Our future is necessarily bleak given all the negative things happening in various economies. But it is possible that we could have a soft landing if our politicians were shrewd enough. There is no doubt that millions of people will lose their jobs soon. Yet if these people can be given a reasonable income to live on - then it won't be such a traumatic experience for them to lose their jobs.
They would just become part of a new leisure society. The key to this happening in an almost seamless fashion rests with the politicians.
Recalling that Abe Lincoln successfully printed money through his federal treasury ( and ignored the option of borrowing money from the private banks) to cover the cost of the American civil war is a hugely important lesson.
It is likely that there will be massive bank closures in the near future in most countries.
The government bank guaranties may be reassuring to some people, but the private banks have trillions of dollars in hidden debts (derivatives etc) which no government can guarantee.
As Banks close their doors (and they will) governments can broaden the financial base of say the Post Offices across the county, to act as new banking options for the public.
This continuing access to banking services plus the federal government by electronic means - placing several hundred dollars each week into the new accounts of all citizens (apart from the wealthiest people who may have their own resources) is how a soft landing is possible. Most people are less than happy with their jobs and their sometimes exploitative overbearing employers. They would not miss their former jobs for the most part - as long as they continue to receive a reasonable income.
And millions of Jobs can be done by robots or new computer innovations - just waiting to be introduced.
There is a simple explanation as to why people fall into poverty. They for one reason or another don't have much money to spend, even on basic necessities.
Yet if they receive several hundred dollars into their new post office bank accounts each week, then they will mostly be happier than before. They can play more sport then in the past, or learn new skills in part time courses at mature age teaching institutions. some would become regular tourists even within their own countries.
Terrific.
Some of us can't imagine how the bulk of the population could live indefinitely on electronically deposited funds from the federal government each week. But this is only because we are used to having to 'work' in order to receive money from somewhere.
Yet as long as money is being deposited into their accounts each week - most people would not need to work and the Government funds would be inexhaustible, partly because a large percentage of the money given out by the government would be returned to it in the form of affordable direct and indirect taxes .
Would we be encouraging people to not work ?
Well computers have made millions of jobs redundant in recent years and the process continues. For example soon when you visit super markets there are likely to be very few check out people as consumers will be paying for selected goods as they take them off the shelves with their credit cards or whatever. This is not a big issue as long as people keep getting a reasonable income sent to their post office accounts each week.
For a long time to come - there will be many jobs which require skilled people. Bus and taxi drivers, police and similar positions , and these would be well paid jobs , so you would get people who are happy to work normally so that they can afford to do a lot of international travel or whatever, but most people will be happy to blend into the future leisure society which is not far off.
The key to this soft landing is for politicians to realize that the private banks are not really needed by governments or citizens in general.
The private banks have controlled our economies for hundreds of years for their own profit motives. They even masquerade under names like the Federal Reserve in the US or the Reserve Bank in Australia for instance and they give the impression that they are almost government banking organisations and they actually set interest rates which they should never have been allowed to do.
Millions of people in the US and other countries are likely to lose their homes due to mortgage problems soon, but only because mortgage rates had risen too high too quickly in the recent past (due to the greed of the banks) but a one per cent interest rate can still bring in a reasonable return.
The point is that it can be the federal treasury acting in a new role as a financier and lender to citizens in general which could have a permanent one per cent interest rate available to mortgage holders. This would probably be the end of banks being in the mortgage markets as most people would prefer the one per cent interest being offered by the treasury. But we need to see the private banks for what they are ; they are private business organisations which we can do without. Imagine having a treasury backed credit card with a one per cent interest rate compared to the up to twenty five per cent (and more) interest rate of the private banks ?
How can banks charge those exorbitant rates of interest for credit cards ? Because they have a monopoly on supplying credit card finance etc. Yet were the treasury to offer credit cards at a one per cent interest rate - then people would quickly drop the private bank's credit cards .
The private banks have become the wealthiest organisations in the world, because they have manipulated Governments into allowing them to have a stranglehold on the providing of lending finance. But we can put new life into the federal treasuries of most countries and say goodbye to the private banks and everyone would be better off.
There are some business people who are sceptical of government initiatives like this. Yet these same people take advantage of the Internet, which because it relies on government owned satellites around the world, is basically a government sponsored communications vehicle. It is incredibly cheap to use - only because there are no greedy entrepreneurs in a position of trying to get everyone to pay hundreds of dollars a week to access it.
The Internet would be only available to wealthy people if it was not government owned and sponsored.
We need to appreciate what a huge difference a government sponsored banking system - charging only one per cent interest, would make.
None of that variable interest rates nonsense, where interest rates can go up on the whim of private bankers.
No, a permanent one per cent interest rate on all borrowings from the federal Treasury would have a bigger impact than the Internet.
Sensational news.
Now you might think this is a fascinating little story which will come to nothing but what we are doing here is putting a light on the hill.
Something to look to as things spiral out of control .
In the financial panic and pandemonium which is not far off as the share markets, property markets and everything else (including banks closing their doors in many countries) implode, people are going to become desperate for solutions to their economic problems .
And it is so simple - The federal Treasuries replace the private banks as the prime lending institutions with one per cent interest rates and suddenly everyone can relax as their financial futures are assured.
Will the private banks give up the hold they have on our economies ?
Possibly not voluntarily but there will be an enormous amount of pressure placed on politicians due to the coming economic chaos and what with most banks likely to close their doors ( I think over the next two years or so) and people panicking over their savings etc -the emergence of the federal Treasuries as the new banking institutions is inevitable I think.
But reform of the banking sector is only part of the changes that we should embrace.
Politicians are subsidizing Auto industries when the auto industries are almost past their use by date.
Too many cars choking narrow streets around the world.
Better to treat them like as if they were Horse and Buggy transport due to be replaced by the next level of transport which is floating Airships.
http://www.jimbernard.org/gpage25.html/
And at the same time as we are taking to the Air in everyday transport, we should be moving to housing more appropriate for the leisure society we will soon take for granted.
We need this kind of relaxed residential /leisure housing estates.
http://www.jimbernard.org/gpage12.html/
All this can be achieved if we have some politicians prepared to look forwards rather then backwards as they usually do.
