The second-most powerful force after the divine. We cannot serve both at the same time (Mat 6:24).
2 Timothy 3:1-10 - we are in these last days, and the love of self and love of money has reached dizzying heights. We have generated enormous apparent wealth from hypothetical money.
It’s a pyramid standing on its head, with the little tip at the bottom representing real assets, above „real“ currency in circulation, backed no longer by gold, but, more or less hypothetically by a statistic of productivity like GDP. And above there are stocks and bonds, and apparent wealth associated with real estate and various other speculative bubbles (yes houses have a value, that depreciates over time, but “location” gets ever more valuable, not in itself, but by city dwellers willing to pay ever more ludicrous amounts for property), and then there’s all the derivatives on top, all the creatively lumped up mortgage-backed fantasies, topped off with some in(s)ane “credit default swaps”. Note that the earth’s GDP is roughly represented by the size of the globe, but otherwise, the pyramid is not to scale. The derivatives are easily five times all the other layers combined.
Source: http://www.silverbearcafe.com/private/05.09/upsidedown.html,
(also see this if you want your mind boggled a bit further
by some visualisations to scale, based on $100 bills)
The Boston College’s Center on Wealth and Philanthropy conducted an indicative anonymous study among the super-rich (>$25million) in 2007/2008 - see
www.bc.edu/bc_org/rvp/pubaf/07/CWP_UltraRich.pdf
- or for discussion of the results, see blog articles like
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/04/secret-fears-of-the-super-rich/308419/?single_page=true
or www.marketwatch.com/story/pity-the-super-rich-miserable-lost-souls-2011-07-26
or www.learnvest.com/2011/05/why-the-wealthy-feel-poor-133/
In a nutshell, they found that the majority do not feel financially secure and would typically think they’d require about a quarter more to reach a state where they might feel secure -- which is of course a delusion. Money will never make you feel secure, it will only shackle you. Insatiable greed ultimately leads to despair and death.
But as with all addictions, a higher dose gives you temporary relief and new surprises. Our whole economical system is built on growth. As the earth can’t grow, we need to grow our imagination. Bankers and financial investors know how absurd it all is, they merely try to gauge how stable the up-side-down house of cards is, and whether they can built another quick section, and secure their illusory wealth into real assets before it comes all crashing down. It’s a game. But the people playing it don’t quite realise how much they are slaves, to ruling mammon.
Also see Margrit Kennedy’s book Interest and Inflation free Money currently available in full as PDF here:
userpage.fu-berlin.de/~roehrigw/kennedy/english/Interest-and-inflation-free-money.pdf
She also more recently wrote a book called Occupy Money (published in 2012), available at:
www.newsociety.com/Books/O/Occupy-Money.
Her website is www.margritkennedy.de.
Another eye-opener is the riveting animated 3-part video series «Money as Debt», available on YouTube and on DVD from www.moneyasdebt.net.
Or if you don’t have time for watching at least the first one containing the history, here’s a brilliant graphical summary of money creation:
I don’t necessarily agree that the cycle starts with a government election, but it’s as plausible as any other entry into this mad eddy, because it’s not a cycle, it’s a vortex with an inevitable acceleration into it’s own black hole. As I mention on the taxing page, I don’t believe gold or silver to be the answer, but the systematic explanation of our current monetary system fraud I found nowhere else more succinctly and neatly presented.
7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
17 Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; 18 That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; 19 Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
1 Timothy 6 (King James Version)