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2000 years a Greek named Archemedes ran down the
streets of Athens running "Eureka! Eureka!" [ I got it! I go it!]. Do you know why?
Well for a long time it was suspected the money changers
[bankers] were diluting the gold with lead but nobody could prove it.
Sitting in the bathtub, he discovered the principle of density. So
if you had a gold bar and a lead bar of equal weight, the lead bar would displace more water. Put
another way a given volumn of lead being of lower density would always weight less than gold which
has a much higher density.
Archemedes had found a way to keep the money changers honest and
that is why he was so excited.
TODAY
2000 years later, nothing has changed, the money changers are
still playing their same games and are trying to slant things in their favour as much as possible -
and they are clever, very clever.
100 YEARS AGO - HEWERS OF WOOD - MUSCLE POWER
And we on the other hand have a lot of catching up to
do. Don't forget, not that long ago in fact less than 100 years ago
at least where I habitat today [near Vancouver
Canada] this place was covered with virgin timber over 100's of feet tall. There was no machinery
then as there is today and those trees and timber were removed with dynamite and muscle power. For
the most part we were simple, mere hewers of wood
and carriers of water and like monkeys not that wise to the
ways of the pen.
We all, I hope, are on the side of Archemedes here, we are not in
any position to change anything in the short term but at least we can get ourselves up to an
awareness of what is going on. I hope to at least give
you some inkling as to what you can do to put yourself on at least a level playing field. I hope to
do better than that and perhaps give you a better idea of how we can play the financial game so
that we all might prosper but first we must know the ways of the clever men.
Speaking of "Clever Men" Here's a diversionary story for
you:
Am I a Monkey's Uncle?
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Not so long ago a group of clever men
entered into our common domain under the sun
Their singular and somber step in great contrast
to the richness of freedom we enjoyed then
When the black hats came into our rich forest
we watched them from above high
as they planted their iron cage
in the center of a large clearing
and then as mysterious as they came
they left us to our own devices.
As the clever men knew we would
we descended and approached the cage
at first with great supicion and caution
but when we realized inside the cage
were all the coconuts we would ever want
in plain sight for the taking
we slipped our arms in under the bar
to take benefit of what was freely there
But when we tried to draw the coconuts out
we could not as the black bars would not permit us
It wasn't long after that the clever men returned and
we not willing to let go of what we surely grasped
we lost our freedom not so long ago.
les raketti
November 30 2007
The key concept is that Archimedes discovered a way that gold as
means of exchange could keep its value.
The concept you need to let go of is that paper money or paper for
that matter has value.
The next two pieces illustrates 1) the point that money can really be
anything as long as it is an honest representation of value and 2) that it is the
responsibility of government to ensure that the means of exchange maintains its value.
Next GO TO: My Millionaire Neighbour
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