'From Democracy to Dictatorship' & 'Aftermath' by Arun D Ellis are 'FREE' for Kindle & PC download from Amazon until Sunday 18th February 2019 - books 2 & 3 in the Corpalism series

'From Democracy to Dictatorship'

The Independents -The Debt Makers

“Hello, my name is Sandeep Rajan and I’m standing as independent candidate for London Borough of Ealing and like my esteemed colleagues, I have no party affiliation. Whilst I thank Chris for diplomatically introducing me as an entrepreneur, which I am, yet I prefer to stand before you in unvarnished truth: I’m an ex-trader who made and lost a lot of money in this broken system of ours and that makes me a bit of an expert in how it all works and what we actually did with all the money.”

He stood quietly, waiting politely to give the floor time to exercise their democratic right to boo him off the stage. Instead the audience greeted his words with complete silence; he decided to take this as permission to continue.

“I’m only going to speak to you briefly but I’m going to discuss ‘austerity’, why we have austerity and what they want from us.”

Silence; broken by the odd cough.

“As we all know the banks lost a lot of money back in 2008. We know this because they told us; we had the threat of a financial Armageddon. But was it the truth? What really happened with the banking crisis? What really happened to all of that money and whose was it in the first place?”

A few people leaned forward, more alert, interested.

“Well the banks definitely lost a lot of money, and that’s for sure. But what they didn’t tell you is that they lost all of the money, everything, all of it,” he used quiet emphasis, no shouting and that somehow made it all the more believable. “And by that I don’t just mean what they had in their vaults” he shook his head slightly; “I mean all of the imaginary money as well.”

He left that with them for a few moments, glanced over at Colin, received a nod of affirmation then continued, “I have assumed you know how the banking system works, although a lot of people don’t. So, if you will forgive me, I will go through the process for you.”

He walked away from the rostrum, towards the front of the stage, the better to engage; a slim figure, immaculate in a bespoke city suit, an impossibly white shirt and expensive shoes. He hadn’t thought it tactful to dress down, clearly.

“A lot of people don’t realize how much of a confidence trick the whole process is; most people think that money comes from the government, and that Parliament dictates the amount of money that the Bank of England distributes. However, that is not the case, the banks do that.”

He waited for a response but there wasn’t much forthcoming.

“When someone puts their money in a bank, say £100 for simplicity sake… the bank can lend 90% of that money to someone and keep 10% in their vaults. In other words, the bank can lend £90 to someone who spends it and the £90.00 they spend ends up being deposited in another bank. That bank can then lend 90% of that £90 to someone else; or £81, as long as it keeps 10%, in this case, £9, in its vaults. The £81 is spent and ends up in another bank and this bank can lend 90% of that or £72.90 to another person and so it goes on. So what have we got? Add it up…we’ve lent out £90 + £81 + £72.90. So in total we’ve lent out £243.90 in three transactions when there was only ever £100 in the first place. And this practice goes on and on with ever larger sums of money. They even have a name for it; it’s called Fractional Reserve Banking.”

There was some shuffling in the audience and some noises indicating increased interest and, Sandeep hoped, a slight lessening of hostility. “And that’s only the tip of it,” he said, excitement in his voice, “because what do you think they issue money against in the first place?”

He scanned the crowd, “Did someone say gold? No, no, we’re no longer on the gold standard; we’re not on any standard. They just issue money, and that’s it.”

He drank some water from a bottle he’d brought with him. “Let’s say, for argument’s sake, that you want a loan. You phone up the bank and say ‘Hi, I want to borrow £10,000’”. There was a stifled titter from the crowd and Sandeep smiled, “Well, how does it go after that? If your credit rating is good they will lend it to you, if your credit rating is not, then they will not. That is all there is to it. They don’t go to their vault and see how much is in there….They don’t get a warning come up on their screens saying ‘not enough money left’…They just give it to you and add your debt to their figures, it’s as simple as that.”

He paused, comfortable and relaxed, sipped more water, “so the question now is, if the banks don’t really have the money in their vaults and they just make up the money they lend to you… who are the banks? …Surely, you might say, it must be the government…it must be regulated in some way. They can’t just lend money they don’t have, surely? ...But they can and they do. The banks are owned and run by private investors. The private investors are making up the amount of money that they want to lend out and for this service they are charging you interest.”

