Gilbert's Letters
September 16, 1993
WE CAN'T BORROW OURSELVES OUT OF DEBT
America's money is created as debt at interest.
Prior to its creation it has no existence.
When the debt principal is repaid, that money ceases to exist, as before, and the debtor is burdened with an obligation to pay interest to the money creator. The borrower's only options to satisfy this obligation are to forfeit collateral or to go further into debt to have more money created in an attempt to pay it.
By this simple, little understood trick the creators of "money", or "credit", or "deposits", (actually DEBT) have, without lifting a finger or breaking a sweat, siphoned off the real wealth of our nation which is created by productive efforts of people and the providence of nature and have reduced America's citizens to vassals in their system of debt slavery.
For every person in our country there is $20,000 of money in existence. Sounds good! But there is $64,000 of debt! Apply your $20,000 to the debt and that money will cease to exist leaving you without any money and $44,000 of debt. Your options are to forfeit your assets or borrow more money to attempt to pay.
You can not borrow yourself out of debt!
Since the average person only deals with money after it is brought into existence, perhaps it is not surprising that the cause of the ever increasing debt is not widely perceived. But it must be widely perceived if there is to be any hope of correcting it.
Since the method of money creation is itself the cause of the ever increasing debt, it is not possible to correct the problem using any method that deals with money after it has been created.
Working harder will not correct it.
Working longer hours will not correct it.
Having a job for everyone in the family will not correct it.
Neither raising nor lowering wages will correct it.
Full employment will not correct it.
Greater utilization of natural resources will not correct it.
Lesser utilization of natural resources will not correct it.
Neither increasing nor decreasing exports will correct it.
Less spending will not correct it.
More spending will not correct it.
More borrowing will not correct it.
Less borrowing will not correct it.
Changing the interest rates will not correct it.
Changing the tax rates will not correct it.
The only thing that will correct it is the one thing that is sacrosanct in the media, in education, in politics, in religion, and, yes, even in our social circles.
The only thing that will correct it is to strip private companies (banks) of their power to create money as debt at interest and adopt a method of money creation whereby the United States Treasury creates money as CREDIT!
This issue is the key issue to the financial future of our nation and world!
This chicanery is practiced throughout the world!
We must turn an entrenched, centuries old financial establishment on its ear!
Read about it.
Study it.
Understand it.
Talk about it.
Then raise some hell!
Gilbert Vik
275 E. Sunny Sands Rd.
Cathlamet, WA 98612
360 849 4440
October 17, 1993
To the Editor,
The sizable number of sociologists at large in our nation today provides us with an opportunity to document in minute detail the death throes of a thoroughly modern society drowning in red ink.
This opportunity will likely be missed since sociologists have no perception that aberrant social behavior becomes the norm when a debt money system has enslaved a people taught to believe they are free.
We are told, correctly, I think, that most aberrant social behavior is the result of a sense of hopelessness.
Suppose you decide who has the most accurate perception of the hopelessness brought about by our debt money system. Is it the person who has no possessions, no education, no job, no prospect of a job, no money and no credit in a society that measures "success" and self worth in these very things? Or, is it the person who has all or most of these and operates under the delusion that he/she is "free" and "successful" while working from January first to Memorial Day to pay taxes and from Memorial Day to Halloween or later to make payments on debts?
Both these individuals can thank our debt money system for their plight.
But sociologists are not alone.
Business people don't get it.
Economists don't get it.
Educators don't get it.
Journalists don't get it.
Pastors don't get it.
Politicians don't get it.
Join the battle now while stamps and paper and words are still the weapons of choice.
Gilbert Vik
275 E. Sunny Sands Rd.
Cathlamet, WA 98612
360 849 4440
April 21, 1995
To the Editor,
The United States Constitution has a couple of paragraphs specifying the Congress's relationship to money.
Article 1, Section 8, paragraph 2 says (Congress shall have power) To borrow money on the credit of the United States. In today's language this permits Congress to use a credit card.
Article 1, Section 8, paragraph 5 says (Congress shall have power) To coin Money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the standard of Weights and Measures;. In the past this has been mostly thought of as the authority to print money as well as minting coins but to bring it up to date let's say that it gives Congress a Magic Checkbook.
