Letters / Conceived in iniquity
How I regret not taking the chance to speak to David Hyams about banking while he was living in Shetland (Intrigued; SN, 26/04/15) . I recollect that he told me he worked as an accountant for a bank before he retired.
I don’t suppose he was aware of the basic fraud in bank lending – that when you take out a loan or a mortgage, the bank simply conjures the money out of thin air.
From the Bank of England′s Quarterly bulletin, Q1, 2008, p. 103: “Subject only but crucially to confidence in their soundness, banks extend credit by simply increasing the borrowing customer′s current account, which can be paid away to wherever the borrower wants by the bank ′writing a cheque on itself”. That is, banks extend credit by creating money (My emphasis).
This increase in the money contributes to inflation, as does charging interest on something they did not have in the first place. We think of The Bank of England as being part of the establishment of the UK, but it’s not. It’s a private corporation with the sole purpose of extracting as much profit as possible from the population.
Another quote: “I′m afraid that the ordinary citizen will not like to be told that banks can and do create money. And they who control the credit of a nation direct the policy of governments and hold in the hollow of their hand the destiny of the people”. Reginald McKenna past Chairman of the Board of Midland Bank.
The problem is that the banks have the government by the throat. Not content with bailing them out after their disastrous gambling exploits, the government continuous to feed them billions by means of ‘quantitative easing’.
Is at any wonder that Josiah Stamp, president of the Bank of England in the 1920’s and the second richest man in Great Britain at the time said: “The modern banking system manufactures money out of nothing. The process is perhaps the most astounding piece of sleight of hand that was ever invented. Banking was conceived in iniquity and born in sin.”
The Sovereign Nation of Shetland is looking for a way to establish a fair and honest society and none of this forms part of it. There is no practical reason why the government could not issue its own money and lend it interest-free to its citizens (as Canada is now discovering).
Another facet to the problem is that our money has no intrinsic value, as it used to when backed by gold. The UK has, in common with all major countries, what is called a fiat currency, the value of which is determined by the markets, not by anything of value.
All the major currencies suffer inflation. We experience it as a rise in prices, but in fact it is a fall in the value of the currency. Inflation means that all the major currencies lose value compared to the goods we want to buy with them.
It is planned that the Sovereign Nation of Shetland currency will be backed by a basket of commodities – the basic ingredients of the goods we want to buy. That means it will not suffer inflation – it is always in step with the commodities, and will also appreciate in value against all the major currencies, making it very desirable in times of economic stress.
This means there will always be outside capital queuing up to invest in our mortgages and loans, even without interest, because they will be able to see an increase in the value of their capital.
Additionally, if the community itself wishes to fund and issue loans and mortgages to its members, it will be free to do so. The current population of the UK is able to support the activities of the banks at present – removing them from the equation will decrease the burden.
There’s a lot more to it than that, but you can find more at www.sovereignshetland.com Look at the Banking and Currency tabs.
On the question of the price of goods and services – as soon as we are free of the UK, we are not subject to 20 per cent VAT. I grant you that is not the same as paying 20 per cent less and I should have stated savings of 16.67 per cent, but it is still a substantial saving.
Nobody disputes the fact that Shetland subsidises the UK by £76 million per year (£7,600 per household), that we have a £131 million positive trade balance with the rest of the world and that oil from Shetland waters, even at today’s reduced prices, contributes around £5 billion (not million) to the UK economy.
There is no question that the Sovereign Nation of Shetland, which means all those willing to assert their rights here, would have no difficulty standing on its own two feet financially.
So, David, maybe we can have the benefit of your banking expertise?
Stuart Hill
stuart@forvik.com
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