There was a stunned silence; in part because a lot of the audience hadn’t ever thought about the concept before and in part because now they were being forced to do so and weren’t sure what to make of it.
Sandeep gave them time, then judging them ready, continued, “Let me put it another way …you go into a shop and you buy a chair, and what have you got? Simple…You’ve got a chair, it’s solid, 3 dimensional, and you can sit on it, it’s real… but if you phone a bank for a loan they type a few things into a computer and you have a loan. You have no real money, you understand, you have pretend money that you can spend on their say so.”

He paused to look around the hall, no doubt, they were all listening now “They pass the numbers across to your bank account and when you spend it the numbers go to another bank. There’s no requirement to dig hard cash out of a vault; they transfer the numbers across on the PC. It’s a numbers game and they have us all trapped in it. Our wages are paid directly into the banks. Who amongst you can remember when that was not the case? Or has older relatives who tell you about those days when paper money appeared in a little brown envelope in your hand each Friday? The good old days when you could choose to put your cash in a box under the bed or into a building society? It is now a job requirement that you have a bank account; you have no choice. You are encouraged to pay by direct debits, incentivised so to do, the transfer is made invisibly from your bank to another bank, you don’t see any cash, so where is the money? Where is the real money?”

Sandeep stared around the hall, “Think about it, they’ve lent you something that doesn’t exist. It isn’t theirs, they haven’t taken any hard earned cash out of their pockets, it’s not real, it’s just made up money, but they’re going to charge you interest on this. They’re going to charge you interest on money that doesn’t exist, that they never had, that isn’t theirs and isn’t real. But they are going to charge you real interest on it; they are going to take money by direct debit directly from your bank. And make no mistake – this is real money which you have earned by your labour, and the banks are going to deduct this from your wages to cover interest on money that never existed.”

Sandeep watched whilst the audience digested his words, then launched again, “We accept this craziness because we think we get something out of the deal; a new car, the latest TV or a new kitchen. What we ignore is that we are being robbed by the banks. The only real money in this whole process is your money, you pay back real money on the loan and you pay back real money on the interest. They have lost nothing during the period of the loan. So, to recap, what they lent you did not exist so the lack of it for the period costs them nothing, the interest they charge is pure profit on a loan of nothing. It’s a cheap confidence trick.”

He paused briefly, “Well when deregulation started to come in the high street banks merged with the investment banks they started gambling with people’s savings, then we had the subprime loans - all of which combined to lead to the ultimate crash, now what was the crash? I mean what happened and what did it actually mean?”

He seemed to actually expect answers from the floor but it appeared no-one was willing to betray ignorance, so he was forced to continue, “Not to put too fine a point on it, the banks lost all of the money, not just the real money in their vaults but all of the made up money as well. They lost everything; which is why people started talking about a financial Armageddon. But was it really that bad? This is the big question because it’s why we have austerity today and why if they get their way, we will have austerity for decades to come.”

Sandeep paused again to let his words sink in, “I can see a question in your eyes…” some in the audience turned to look at their neighbours, “You’re asking, if the banks created all the money from nothing in the first place why, when they’ve lost everything, don’t they just go and create more?”

He lifted his hands and his shoulders went up, “The answer is simple; the banks never created any real money in the first place, they simply created the impression of money. Now people have lost faith and want their real money back from the banks that haven’t got it to give them.”

He drank more water from his bottle, “So now the banks have creditors on their backs; they have debts they cannot honour and if they were an ordinary company they would have gone bankrupt. They would’ve crashed without a government bailout and by government you need to read taxpayer… you and me. So if we had let the banks fail? What then? Well, you and I, the small investor would have lost our savings and that’s bad. We would have lost a few thousand, but would still have our homes and our jobs.”

Sandeep looked around the hall, “And the pension schemes, they would have lost a fortune as investments turned bad and share prices crashed. But that is an even spread, bad news for some, but not disastrous.”

There was movement in the hall, as they wondered where he was going with this.

“Then there’s the super rich investor, the millionaire, the billionaire; the wealthy 1%. Where do you suppose their money actually is? It’s invested by the financial services, by the banks and that is the reason the banks weren’t allowed to fail.”