The Magic Checkbook is actually an invention of the banking industry, but since the First Congress in 1791 loaned its paragraph 5 powers to the banking industry and left them there ever since, it would seem only fair for Congress to make use of the banking industry's Magic Checkbook invention.
What is a Magic Check?
A Magic Check, except for the fact that it is written by an official of the banking system, is exactly like a check written by a bank customer who has no funds in the account.
Then what makes it good?
It is good because the banking system does all the clearing of checks and if they clear it, it is as good as any other check. It is as good as gold, in fact, since the banks can buy as much gold as they care to own with Magic Checks.
What is the purpose of a Magic Check?
It creates new money and introduces it into the money supply thereby increasing the amount of money in circulation.
What authority do the banks claim for issuing Magic Checks?
The banking system officials claim that they have authority from Congress to issue Magic Checks and that Congress has that authority from paragraph 5 cited above of the United States Constitution.
Does this mean that Congress could write Magic Checks?
Absolutely.
And Congress can fund the expenditures of the Federal Government without using their credit card?
Absolutely.
Would there be any difference between a Magic Check written by a banking official and a Magic Check written by Congress?
There would be no difference in the checks themselves or the amount of money they would create. However, since banks are private profit seeking businesses their officers are reluctant to purchase anything except interest earning debt instruments and therefore their Magic Checks literally create debt. But Congress has no such profit motive and their Magic Checks would (1) purchase services needed by the public and (2) fund projects needed by the public and (3) redeem the government's debt instruments thereby eliminating both the debt and need to levy most taxes.
Does this mean that when Congress uses its credit card they are borrowing money created by a bank's Magic Check?
Absolutely.
And Congress has to levy taxes on citizens to attempt to repay the money the bank created with a Magic Check?
Absolutely.
Then why doesn't Congress tear up their credit card and start writing Magic Checks?
Shouldn't we ask Congress?
Gilbert O. Vik
275 E. Sunny Sands Rd.
Cathlamet, WA 98612
360 849 4440
October 11, 1995
To the Editor,
The primary function of any government should be to arrange its laws to ensure that its citizens are safe and secure in both their person and property. But, by allowing private companies to create our money, our very own government has conspired to confiscate the earnings and property of its citizens and transfer them to these private companies through their government-sanctioned fraud.
Collectively, these private companies are the banking system. They operate at two levels within our country.
The first level of money creation is the province of the Federal Reserve Banks. To maintain their stability all banks depend on the reliability of their creditors. The government is the most reliable creditor of all since it can tax its citizens, confiscate their property and even imprison them to collect for payment. Since the money created by the Federal Reserve is the foundation of the pyramid scheme that is commercial banking the Federal Reserve has a strong preference for dealing in government bonds and securities. The Federal Reserve writes checks to purchase what it buys but it has no checking account and no funds on deposit on which the check is drawn. Therefore the Federal Reserve parts with nothing to purchase government securities. But citizens must part with either their earnings or property to redeem the government's bond. In truth our government is presently held hostage by private corporations (Federal Reserve Banks) and citizens must pay the ransom. To remedy this colossal injustice Congress should create our nation's money by writing checks just as the officers of the private Federal Reserve corporations do at present.
The second level of money creation is the commercial banking industry where money is created by fractional reserve deposit expansion. The bank reserves created at the first level are expanded by a factor of ten or so when banks create new money by making loans. In creating this new money by loanmaking, the commercial bank also parts with nothing to obtain a lien against the creditor's collateral since the money is created by the act of making a bookkeeping entry. But the creditor must part with something to repay the "loan", either earnings or collateral. This in itself should constitute fraud in any court. But there is more. The creditor must pay interest. But the money creators don't create enough money for both interest and principal, only the principal, and so the borrower is always short the amount needed to pay the interest and must resort to more borrowing or forfeit collateral. Remember the bank parted with nothing to create the money they "loaned" at interest. It is fraud, pure and simple. Our laws and government should protect citizens against fraud.
