Tragedy & Hope: Bankers

The world seen through the eyes of pynk elephants. "Talk with people who see the world differently." -unknown.

Capitalism, oligarchies, the secret discovery of credit, the year 1694; including the build-up towards WWI- what do they all have in common?

Bankers!

If you ever wonder if money makes the world turn, you are not far from the truth. Carroll Quigley, in his book, Tragedy & Hope, illustrated how the modern world was shaped & orchestrated by financiers; these men using their influence, managed affairs of the world through controlling the nation’s/states monetary systems. 

As capitalism became the preeminent economic system from the 17th century to our present day, nations of the world from the 18th-20th century managed to work with each other, apart from their self-interest with the exclusion of bankers (Quigley 43). 

If you read my previous blog post pynk elephants, you will understand my stand on capitalism. Capitalism, to me, has nothing more than a positive outlook. Capitalism has helped individuals or nations to increase their economic standings in the world. Capitalism remains the standard of making goods and services flow effortlessly because of competitive and fair markets. Yet, what made capitalism corrupt as you and I know it today, was due to a small group of individuals who used a unique channel to advance their ways of corruption. We have come to recognize this channel as the bank.

Now bankers have existed before the 16th century yet, a family from Florence took banking to a whole new level (the Medici); and the rise of global markets created a vacuum which only international banking could fill in the void. 

But how did these financiers, being part of a minute group of elitists, managed to have their grasp on the affairs of the world- you may be asking? 

As complex as this topic could be, I will aim to make it simple.

The Gold Standard 

Before 1914, the world traded its goods & services under the gold standard (63). Fiat currencies (paper money) were not allowed to circulate outside their respective nation, and these paper currencies were attached to gold (60). Before the 20th century, anyone could take their fiat currency into a bank and trade it in for gold, but now you would be laughed upon (I have tried). The gold standard provided nations, the global economic system a steady scheme on inflation, as gold would bring the much necessary equilibrium to the price system of goods and services. 

But gold had its flaw. Gold limited an individual, let alone a nation, to build their wealth. Even now as then, there is a finite amount of gold in the world. The gold standard before the 20th century stabilized within the affairs of men how many goods or services were allowed for purchased with hard money (gold). Gold provided the much-needed prudence for individuals or nations not to spiral into debt. 

Debt has always existed, but not as we know it today. The gold standard made it close to impossible to indebt yourself, but it did not refrain a nation nor an individual from doing so. Via the council of wise men, heads of state and individuals began to embrace an idea: detach gold from the currency of the land. 

To detach gold from the currency of the land, fiat currency would need the trust of the people and the confidence of the state (managed by a central bank, of course). 

By detaching gold from the currency of the land, it would give a nation as well as an individual reason to acquire services or goods which are out of their reach (for individuals luxury goods, for nations, military equipment). 

Nations could begin to borrow capital from the central bank of their land to build their military for wars- based on credit (257). Banks would issue loans or print more paper currency for the state, which only increased their debt. Once gold was detached from paper currency bankers easily controlled governments through central banks, the greatest invention of 1694. A nation was now indebted to the central bank by giving up their gold and their purchasing power (316).

Politics

Countries of Europe before WWI conducted their affairs diplomatically compare to today’s standard of diplomacy. When diplomacy failed, they would go into war with one another; yet amid their battle, these nations would find a compromise with one another for the limited resources. Remember, due to capitalism, the short supply of resources (certain materials, certain chemicals, foods, or even land) led to talks with other nations for what was needed. If trade talks between the-soon-to-be warring nations could not come to a compromise, these two countries would start a war for what they were seeking. 

 Wars, before the turn of the 20th, were carried out this way. European Nations sought ways to work with one another but, it would all change once bankers entered politics. Politicians purchased by bankers and companies to do their bidding at the turn of the century led to the growth of political movements such as democracies, nationalism, and industrialism. It would eventually lead nations to breakout into pure annihilation for one another, hence WWI (236). 

Oligarchies -Certain elitists in society or families- had their hands in the monetary system of Europe. These individuals began to think of new and brighter ideas. By utilizing their influence, these oligarchies used their persuading prowess on politicians or heads of states to do their bidding (51). 

One of the most famous families of Europe was the descendants of Meyer Amschel Rothschild (51). His sons managed to carve up Europe and the financial affairs to their liking. It is well-known that heads of state, Kings, Queens would come to them to obtain financial funding for campaigns or even possible leverage to remove enemies from public office (52-54).

These affairs were being masterminded in secret (52), leveraging politicians to carry on their mission. But what was fascinating as I read this book was how families like the Rothschilds birthed secret societies, one perhaps not well known, called The Roundtable Group (131). Their mission was to establish small roundtable groups in every nation to teach how society, government, and the people should act, think, and be managed (147). 

These men of the roundtable group from Europe selected men of influence known as ‘The Kindergarten group’ who would supervise the reshaping and thinking of tribes, cities, and even nations in Africa (132).  In the United States, a roundtable group version was formed and renamed The Council of Foreign Affairs (132). 

World affairs could not transpire without the first central bank in England in the year 1694. This bank developed a credible scheme to loan to small countries and even nations based on the credit system (48-9). The objective of a bank was to indebt individuals through lending with interest.  The creation of a central bank had different ideas: the intention was to indebt a nation; just like banks did with individuals, a central bank would profit off the country through interest from the loans they provided (55, 324). By conducting this, a nation had more reliable credit to purchase goods or services from other countries thanks to inquired debt from the central bank.

The saying echoed by Alexander Hamilton goes, ‘the greater the debt, the greater the credit’ (rephrase, of course). 