He left a moment for his audience to absorb his point, “The banks were bailed out using PAYE tax payers money only because the wealthy 1% were about to lose everything; this greedy 1% of individuals would have lost all of their millions, all of their billions, their many homes, their jets, their yachts and their livelihoods. They would have been rendered poor. That is why the governments bailed out the banks, not to save us but to protect the investments of the rich, of the wealthy, of the 1%.”

Finally, applause from the hall.

“The wheels have come off the wagon but they will not admit that this is due to their profligacy and bad management. They are using our money to prop up these institutions to protect the super-rich, so that the rich 1% can keep their investments and keep cashing in their interest payments, and keep hold of their valueless shares until the market recovers, so they can keep their many houses and yachts and jets and fleets of cars.”

More applause and a few cheers, some people were standing to clap.

“That is why we really have austerity; we have austerity so that you and I can give more of our hard-earned money to the government so that it can continue to bail out the rich. That is the reason you are being taxed so heavily, that is the reason they are privatising the NHS, the reason they have raised VAT, the reason they are cutting public services, and that is the reason they are reducing funding to councils who in turn are reducing community services.”

He walked to the edge of the stage, clearly emotional for the first time.

“ Make no mistake about it…they are robbing the poor to pay the rich; robbing the 99% to prop up the 1%.... and it is not fair, it is not just and ….it is not democratic.”

The hall erupted.




'Aftermath'

Extract below

The David Pullman Show

“Well, Delores, how are the record sales going?”

“Why do you ask, David?” said Delores sharply, she’d never liked him or his show.

“Oh, come on, Delores, we all know this whole ‘40 days and 40 nights’ thing and all the sudden political comments are just part of some huge publicity machine you’ve got working for you, though for the life of me I’m not sure how they’re meant to help you, I mean denigrating men, the church, talent shows, the markets and…..”

“I merely described how things appear to me.” interrupted Delores,

“Well, that must be a really crazy mixed up mind you’ve got there, Delores,” said David, “drug induced, no doubt.”

“Actually David, that might be slanderous, defamation of character at least,” said Delores, seriously “I’ve never taken drugs, in fact; I don’t even drink or smoke.”

“Right,” said David knowingly.

“I mean it, David,” said Delores, “I don’t do drugs, alcohol or cigarettes.”

“Any reason for that?” asked David, “though I find it strange that you lump those things together...”

“Oh David, don’t be silly, everybody knows that alcohol and cigarettes are just as addictive as drugs.”

“They might be addictive but they’re not illegal substances,” said David,

“Well, perhaps they should be, David, but that said, just because I don’t drink or smoke or do drugs doesn’t mean I’m against any of them.”

“Really,” said David, “not against drugs? Not anti one of the most insidious evils filtering into and destroying society today?”

“I don’t think it’s filtering in,” said Delores, “and seriously, do you?”

“Well, how else does it get to the street?” demanded David.

“It’s sanctioned, of course,” said Delores.

“Sanctioned?” said David, “by whom?”

“By the Government.”

“Er, that’s crazy talk, Delores. Everyone knows that
there’s an ongoing drugs war being waged with huge amounts of money being expended….”

“Don’t be silly, David,” said Delores, “we’re not stupid.”

“Come on, Delores,” said David, “what are you suggesting?”

“I’m not suggesting anything, I’m stating it clearly. If the Government wanted to stamp out drug distribution on our streets then it could be done very easily, they just don’t want to, that’s all.”

“I disagree, Delores. Firstly, I think prohibition proved you can’t stop things getting to the streets and secondly, why on earth would the Government want drugs on our streets bearing in mind the amount of drug related crime that’s engulfing our society today?”

“Now you’re being ridiculous, David,” said Delores.

“What does that mean? Delores, you can’t just make rash and ill thought out statements like that without having some argument to back them up.”

“But I can back them up, David,” said Delores, “but we both know you won’t allow me the time or space to do that.”

“Of course I will,” said David, “if you have a valid argument that is, obviously I won’t just sit here if you put up some of your weird, flakey ideas.”

“Now, see how prejudiced you are, you just described me as weird and flakey.”

“No, I didn’t,” corrected David, “I said your ideas were weird and flakey; probably due to all of those drugs you claim not to have taken.”

“I don’t do mind affecting substances,” said Delores, “including alcohol.”