These private companies are allowed to operate at the international level as well. International bankers have no mechanism for creating reserves like the Federal Reserve banks do in the U. S. Of course they wouldn't put their own money at risk. So what do they do? They get taxpayer funded contributions from various countries to use for reserves which they then multiply using the fractional reserve deposit expansion method to obtain liens against the assets of under-developed nations. Therefore the international bankers part with nothing to swindle foreign countries' taxpayers and citizens out of their earnings and/or property. It is fraud, pure and simple. If these foreign loans are in default the bankers lobby for a loan guarantee package which means the taxpayer provides even more funds to pay off the bank's loans if a foreign creditor can't pay.
Perhaps it is in the context of money created by private companies that the saying "They've got you, both coming and going!" originated.
If you are a U. S. citizen or taxpayer please thoughtfully consider the following question. Do you now, or did you ever, believe your government has your best interests at heart?
Gilbert Vik
275 E. Sunny Sands Rd.
Cathlamet, WA 98612
360 849 4440
November 28, 1995
To the Editor,
Suppose I have no money in my checking account and write a $1000 check to Bill's Lumber Yard to buy a unit of plywood.
Almost certainly my check will not clear and Bill will not be paid for the plywood. I could be charged with grand larceny and/or passing bad checks, arrested, tried, convicted, jailed and fined in addition to eventually paying for the plywood.
But just suppose that by some mistake my check cleared. In this case Bill would be paid for the plywood. And, by means of an undetected criminal act, $1000 of new money would be created.
When banks write bad checks they receive special treatment under the law because throughout our nation's history they have been present at every legislative session pressing for legislation that is favorable to their business. Their business is the legalized crime of money creation by check kiting and its polite name is fractional reserve deposit expansion. All other entities, including our government are now financially at the mercy of this legalized crime syndicate.
When someone obtains a bank loan to build a new house the bank does not have the money it "lends", it creates it on the spot by either issuing a check or simply making a bookkeeping entry in the borrower's account. The check itself is in every respect the same as a bad check issued by anyone else. The difference is that a bad check issued by a bank is certain to clear since the banking industry itself is in charge of clearing all checks. By the very same action that was (if detected) a crime for me, banks create new money and, not only are they not punished, but they obtain a lien against the borrower's collateral and are paid interest to boot.
We would actually be better served by allowing individuals to write bad checks to increase our money supply because as you noticed above I did not charge Bill interest when I wrote him a bad check. But this can not be allowed as there would be no control of the money supply.
Then what can we do?
The entity that is charged by our Constitution with creating and regulating our money is the Congress. The framers of the Constitution did not want our money to be created and regulated by either the American Bankers Association or Gilbert writing a bad check to Bill. Therefore, if we allow anyone to create our money by writing checks without any funds in their account, it must be Congress.
Gilbert O. Vik
275 E. Sunny Sands Rd.
Cathlamet, WA 98612
360 849 4440
March 10, 1996
To the Editor,
Having contacted the offices of several representatives of the people in Congress by phone, please allow me to submit this transcript of an almost fictitious encounter of the constituent kind.
Rriinngg... Rriinngg.......Rriinngg... Rriinngg...
"Hello! This is Rep. Foster's office in Washington, D. C. This is Laurie Clark speaking."
"Hello! Yes, I am Obert Tagsd in Washington state. I've just recently come across the solution to paying off the national debt, stabilizing the economy, eliminating the income tax and poverty and also keeping financiers from making huge profits out of war. Anyway, I am so excited I decided to call and find out what Congress can do about implementing it."
"Well, that certainly sounds wonderful to me. I'm sure Rep. Foster will want to look into this. Exactly what are you suggesting?"
"It's really simple. Congress will start creating America's money as the Constitution allows and use it to pay the nation's bills directly instead of borrowing money created by banks as it does now."
"Well, don't you realize the government has always allowed the banks to create America's money and borrows this money to pay bills the tax revenue doesn't cover?"
"Yes, I know. That's why there is presently a 5 trillion dollar national debt that is still climbing at 2 to 3 hundred billion dollars a year, about the amount of the interest charges on the debt."
