned by the people of the country, as our Constitution intends; a banking system that instead of purposefully creating losers, provides opportunity for everyone to be winners. Unfortunately, most of these politicians have been silenced, sometimes with deadly force.

To understand why any person would pull a lever that dumps dioxin into the Columbia River, or operate an incinerator that releases creosote into the air, or drive miles on highways at night to empty a tanker of radio active waste, look no further than to what they are competing for and why. Workers’ homes and the wellbeing of their children are at stake. They will do what it takes to keep their jobs. A worker knows if he refuses to pull that lever, another competitor is waiting to fill his position. Our artificially induced competitiveness is at the root of environmental problems, homelessness, hunger, war, third world slavery and greed.

Banking reform should be at the top of all issues in the upcoming elections, but you’ll find it hardly mentioned on TV. The current candidates are part of the club that maintains the status quo. Through television, the ‘status quo club’ will tell you which candidates you may vote among. The ‘status quo club’ will convince you that to vote outside the options they put forth will be “wasting” your vote.

In my experiences with the rich, I’ve learned most rich like the system just the way it is. It’s time the rest of us folk put away our petty differences and become Americans again. The founding fathers knew about the banking scheme and created a constitution that should have protected us from it.

What you can do: First, educate yourself. Excellent books and videos explain in detail how the banking scheme was perpetrated and how to fix it. Second, vote only for candidates that promise banking reform and termination of the privately owned Federal Reserve System. Third, actively promote, use and support your local currency system. Unlike Federal Reserve notes (dollars), RiverHOURS are issued into circulation without debt attached. The additional RiverHOURS currency in circulation in our region can, and will, help fill the gap that debt-generated bank loans create. Speak to any one of the GLCC steering committee members for lists of educational materials.

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