“You don’t drink,” questioned David, “or you have not drunk alcohol ever?”

“I didn’t say that, naturally I’ve drunk alcohol, I just don’t drink it much nowadays.”

“Much?” pressed David, “much isn’t ‘don’t drink’, Delores, so how much d’you drink?”

“Well, naturally I’ll have a drink at Christmas and parties or social gatherings,”

“So you do drink then?” said David.

“But I’ll usually only have the one,” added Delores.

“Hmmm,” said David leaning back in his chair, “where were we? What was I going to ask
you?”

“Why I, and a great many others I might add, think that the Government sanctions the drug trade,” said Delores smiling equably.

“Oh, that’s right,” said David, “well, please continue.”

“It’s really quite simple, Governments have the power and the resources to stop or crush anything they want, so if they don’t, it generally means they are reaping some form of reward from the process.”

“Come on, Delores, that’s a weak argument, a cheap argument, in fact. ‘They could if they wanted to but because they haven’t succeeded they must want them on the streets’… that’s just crazy thinking.”

“I don’t agree, David.”

“Delores, the Government spends millions on drug enforcement policies and they have committed huge resources to winning this war.”

“Really?” questioned Delores, “because when Governments commit huge resources to winning a war we’re usually talking in the region of billions, not millions and let’s be clear here, we’re talking only a few million.”

“What does that mean, Delores?” demanded David.

“It means if the Government was really committed to a war on drugs then it would spend war sized money but it isn’t. So you have to ask ‘why not’ and I think the answer is fairly obvious, don’t you? Or at least it is to me and a vast number of other people out there, including your audiences, David.”

“Oh yeah, so what is this obvious answer?”

“Divide and rule, David,” said Delores.

“Divide and rule. You’ve been using that phrase a lot in your interviews.” Delores nodded, unperturbed, “but that’s ridiculous, the Government represents the will of the people, is voted for by the people. The people elected this Government, we live in a democracy. So all this clap trap that you’ve been coming out with is mindless rubbish, hippy rubbish” he hissed, “dare I say even ‘junkie’ rubbish?”

“Clearly you may dare, since you just did it. However I feel bound to remind you of the laws on slander or actually, libel since we’re ‘ON AIR’.” She admonished him with an upraised, wagging finger, “and I do have to say, David …just because you’ve had an excitable outburst, it doesn’t make what I’ve been saying any less accurate.”

David turned to his audience and raised his hands in despair. They were strangely quiet and he turned away quickly.

“If you’re willing to listen, David,” said Delores, “I will explain.”

“By all means, Delores,” said David, rubbing his brow.

“Well, I think it has been fairly clear to the powers that be….”

“Powers that be?” questioned David, “Who are we talking about here, Delores?”

“Let her talk,” shouted a male voice in the audience.

“I am letting her talk,” a defensive snap back, “No heckling please, let Delores have her say.”

“I don’t think he was heckling me, David,” said Delores, with a small smile, “so as I was saying, the powers that be identified early in the 20th century that the world was going to change rapidly, and that empires would be no longer required.”

“I thought that people in the dominions of Empire gained their liberty helping to fight the Axis powers,” said David, pompously, “and some of the empires had to be reclaimed with violence.”

“The imperial powers still managed to gain control of the rebellions before they left, leaving compliant governments in place. It’s all very complicated, David, but all we really need to recognise is that the empires existed only to facilitate trade but once trade could be achieved without military protection then the empires were doomed.”

“And this has what to do with the war on drugs exactly?”

“Well, along with the running down of the empires and the growing investments in so called emerging markets, governments in the west had to find ways of splintering the masses… otherwise there would’ve been several revolutions by now.”

David sat back in his chair and threw his hands up, “Oh that’s rubbish; you don’t have any idea what you’re talking about, Delores. I’m sorry, I’m not being cruel but let’s face it you’re just a singer, aren’t you and not a very good one at that.” There were a few loud boos and calls of ‘shame’, David shifted a little in his chair, “I’m sorry,” he said addressing the audience, “but I have to say it how I see it and quite honestly, this is bunkum.”

“David, do you believe that drugs on our streets fracture society?”

“Yes I do,” said David, “obviously I do. I believe I referred to drugs as one of the most insidious evils filtering into and destroying society today.”