"Let me talk to Rep. Foster about your suggestion and I'll call you back afterwards."
"Great."
"Goodby."
"Goodby."
Forty-five minutes pass.
Rriinngg...Rriinngg.....Rriinngg...Rriinngg...
"Hello! This is Obert."
"Hello! This is Laurie Clark again from Rep. Foster's office."
"Oh, yes, I didn't expect to hear back so soon."
"Well, Rep. Foster thought your suggestion was very interesting, but wanted to remind you that the government has always let the banks create our money and borrows to cover the shortfalls over tax revenue."
"Yes, I know.."
"You must realize that Rep. Foster is unable to accomplish anything without the help of a majority of the other members of Congress. Rep. Foster spoke to the senior member of our state's delegation who said you must realize that the government has always allowed the banks to create our money and has covered the shortfall over tax revenue by borrowing."
"Yes, I know.."
"Rep. Foster doesn't think there would be much interest here on Capitol Hill in changing the government's method of financing."
"Oh."
"Rep. Foster appreciates input from constituents and wants me to tell you that if you can think of some other simple way to pay off the national debt, stabilize the economy, eliminate the income tax and poverty and also keep financiers from making huge profits out of war please give us a call."
Gilbert O. Vik
275 E. Sunny Sands Rd.
Cathlamet, WA 98612
360 849 4440
August 15, 1996
To the Editor,
Some time back a friend told me this revealing little anecdote about economists.
Q: How does an economist get out of a hole?
A: First, he assumes a ladder.
For a long time it puzzled me how economists could completely miss discovering the devastating consequences that result from allowing private companies to create our nation's money as a debt on which they collect interest.
It certainly is not that economists are lacking in intelligence.
And it certainly is not because there are not enough economists.
No, it appears that all economic theories and constructs are based on the assumption that a sound money system is a given, a pre-existing fact on which it is safe to build various theories and constructs. If this assumption was correct, no doubt the field of economics would enjoy much greater respect and success.
Unfortunately, we do not have a sound money system.
And unfortunately many folks fail to grasp the significance of this simple fact, or else they simply do not believe it.
Our money is created as debt. What is the significance of that? Let me try a novel approach to explaining it that may be helpful.
If we ask folks what a dollar represents they might say a dollar represents 100 pennies. That would be true if we had a sound money system, one we might call a credit money system.
Since we have a debt money system, a dollar in our system actually represents the lack of 100 pennies. Our debt money dollar is actually a unit of measure to quantify what we do not have. And what we do not have is a credit money dollar.
Another way of saying the same thing is that all the numbers in a debt money system like ours are negative numbers and all the arithmetic is negative arithmetic. And that means the sum total of all our money will never, ever get above zero. Not as long as we continue to use this system.
Take some currency out of your wallet and look at what is printed on the top. It says Federal Reserve Note. And Webster says the word note means "any of certain commercial papers relating to debts or payments of money". Friend, that note is owed to a Federal Reserve Bank.
Also, the numbers in your checkbook ledger are called bank credit but in fact they too are debt and are in fact owed to some bank.
Interesting, isn't it that what is actually debt is called credit? How about credit cards? Aren't they really debt cards?
We are told that we have a money supply which currently amounts to about 5.3 trillion dollars. No significant portion of this so called money supply is anything but bank created debt which can circulate until such time as it is repaid. When repaid it no longer exists.
What accountant can balance the books if he only has red ink with which to make entries?
In this accounting system ALL the numbers are written in red.
Gilbert O. Vik
275 E. Sunny Sands Rd.
Cathlamet, WA 98612
360 849 4440
January 9, 1997
To the Editor,
"The Book of Prayer for Common Bankers" includes this selection titled "Prayer of Thanks" (for use at the end of the business day).
"Lord, how grateful we are that you have seen fit to permit the establishment of central banks in nearly every nation on the face of the earth, that they may create for us plentiful and free reserves for our prosperity and use.
