An alien lands in Massachusetts at the Transportation Building in the midst of the MBTA fare
increase, service reductions, and budget deficit hearings . The alien says, "Hey, what are all these people yelling and
screaming about after months of hearings!" Jonathan Davis, the General
Manager steps forward and boldly states, "We have a $159 million dollar
deficit that must be paid!" "What's a deficit," asks the
alien?" "Oh," says Dana Levenson, the Chief Financial Officer,
"It's the annual accounting law, where revenues have to balance with
expenses." Then the alien asks, "Why haven't you balanced the
budget?" Richard Davey, Transportation Secretary, steps up and says,
"We don't have enough money to cover the budget deficit because we don't
charge enough to pay for our expenses which includes the cost of borrowing
money."
The alien looks
puzzled. "You have to go slow here. Now, what is this money thing anyway .
. . and you charge for a public service?" Shouts burst forth from the
audience. A cacophony of voices: "FREE the T." "Money is green paper that buys
things." One member quips, "No, its gold and silver." Another . . . No, it is
not!" "The government prints money" "No it doesn't, it comes from borrowing
from the Federal Reserve. All money is fiat money, dollars are declared legal
money by the law of the land. Money helps people get paid for working and to
pay their taxes! Money is digits." A person in the audience holds up some
dollar bills. "These are Federal Reserve Notes." "Money pays me for my time."
"Money is evil" Another says, "Money is a transaction. I love money. Money
helps me exchange goods and services so I don't have to barter." "We work for
the money." "I don't have enough money to pay the fare increase. I can't find a
job that pays well enough." Another member of the audience shouts, "Reducing
these services will curtail my lifestyle." "There is never enough money." "We
have to borrow money with our credit cards." "Money is credit cards."
The Alien steps
back, "WOW . . . all these opinions! Can someone in the know speak?"
Dana, the CFO steps up to the mike, "Money is something we use to fund
projects. And since we never have enough, we have to borrow from banks or
investors. We promise to pay them back in the future, based on the full faith
and credit of the people, the principal amount and interest." The alien
asks, "What is interest?" Dana continues, "Interest is a fee for the use of
money." The alien looks perplexed. "You mean to say you make money by law, use
it buy things, to pay for projects for the people, to give it to pay for
working, or to pay interest and after all that giving, then have it taken away
with taxes. Sounds kind of silly to me!"
The Alien looks
to ask another question, "Where does the bank get the money to lend?"
"They get it from depositors." "No they don't . . . If the bank loaned all its
money there would be no money in the banks for the depositors to withdraw. You
never hear of a bank running out of money anymore, do you?" Another shout, "The
banks and their money are guaranteed by the FDIC." Another member yells,
"They monetize the credit of the borrower. In other words "NEW" money comes
into existence by the "promise to pay" of the borrower. The bank merely extends
the CREDIT of the borrower." The alien applauds: "There you go . . . problem
solved! Anyone can borrow from the bank for any project or purchase what they
want because the borrower creates the money."
"Not so easy,
says one, "You can't get money unless you or the project is credit- worthy" . .
. "Aren't all you earthlings working together to solve problems?" Governor
Patrick proudly stands: "Not everyone! I am a capitalist and many of my
friends are capitalists too!" An Audience member says, "Thought you were
sworn to protect all of us . . . not just a few." "Hey, how much did you make
by stealing the money from those sub-prime loans when you worked for
Ameriquest?" The alien looks startle as the voices are going to shouting:
"Okay . . . calm down," says the Alien. "If we are going to resolve
something here we will have to find out definitions and meanings . . . not be
fighting...okay? . . . What is a capitalist?" The Governor
continues, "A capitalist is one who makes money." "Ok,"
says the Alien, "Where does the money come from?" A person from
the audience screams. "It comes from working." "No," says,
the Governor, "It comes from smart investors who lend money to fund
projects and then we charge interest on that money to make more money. That's
the capitalist way!"
"So,"
says the Alien, "Where does the money come from originally for the
investors to lend?" One audience member stands up and says, "Hmmm . . .
that's a good question." One member shouts back, "Remember, money comes from
banks stupid! Everyone knows that banks have the money! Haven't you seen, It's
a Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stewart where he says, "The banks' money is not
here, it's in his home and her home?" Again the Alien remarks, "Well, there
can't be a problem then. Just go to the bank and get the money!" Dana, the CFO
chimes in, "But like I said, banks don't lend money unless the project is
CREDIT worthy! That means that they can make money on it!" "I got it,"
says the Alien, "Banks have the money, so go to the bank for the money, tell
them it's creditworthy. What's the problem?" An Occupy Bostonian replies, "The
problem is that banks charge interest on the money they loan, and they don't
loan out the interest . . . which over time decreases the money supply,
unless there are more loans. Fewer loans means less money in circulation, and
that makes money tight leading to foreclosures, bankruptcies and austerity
measures. All because of predatory lending, that is interest...that is usury!
More principal and interest debt payments reduce the money in circulation as the
debt is paid off. There never is enough money to pay the principal AND the
interest. It's mathematically impossible."
Then says the
alien, "Just borrow more money!" Then Transportation Secretary Davey
states, "We have and it just gets us into more debt. The more money we borrow
the more money we owe in interest." Then the Alien retorts, "So, if paper
and digits are money because they are declared by law and paper is cheap and
digits less so, why isn't there enough money for all the products and service
you want? Isn't it just accounting? Don't you people have enough sense to make
enough money from accounting entries? Bean me up Scotty; there is no
intelligent life here on earth!"
Slowly at first,
then very excitedly, as the Alien departs, someone in the background quips in,
"We have been fooled for many years into believing that we are borrowers
in debt and have to pay back our debt with interest. We have forgotten we are
really the creditors in the loaning process and just need to be charged a small
transaction fee instead of loans with interest that benefit the very few! We
have forgotten money is a public utility and have let private banks decide on
OUR PUBLIC CREDIT WORTHINESS. We would have enough money to pay those who want
to work and we would have enough money to fund all the projects we wanted if
only we had a 100% public infrastructure public bank to be accountable TO AND
FOR THE PEOPLE instead of to a few investors." "One more thing states Marc, an
intelligent looking gentleman from www.bibocurrency.org
: " We already have all the money we need
to pay for everything, if we only had the courage to realize that none of
us need to ask anyone permission for each of us to represent and measure
OUR own value in transactions between ourselves. All that is
required is for us to all follow a common open standard." "Looks like there may be intelligent life here on earth after
all," states the satisfied Alien. Finally, Thomas M. McGee, a Lynn Democrat, and
Senate Chairman of the Joint Transportation Committee stands and says, "We
really need to find the solution that solves the MBTA problem and do it in a
timely manner. I'm optimistic that we're able to work through some of these
differences and find an agreement." Hovering above Massachusetts, the alien writes across the
sky, "Certainly Hope So."
SUBMITTED BY
DAVID SNIECKUS
99 CRESCENT STREET
NEWTON , MA 02466
617-9642-2951
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