Publisher's Synopsis
Do you ever wonder what things will be like for your children or grandchildren? Are you ever fearful your (grand)children will not make it or have a difficult time making it? If you answer "no" to both of these questions you are lucky. If you answer "no" to both questions you may not be interested in what I have to say. Maybe you should! If you have any hesitancy in answering either question you will be interested in what I say. My life and my book are about questions - questions not too many people are asking. In the late 1950's and early 1960's banking interests created a monetary system that allowed us and more importantly huge corporations to spend money they did not have and create something out of nothing. For many years I examined the proxy statements of large corporations. I learned some very interesting information from them. I remember reading of a corporation that borrowed a billion dollars. So presumably they are a billion dollars in debt. They took that debt and used it as an asset to borrow another billion. I read that and thought I did not read that correctly. I read it again. Then even a 3rd, 4th and 5th time until I finally said Yes I did read it correctly. I read of Holiday Inn which had to sell out. They borrowed a billion dollars and divided it among their top people and then were forced to sell the corporation to a British group. Again I read that several times thinking I missed something that I did not read it correctly. Again, it was correct. There were certain patterns I learned. 1) It was more profitable for a corporation to buy and sell its assets than to provide goods and services. The unemployment problem is not so much because China provides cheaper labor but it is more profitable for the big corporations to buy and sell (whatever happens to be going on the market today) than provide goods and services. 2) I also found that big corporations were forming their own banks and were creating money out of their debts. 3) I also became keenly aware that more and more of the ownership of U.S. corporations was passing to Europe - especially Great Britain When I was a child I could take a dollar bill and buy a school lunch, get a haircut, ride the bus, buy a candy bar and still had 20 cents left. Today it would take that full dollar bill just to buy a candy bar. It would take 2 of them to purchase a soft drink. In the mid 1970's President Nixon took us off the gold standard. We had been off the gold standard for some time. The Conference at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire in July, 1944 declared the USA had to keep the dollar tied to the $35 an ounce ratio established by the gold standard. That meant the USA could only put as many dollars in circulation as there was gold to back it. President Nixon announced that the USA would no longer adhere to this rigid standard. Within a few months gasoline prices tripled. Slowly other prices began rising and have continued to rise. In 1977 I became aware of elderly neighbors who could no longer afford their utility bills which began rising exorbitantly. It was during this time that I began my research at LSU. One day a friend said: "If you want to know why something happens, follow the money trail." I could see some truth to that but it seemed so simplistic. I began my research to prove him wrong. The more I researched the more I realized that the money trail was broader and more involved than either of us suspected. Based on that research I wrote a book "Surrogate Wars." The book later became "Why Were Are Always Broke: things we need to know about the economy." I have continued to research these questions and continued too write. This book "Must We Always Remain Broke?" is an attempt to show the reader some alternatives that ordinary people and some local groups are actually using to help solve the problems our bankers have created.