"We are ever mindful that without your divine providence and fractional reserve deposit expansion we would be poor indeed, perhaps nearly as destitute as some of our customers. May it please you to allow us to continue to serve these humble servants of yours night (via credit cards and ATMs) and day forever. Not only these but their children and grandchildren for many generations to come. Please continue to instill in your servants and ours a Protestant or Catholic work ethic, as the case may be, that our business will not languish through default.
"Nor can we forget to thank and praise you that you have so wisely permitted (insert the name of the state) State law to allow us to engage in all the 'usual and customary practices of banking'. We are grateful that you have seen fit to thus elevate us above the common man and thereby we have been blessed above all others, since what for the common man would be criminal fraud is for us a customary practice.
"As if this were not enough, you have provided us with the opportunity and the means, which we have wisely made use of, to purchase controlling interest in corporations, newspapers, and other media outlets with our surplus bank reserves. That this can be done without parting with any personal or corporate wealth is almost too wonderful for the human mind to consider. Nor do we forget that we have the option to finance giant corporate mergers and engage in large scale currency speculation with our surplus reserves.
"None of this would be possible if we could not continue to clear our own checks. How sweet it is!
"We praise you, Lord, and bless your name forever!
"We are grateful too, that economics does not include the subject of money creation, that educators' compensation remains high enough so they seldom think about money except to verify that their checkbook balances, that independent newspapers parrot the stories appearing in our newspapers, that the majority of our young people are more interested in boys, basketball, babes, baseball and "Baywatch" than they are in banking, and that most adults are so busy chasing our dollars that they do not have time to even think about where they come from.
"We are perhaps most grateful of all for the almost magical way our own prosperity subdues our sense of justice and dulls our conscience. Human suffering and poverty are not our problems. We are simply businessmen.
"O Lord, through your power and ours may we maintain the status quo. May it ever be so."
Gilbert Vik
275 E. Sunny Sands Rd.
Cathlamet, WA 98612
360 849 4440
May 18, 1997
To the Editor,
"The best slave is the slave that thinks he's free."
This quote, from a friend of mine from this life now departed, is an accurate picture of most U. S. citizens. In fact, every one except the money masters are slaves. Tell this to most folks and they will no doubt say "But I'm an American citizen and in bondage to no one."
Read on, friend.
Suppose you are an average American. Some bank owns a mortgage on your home. Suppose your mortgage takes 28% of your take home pay. A typical home mortgage ends up costing two and one half times the selling price. This means 60% of this mortgage payment is interest and equals 16.8% of your take home pay and goes to the money masters. This figure does not include interest on auto loans, credit cards, etc.
You might say "But the bank loaned me money and they should have a return on their investment." In truth banks loan nothing. It is actually bank credit. You can think of it as the power to create money. No individual is allowed to create money. No other class of businesses is allowed to create money.
It would be more accurate to say that the bank allows you to overdraw your checking account if you will sign over your assets to them and pay whatever interest they are currently taking. This means that our so called money supply is nothing more than the sum total of every overdrawn checking account in the nation. Is it any wonder that we have a debt problem?
Since things are now arranged so the Congress, to whom the Constitution grants the power to create money, will not do so, Americans must pay income taxes in order that the government, too, can pay tribute to the money masters.
We must sell bonds to finance public projects and then pay two or three times the real cost of these projects because the Congress is not creating our money; money which would be free of fraud, free of interest and free of debt.
If you don't pay your taxes, either income taxes or property taxes, you will soon discover that you no longer own the property that you thought was yours.
If the money masters tighten the money supply (these are privately held corporations, remember) all manner of folks are liable to lose their property through no fault of their own.
So, even if you personally have no debts on which you are paying tribute to the money masters, they are still exacting tribute from you through taxes to finance public debt that exists because they have an exclusive franchise to create our nation's so called money. And your income and property, even though they may be free of all other debts or liens, are still in jeopardy because our nation's money is created as debt.
Still think you are in bondage to no one?
Gilbert Vik
275 E. Sunny Sands Rd.
Cathlamet, WA 98612
360 849 4440
July 19, 1997
To the Editor,
Let this letter serve as the official public announcement of my offer to create all the money the United States of America and her people require for their financial transactions.
Most folks will want to know what backing this money will have.
