26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wealth, Virtual Wealth and Debt, June 23, 2002
Frederick Soddy wrote a book in the 1920's with the same title as my review. Dr. Soddy was writing about the monetary system in England and he reached the same conclusions as Dr. Jaikaran. Dr. Soddy also won the Nobel Prize in Physics for work involving the discovery of Isotopes. Dr Soddy was clearly a very bright man, but after reading his book I must tell you he was obviously better with numbers and physics than he was with the English language.
Jacques Jaikaran, on the other hand, can write. Dr. Jaikaran and Dr. Soddy reached identical conclusions about money and the way it works in our society, but after reading "Debt Virus" you'll have a clearer, more understandable picture than you will after wading through "Wealth, Virtual Wealth and Debt."
This is an important book that anyone who earns, saves, invests or uses "money" (obviously I mean everyone) ought to read.
I interviewed Dr. Jaikaran for a radio show I once hosted and have heard him speak back in 1995. He taught me more about money than I had previously learned in four years as an undergraduate, three years in law school and twenty five years of business. And, he did so in an engaging, easy to understand manner.
Dr. Jaikaran (he's a medical doctor by the way) learned about money, after becoming a successful surgeon, when he was invited to join a bank board. Being a responsible person, he actually read the materials he was given by the bank, the FDIC, the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve. Then after he resigned from the bank board and after the bank later failed, he translated all of that into English you and I can understand.
Dr. Jaikaran has made a compelling case that our civilization is piling up too much debt, causing debt inflation and creating dangerous monetary conditions. He also provides intriguing information about who owns the Federal Reserve (it's not who you think), how banking really works, the history of money, where our money comes, what banking systems might offer safer alternative systems from and other important facts. By the way, he's not a "gold bug" arguing for a return to the gold standard.
But, does any of this really matter to regular people like us? Well, if you paid attention to current events over the past five years, you will have noticed a series of currency crises in Thiland, Russia and Argentina. Those people we watched on television mobing banks, trying to get their money out of Argentina while it was still worth something and worried about the economic survival of their families, could easily have been you and me. Their system is basically the same as ours.
Dr. Jaikaran is a very bright, forthright and opinionated man with strong views on a variety of subjects. You may disagree with him about somethings, I do; however, I've not been able to find fault with his facts, logic or conclusions when it comes to money and debt.
If Dr. Jaikaran and Frederick Soddy are right about money and debt, and I think they are, then our monetary system is in grave danger.
I feel strongly enough about this that I've given this book to at least half a dozen people and suggested it to dozens of others. I would have given more away if I could find people willing to think about money, fractional reserve banking and debt.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Debt Virus, a short synopsis, April 16, 2003
By A Customer
This book is written at a high school level but it is more
informative than most college textbooks on the subject
of money and banking...
The problem:
Every dollar in existence represents a dollar of debt owed by an
individual, a business firm, or a governmental unit. Few
understand that all our money arises out of debt and IOU
operations.
When a storekeeper secures a $10,000 loan from the bank, there is
no transfer of funds. The bank simply makes a bookkeeping entry
that increases the storekeeper's checking account by $10,000. By
doing so, the bank has just created new money. In addition, the
bank expects the storekeeper to repay the loan with interest on
the money it created by the bookkeeping entry.
In an all-debt or debt-dominant money system it is mathematically
and physically impossible to repay the aggregate debt, for only
money representing the principal is ever created. The interest
that must be repaid along with the principal debt is never
created. For some people to repay their principal and interest,
their interest must come from the principal created for other
peoples debt. A deficit in the aggregate money supply thus
occurs making it impossible for other debtors to repay their
principal, much less principal and interest. Given such a money
system, it is only a matter of time before all the wealth of the
productive sector of society is transferred into the hands of the
money creators.
The solution:
Debt-free money, in the form of "US Notes."
The dollar bills in your pocket are called Federal Reserve Notes.
Under the present system, the US Treasury acts as a "print shop"
for the Federal Reserve. The Treasury only prints money when
asked to do so by the Federal Reserve System. Its order to print
money does not come from the President or Congress.
When the government wants money, it has only two choices, it can
either tax American citizens and businesses, or it must borrow the
money from somewhere. When the government borrows money from the
Federal Reserve, it issues an IOU (a bond) to the Fed, which then
creates checkbook money by means of a bookkeeping entry. This
newly created money is then lent to the government, at a price,
known as interest. In order to pay the interest on this national
debt, the government either collects taxes, or borrows more money.
The author proposes that Congress is legally entitled to order the
US Treasury to print US notes. He goes on to suggest that the
Treasury should be the only authorized source of money in the
United States, and it ought to answer to the government. In this
way, money would be created by government but no interest would be
owed. This in turn would eliminate the need for an income tax.
My thoughts:
The author's solution is similar to what Abraham Lincoln tried to
do when he issued "greenbacks" to fund the civil war.
Although the author's presentation of the problem is excellent, I
have misgivings about his solution. Once the government is given
the right to print fiat money, the potential for abuse would be
enormous. For instance, a left-wing government might decide to go
on a spending spree and propose all sorts of public works projects,
from socialized medicine to government ownership of entire
industries.
Unless equal attention is given to making sure that the power of
government to intrude into the lives of citizens and businesses
(both public and private) is limited, the author's solution might
just put us on the fast track to socialism, and we could end
up with the very tyranny we seek to prevent. In my opinion,
debt-free money issued by the government should only be attempted
if, and only if, constitutional safeguards ensuring limited
government are in place.
Ironically, socialism is precisely what the "money power" wants.
Since they control the government through indebtedness, they would
like the government to assume even greater control over the economy
and the lives of ordinary citizens.
Unfortunately, there are no easy answers. In the final analysis,
our social problems are not so much political or economic, as they
are spiritual:
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves,
and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then
will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal
their land.
II Chronicles 7:14
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