What is Truth? The Mint's latest eBook release

3/15/2013 Portland, Oregon – Pop in your mints…

Our latest E-book in the “Why what we use as Money Matters” series: What is Truth? On the Nature of Empire, has now shipped and will soon arrive on digital shelves across the Internet.


In the twenty first century, it has become clear to most that there is no divine right or imperative for the existence of an Empire on the earth. As such, an ever-increasing number of peoples have thrown off the yoke of Empire in favor of what has become known as a democratic model of collective governance. Yet simply changing the rules of governance has not put an end to the core ideals of Empire, and governments today that are elected democratically have largely retained the hallmarks of Imperial rule, namely the tendencies toward a central monopoly on the use of force and the right to demand tribute. How can this be?

The purpose of this volume is to gain an understanding of the true nature of Empire and, to convince the reader that Empire, and by extension large scale government, is not only unnecessary, but a great hindrance to human progress. This volume also explores why the Imperial model virtually ensures that the worst elements of humanity will rise to power, where they will ultimately impose their will on their fellow humans by violence. For the violent outcomes that Empires invariably produce are not exceptions to the rule, nor are they merely the norm.

They are literally guaranteed by design.

Once we have grasped the true nature of Empire, we will then will explore the only known antidote to Empire and the only possible means for mankind to rid itself of the lethal effects of Empire on the earth. And it is probably like anything you have imagined.

It is now available and can be enjoyed on Smashwords, Amazon’s Kindle, and Google Books.

Stay tuned and Trust Jesus.

Stay Fresh!

David Mint

Email: davidminteconomics@gmail.com

Key Indicators for March 15, 2013

Copper Price per Lb: $3.51
Oil Price per Barrel: $93.21
Corn Price per Bushel: $7.16
10 Yr US Treasury Bond: 2.01%
FED Target Rate: 0.14% ON AUTOPILOT, THE FED IS DEAD!
Gold Price Per Ounce: $1,596 THE GOLD RUSH IS STILL ON!
MINT Perceived Target Rate*: 0.25%
Unemployment Rate: 7.7%
Inflation Rate (CPI): 0.7%
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 14,481
M1 Monetary Base: $2,466,100,000,000 LOTS OF DOUGH ON THE STREET!
M2 Monetary Base: $10,499,300,000,000

Dual Entry Accounting – Man’s Greatest Innovation, Modern Central Banking – Man’s Greatest Catastrophe – Part II – Irony

10/17/2011 Portland, Oregon – Pop in your mints…

 

For those of you who have missed or long since forgotten Part I, please take a moment to review it here:

 

Dual Entry Accounting – Man’s Greatest Innovation, Modern Central Banking – Man’s Greatest Catastrophe – Part I

 

Our tale continues:

 

As the Fixed income markets continue to crumble, all eyes in Finance are now on a summit of European leaders that will take place next Sunday, when many persons will be watching sporting events, enjoying the outdoors, protesting, or toiling to eke out a meager existence on this earth.

 

What happens in Europe next Sunday may be simply another act in the game of extend and pretend that until now has been the only strategy employed by Western governments and their Central Banks in response to the bankruptcy of the world’s largest banks and governments.

 

On the other hand, it may be a Pearl Harbor type of event for the Euro and other currencies.

 

Since we do not know what will befall mankind this coming Sunday, we must endeavor to understand how the Western world has arrived at this critical juncture in history.  We began last week, by exploring the often underestimated contribution of Luca Pacioli to the commonwealth of society:  The dissemination of Dual Entry Accounting methods used in Genoa, Florence, and Venice circa 1492.

 

Today, we will explore the great irony that Dual Entry Accounting – what we call man’s greatest innovation, has made possible what we are calling man’s greatest catastrophe, Modern Central Banking.

 

In order to do this, we begin with a brief history and explanation of the concept of Central Banking and its relationship to government.

 

The concept of Central Banking is rooted in man’s need for security as well as his recognition of his co-dependence on his fellow man to increase his well being through trade.  It takes time and energy to obtain and protect wealth.  It also takes time and energy to barter with counterparties while trading differing goods without a suitable means of exchange.

 

A bank, in its simplest form, provides a secure place to store wealth.  A natural extension of this activity is for the banker to extend credit and act as a clearing house for commerce by assuming a de facto role as an issuer of currency in the form of banknotes which represent a claim on wealth held at their bank.  The existence and circulation of these banknotes greatly facilitated trade.

 

As trade and consequently the wealth of mankind increased both in volume and geographical reach, there was increasingly a need for a larger banking interest to store the excess wealth of the individual banks and to honor the banknotes emitted by the individual banks.  This larger banking interest, formed by and for the benefit of the individual banks, is what we today call a Central Bank.

 

The complexity of maintaining banking accounts was greatly facilitated and made possible on a large scale by the use of dual entry accounting.  The ability for individual banks to maintain accounts on a larger scale made possible the existence of a Central Bank to act as a clearing house amongst banks.  Hence, our premise that Dual entry accounting enabled Central banking.