The main problem with our present money system is not that it isn't backed by something. It is backed by the borrower's collateral that the banks 'buy' with their good unbounceable rubber checks when they purchase mortgages and make 'loans'.
Folks in Australia have a more accurate description of what we in America call bank 'loans'. They generally refer to them as checkbook overdrafts. In other words, if you sign over your property to the bank, the bank will honor the checks you write, up to a predetermined limit, on your overdrawn checking account, provided you also pay them interest on the overdraft. Our entire money supply is nothing more than the sum total of all the overdrawn checking accounts in the nation. Is it any wonder that we have a debt problem?
One flaw of the banks' system is that interest is charged by banks for honoring overdrafts. This creates both an unpayable debt and a money shortage at the same time, creating a built in demand for more borrowing.
Another flaw is that there is no permanent money supply. More overdrafts equals more 'money': less overdrafts equals less 'money'.
To correct these flaws was the motivation for me offering to create America's money interest free. Of course, Congress could assume its Constitutional authority and create money for America that was free of fraud, free of interest and free of debt. But absent that, it would be of great benefit to the nation to allow me to create all the money our nation needs. I offer to do so entirely free of charge, there will be no interest charge and it will never have to be given back to me or repaid. It will provide the nation with a permanent money supply that can circulate freely and will not be owed to anyone. The only condition I will attach to this offer is that Congress end the practice of allowing banks to create money as debt.
I stand ready to send the first check for $1,000,000,000,000.00 as soon as Congress gives me the go ahead. My check will be payable to the U. S. Treasury and the U. S. Treasury will spend it into circulation by paying its normal expenditures. This check will be issued in the exact same fashion as the checks the officers of the New York Federal Reserve Bank issue to purchase bonds on the open market so there can be no question as to its being an accepted method of creating money.
You might ask "If a private citizen can create interest free, fraud free, debt free money for the nation so easily, why doesn't Congress do so as the U. S. Constitution stipulates?"
That's a good question. Why not ask your representatives in Congress?
Gilbert Vik
275 E. Sunny Sands Rd.
Cathlamet, WA 98612
360 849 4440
October 14, 1997
To the Editor,
My offer to create our nation's money free of charge as explained in my most recent letter (September 22) still stands and I assure you I am perfectly serious about it. But I do have a better idea for creating our money which builds on the essentials laid out in that letter. This better idea is to have everyone living in this country participate in the process of creating a permanent money supply for our nation.
The basis of this better idea is the concept of fairness. If the banking system can "buy" U. S. Government bonds with a check written against an unfunded account, it is only fair that the individuals forced to make the repayment of this bogus debt be allowed to write a check for repayment against an unfunded account. Or, since the banking system is creating a money supply based on debt by writing a check against an unfunded account, wouldn't it be better to allow residents to write a check against an unfunded account to create a money supply based on credit which would be a permanent money supply for the nation that would not be owed to anyone.
My proposal is to combine the taking of the next census with either the redemption of a large portion of our national debt or the creation of a substantial debt free money supply by requiring the census takers to have each person counted in the census who can write issue a check for $30,000.00 against an unfunded account. The check would be made out to the U. S. Treasury and the funds would be spent into circulation by the Treasury for lawfully authorized expenditures. Concurrently with the census all banks and lending institutions would be required by law to maintain a reserve ratio of 100%. This simply means that they would be required to loan only money they actually had on hand, which is just what they would like us to believe they are doing now. Banks would be taken out of the money creating business.
Perhaps even Congress might wake up and realize that they could have been creating our money all along and thereby could have eliminated the necessity of our nation ever having been in debt.
If you laughed at my previous letter in which I offered to write a check against an unfunded account for a trillion dollars, I hope you are not laughing now. This better idea gives us all an opportunity to be participants in freeing ourselves from the artificially created fictional debts levied against us by the banking system. I call them fictional debts because the banking system parts with nothing to create them. Could anything be fairer than to allow these debtors, also, who are truly victims of fraud, to part with nothing to repay fictional debts?
Gilbert Vik
275 E. Sunny Sands Road
Cathlamet WA, 98612
360 849 4440