“Yes, quite… and do you believe also that it’s method of distribution and attached costs lead to a massive amount of crime on our streets?” pressed Delores.

“Of course.” said David.

“Then bearing in mind the amount of money the Government has at its disposal…”

“The Government has to ration out its money; it can’t just commit vast sums to fighting drug crime no matter how simple it might seem to you, Delores.”

“Yet it spends billions on nuclear weapons we’re never going to fire, and not only that, but we’ll have to spend millions more on disposing of those weapons when they get old…so don’t say the money doesn’t exist, David.”

“So what are you saying?” pressed David, “that we should get rid of our nuclear arsenal and leave the UK open to nuclear attack?”

“Attack from whom, David?”

“Attack from the Russians or Middle Eastern terrorist groups like al-Qaeda.”

Delores laughed, composedly, “You are an idiot, David. Do you know how many missiles we have? Something like 30? I don’t know, exactly but come on; Russia has hundreds and is an absolutely huge country, massive by comparison to the UK. Do you really think that our few missiles are going to give the Russians pause?”

“They’re part of the NATO nuclear deterrent,” said David.

“David, America is the NATO nuclear deterrent and has enough nuclear weapons to destroy the entire world a hundred times over. Believe me, we have nothing to fear from Russia and even if we did our nuclear response is so pathetic it would merely lead to the complete obliteration of us as a nation state whilst causing minimal damage to a very tiny part of Russia.”

“Well, there’s always the terrorist….” began David.

“Ah yes, these elusive terrorists that modern politicians like to dangle before us. OK, for argument’s sake, let’s say a terrorist group did detonate a nuclear bomb in a major city, and let’s be clear here, they would have to walk it into the country because only America and Russia have the ability to strike from a distance, on whom would you launch a defensive strike?”

There was a muttered response from the audience. “Did she say ‘walk it in’?”

David spoke firmly, “Whatever country they came from.”

“Oh I see,” said Delores, nodding “a small group of religious fanatics detonate a nuclear device in a major city and your response would be to ‘nuke’ the country you think these people came from.” She looked at him, shaking her head, playing to the audience, “That makes sense David, go and kill several million innocent civilians, good idea, that’ll sort things out and stop any nuclear proliferation. And it doesn’t work at all against the home-grown terrorist.”

This gained her a smattering of applause and David rolled his shoulders uncomfortably. “That’s all very interesting Delores, but I’m aware we’re running out of time, so…what’s this to do with the war on drugs?”

“Well, to be honest,” she murmured, “I think we’re arguing the wrong point but I will answer your question… if the Government committed enough money they would win … but I think there is a more reasonable and cheaper way to go.”

“Oh yes?” asked David, “and what’s that?”

“Legalise drugs.”

“Legalise drugs?” spluttered David, “but just now you were willing to sacrifice our nuclear deterrent to fight the war on drugs.”

“No, that’s not what I said,” corrected Delores, “You were the one who raised the issue of the war on drugs; I merely observed that if the Government was really committed to winning it then it would spend the commensurate amount of money.”

“So now you are pro allowing our kids access to limitless supplies of cannabis and crack cocaine …” said David.

There were several angry murmurs from the audience.

“No, David, that’s not what I’m saying, not at all. Although society’s main problem with drugs is the related crime; not the fact that there are addicts but that these addicts resort to crime to feed their habit. The exorbitant cost of drugs is linked to the scarcity of supply and the criminality that surrounds its production and distribution.”

She leaned forward, still hoping to reach him, “This alternative idea, and it’s not just me saying it, there are other more knowledgeable proponents of this idea, is that if drugs were commercially distributed thorough legalised outlets with fixed pricing and adequate social support structures drugs related crime would go down and quite a few drug addicts might even wean themselves off the product.”

“Drug dens?” said David, “you want drug dens?”

“No,” said Delores, “You’re being dramatic, I just think that it makes more sense to control the flow of drugs, make them cheaper and provide more social supports.”

“Well, we’ll have to leave it there” said David, “we’re out of time. I’d like to thank my studio guest, the always controversial Del… ”

“It’s certainly cheaper and more effective than a weak willed war on drugs,” Delores had the last word.

Cheers and have a nice weekend

Arun






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