[Freedom is to be debt-free, not be chained to debt, no matter what collar position of work you may hold (blue, white, or yellow. if you are in debt; you will have to work your living years to pay off first the interest before coming near the principle (whole different topic)] 

The creation of the first central bank in England made Great Britain the most powerful nation on the planet. It gave them the power to control the seven seas as they funded, indebted nations to the ‘crown’ from the 16th-20th century.

Eventually, the eyes of the oligarchies of Europe had their eyes towards the far west, the sleeping giant: The United States. 

United States

The United States was in inception during the times of the colonies (16-18th century), molding itself and eventually breaking away from the crown, the United States managed to stay away from the affairs of Europe, thanks in part to the division of both great oceans. This luxury provided the United States not only a chance to become self-sufficient but have no interruption from its development (1600-1900). While Great Britain controlled the oceans with its mighty navy (249), the United States benefited, carried on its trade with other nations uninterrupted.

The oligarchies of Europe began to plan their conquest of the west; this would all come into fruition as men the Rothschilds took on as apprentices, eventually would lead to the molding of one American in particular. One apprentice who would start a chain of events was Cecil Rhodes, who would learn their ways and schemes of conducting affairs when it came to financing (132-133). But it was the man who Cecil Rhodes began to befriend, George Peabody, later becoming his apprentice. Mr. Peabody learning the art of financing done by the Rothschild, having no children, took on an apprentice. Mr. Peabody would teach him about the roundtable group as taught to him by Mr. Rhodes; this young man, later on, would have a connection with the Rothchild’s. This apprentice was an American, and he was none other than J.P Morgan (327, 945, 953).

 J.P Morgan, alongside business tycoons, would carve up the United States at the turn of the 20th century, as bankers of London did in 1694 through their Central Bank -Bank of England. What fascinated me, and perhaps you reading this blog post, is how J.P. Morgan and well-known businessman of the time were never affiliated to one political party. These men invested in both political parties (72, 73, 945) as they saw political parties at the federal level as organizations to carry out their bidding. 

J.P. Morgan and others changed the course of history for the United States at the beginning of the 20th century. Utilizing fear upon the public through news outlets, these men create an economic depression (1907). Using the momentum of the people, these men managed to draft, create through ‘help’ from certain politicians the Federal Reserve Bank in 1913. The Federal Reserve Bank would function just like the bank of England, created in 1694 (59, 326). 

From the inception and birth of the Federal Reserve Bank, loans began to go out. Gold was detached temporarily from the federal note we know as the dollar; these loans help fund communism (the Bolshevik revolution), military equipment for European countries to fight off their enemies as WWI began to break out. Loans provided to European countries then used to purchase military equipment from the United States, making the United States a mighty sleeping giant. The United States, after the creation of the Federal Reserve Bank, went from a nation of debt to a creditor nation (68, 250). Eventually, J.P Morgan and his patrons would use the means of newspapers & politicians to persuade public opinion to enter into the great war of 1914. 

WWI & Conclusion

As mention earlier, nations before 1914 (WWI) went to war after diplomatic matters to reach a compromise for certain materials, lands, and so on failed. But with the birth of the first central bank of England in 1694, others through the centuries, and eventually The Federal Reserve Bank in the united states in 1913, Bankers discovered ways to control markets on a global scale through fiat currencies. Those countries who opposed these bankers backed by oligarchies would persuade their politicians to stir up the people and make their respective nations feel unease and in great danger from the coming enemies (Germany and her allies). We have been informed the great war broke out because of the unease tensions between the European agreements coming to termination before 1914 – the eventual assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. His murder, as we know, catapulted into a war across Europe that lasted until 1918. On the surface, all this is true, but behind the scenes is what we barely have ever really paid attention to or allowed to know unless one possesses a pynk mynd (curious mind) to seek the hard facts. 

According to the late professor, who mentions in his book, Tragedy & Hope, the elitist through financiers working alongside politicians were planning to carve the world to their liking (144, 147, 165, 582,950-1). But certain European nations opposed this idea not because they did not desire such an agreement but because they did not understand how social democracy worked among the powerful. 

Since they failed to understand such agreement with these men of power, an all-out war ensued through Europe. Once WWI was confirmed, loans began to fly off the shelves like hotcakes, and those who profited were, of course, the bankers managed by oligarchies. 

Little did these men of power know, Germany was well advanced in their technology and weapons; Germany alone could have destroyed their plan entirely. These men of power who provided loans to the allies were now facing the possibility of not only losing the war but their money entirely. Of course, this led to another bright idea, which brought the United States into the Great War in 1917.

The creation of the Federal Reserve Bank in 1913 helped the United States move away from being a nation of debt into a creditor nation (68, 250). With All of Europe participating in WWI, the United States remained isolated. Providing loans to European countries gave the US an upper hand as they build their military alongside providing these military goods if needed. American and global bankers’ monies had become linked to the war, and if the wrong side won these loans -including lines of credit given to these European nations would be forever lost. 

Bankers discovered a way to get the United States into the war; with the help of propaganda and a false flag (The sinking of the Lusitania), it helped move the public opinion of the citizens of the United States once and for all to call upon Congress to provide the help the western allies needed (257). 

Once the united states joined the Great War, it was the icing on the cake. The United States helped Great Britain, France & others to bring Germany and her allies to their knees. 

In conclusion, what happened after the great war and the following two decades in-between would become a prelude to WWII.  It would lead these men of power to have control of the markets and profits through Europe, once the Germans surrendered with their allies, & the treaties were signed. Little did the world know at the time, the reason for dictators’ ascension with the aid of bankers would all start in a palace known as Versailles. 

Until then,

THYNK PYNK!

Reference: Quigley, Carrol. Tragedy & Hope. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1966. Print.