14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the True Hidden Gems of Our Time, November 3, 2007
This review is from: Unforgiven (Paperback)
It is a sad commentary of our times that this book has not been widely read or reviewed.
The book is a prophetic explanation of many, if not most, of the reasons for the imminent collapse of an unsustainable Western Economic System centered in the USA and the UK.
Charles Walters spells out many of the detailed reasons behind the economic booms and busts, wars, depressions, and the overall erosion and wasting of the economic health and wealth of the American people during the 20th Century, and the opening pages of the 21st.
At the risk of oversimplifying his work, he lays the blame on the erosion of farm price parities and the dismantling of the family farm, along with "globalization" and "Free Trade" (rather than "Fair Trade") agreements such as the WTO, NAFTA, etc. This, in turn, was caused by deliberate decisions by the international central banking fraternities to take over our nation's money supply in 1913, so that all new money came in the form of interest-bearing debt, rather than by direct government issue as was decreed in our Constitution. This, in turn, has resulted in a systematic transfer of "real wealth" of our nation from the "people" to the most wealthy of the investment classes, a dismantling of the small farmer and businessman and of the middle classes in general.
Walters clearly shows with overwhelming evidence that times of sound, interest-free money and proper protective tariffs have been prosperous, and times of privately circulated, interest bearing money and so-called "Free Trade" have been ruinous to the middle classes of farmers and producers, and a prelude to panics, recessions, and depressions. He conclusively shows that a service economy is unsustainable, and must eventually become a slave-economy.
IMO, this is one of the "must reads" for anyone hoping to comprehend what is happening to and in our world today, the replacement of democracy with plutocracy (rule by the wealthy) or oligarchy (rule by power cliques). Other sources of understanding are: Carrol Quigley's "Tragedy & Hope, AB Jones' "How the World Really Works", David C Korten's "When Corporations Rule the World" , GE Griffin's "The Creature from Jekyll Island", Stephen Zarlenga's "The Lost Science of Money" and "The Urantia Book". Trust me, they are all worthy of your serious attention.
The poem, "Unforgiven" is the source of the books somewhat strange title, and is quoted in the Foreword:
"The people" is a beast of muddy brain
That knows not its own force, and therefore stands
Loaded with wood and stone; the powerless hands
Of a mere child guide it with bit and rein;
One kick would be enough to break the chain;
But the beast fears, and what the child demands,
It does; nor its own terror understands,
Confused and stupefied by bugbears vain.
Most wonderful! with its own hands it ties
And gags itself-gives itself death and war
For pence doled out by kings from its own store.
Its own are all things between earth and heaven;
But this it knows not; and if one arise
To tell this truth, it kills him unforgiven.
by Tomasso Campanella, as translated from the Italian poem,
"The People," by John Addington Symonds
Jere L Hough
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Step one of a recovery in any and all country, July 1, 2010
This review is from: Unforgiven (Paperback)
I've been reading on finance for 25 years and NEVER heard what is revealed in this book. The evidence spans some '90 years and is overwhelming. Testimonies given to congress over a 30 year period can be obtained at the library of Congress ([...]).
Argentina's financial collapse (see this title on youtube) to Island's meltdown to the current double-dip taking hold, believe you me, no economist sees a way out, everyone is caught wide eyed like a deer in headlights. I would not blame any economist anymore since none of what is talked about in this book was ever taught to them.
Raw Materials Economics. You'll hear this expression on every mouth very soon.
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