lutherbeau
Joined: 09 Nov 2012
Posts: 10
|
 Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2012 8:08 am Post subject: Banking and Legalized Fraud |
 |
|
Banking and Legalized Fraud
Banking and Legalized Fraud
Banking came into existence as a fraud. The fraud was legalized and we've been living with the consequences, both good and bad, ever since.
In the 16th century as the gold and silver the Spanish had taken from America poured into Europe, coins grew larger, more plentiful and heavy. Merchants needed a safe place to keep them when they weren't needed. The goldsmiths had large safes and fierce dogs and it became customary to leave coins on "safe deposit" with them.
Next people saw that a "gold certificate" or warehouse receipt signed by the goldsmith was more convenient to circulate than those heavy coins made of soft metals that quickly wore out if they passed hand to hand. So the smiths printed up receipts in convenient denominations promising payment in gold to whoever presented the receipt. Some people took to writing notes to the smith ordering him to transfer the ownership of some of their coins to someone else. Thus the personal check was born.
Then one day one of the smiths had a brilliant, and wholly dishonest, idea. He noticed that people so much preferred his paper money to its "gold backing" that the gold in his vault hardly circulated - some of it hadn't moved in years. So he thought, "I could print up some extra gold certificates and lend them out to gain the interest.”
The idea was irresistible, and thus banking was born!
_________________
lapel pins |
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