 

Now, on to the role of Government in relation to Central Banking.  If Central Banks arose because man needed someone to look after his wealth, governments arose because man needed someone to look after his life.  Governments were formed in response to the natural human need for a common defense.

It is not hard, then, to imagine that Governments, in whatever form, relied heavily upon and supported the formation of both individual banks and Central Banks.

Why would Governments need banks and Central banks?

 

Governments are generally given license by the members of society to use whatever means necessary to preserve their lives.  As such, they assume the role as the apparatus of compulsion and coercion in that society.

 

As the apparatus of compulsion and coercion, the government, by definition, cannot generate wealth.  At best, it can only create the conditions under which individuals may create wealth, but the activities of government as a provider of security never directly create wealth.  Because they cannot create wealth, they must either borrow from or tax the populace in order to fund their activities of compulsion and coercion.

 

Storage of Wealth and Tax Collection Service provided with a smile

The Central Bank, as the ultimate repository of wealth, offers a convenient source of both credit and, in a later wave of Central Banks of which the Federal Reserve is a prime example, tax collection services.

As you can see, a Central Bank is an indispensible institution both for individuals in terms of storing wealth and facilitating trade, as well as for Governments who have an insatiable need for tax revenues and credit.

 

The existence of a Central Bank, for all of the benefits that it may bestow, unwittingly makes the wealth of those it serves a natural target for those who are anxious to obtain that wealth through unjust means.

 

Central Banking, like alcohol and socialism, may be a good idea when used in moderation.  However, each one of these also represents a catastrophe waiting to happen.  For if the circumstances under which they are created or used take an unfavorable turn, the wealth and lives of many may be lost in a very short period of time.

 

Needless to say, the scale of modern Central Banking is beyond what would be advisable, and the potential for catastrophe is unprecedented.

 

How, when, and most importantly why will this catastrophe take place?  We can only answer the why, and we will tackle it tomorrow as we are spent.

 

Stay tuned and Trust Jesus.

 

Stay Fresh!

 

David Mint

 

Email: davidminteconomics@gmail.com

 

Key Indicators for October 17, 2011

 

Copper Price per Lb: $3.35
Oil Price per Barrel:  $86.24

Corn Price per Bushel:  $6.40
10 Yr US Treasury Bond:  2.15%
FED Target Rate:  0.07%  ON AUTOPILOT, THE FED IS DEAD!

Gold Price Per Ounce:  $1,671 PERMANENT UNCERTAINTY

MINT Perceived Target Rate*:  2.00%
Unemployment Rate:  9.1%
Inflation Rate (CPI):  0.4%!!!   UP UP UP!!!
Dow Jones Industrial Average:  11,397  

M1 Monetary Base:  $2,201,800,000,000 RED ALERT!!!
M2 Monetary Base:  $9,554,000,000,000 YIKES UP $1 Trillion in one year!!!!!!!

Is America becoming ungovernable?

8/17/2011 Portland, Oregon - Pop in your mints…

Almost nothing of consequence happened today in the markets.  Just what one would expect on a quiet August day.   Silver and other commodities are poised to go higher, but our guess is that it will wait a month to really hit its stride.  At that point, inflation could really be a problem.

August is a time for reflection and relaxation.  Casting off the cares of the past 11 months and charging the batteries for another run.  At The Mint, we are pondering a great many things.  Our dear German friend who has been with us here in Portland the past nine months left for Frankfurt today.  She will be missed dearly by all.  It seems that Oregon had a special impact upon her as well and she commented that this season has been one of the most pleasant of her life.

Yes, Oregon is a special place.

“There is so much nature here!” she commented upon returning from a trip to Montana.  Apparently in Germany every square mile is spoken for, leaving wild animals little room to roam.  One of her chief concerns on these excursions was the bears.  Who can blame her, with the news coming out of Yellowstone at the time? 

She is heading to Barcelona to start a ministry and we wish her well, for she is now one of the family.  Hospitality blesses one in ways they cannot imagine.

August thoughts in the US are being rudely interrupted by the presidential campaigns that are warming up in Iowa and are heading to New Hampshire to continue the race in which the winner will declare themselves King of the Americans. 

As Bloom County fans may recall, when the Meadow party nominated Bill the Cat and Opus for the job, they concluded that only a complete idiot would apply after careful consideration of the job description which in there estimation included “being blamed for every problem on the planet.”

The complete idiot label came to mind after we heard a comment in a video shared with us by a friend in which Bill Hybels, the Pastor of Willow Creek, a large church in Illinois, noted that the tendency in American dialogue today is to “throw stones first” and ask questions later.  He explained that people grab onto comments and statements made by others and publicly villianize them without bothering to consider the context or verify the validity of said statements.

His remarks were made at the Willow Global Leadership Summit while addressing the interesting situation in which Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks, backed out of his contract to appear at the summit after receiving threats of a boycott from a group who claimed that Willow Creek was anti-gay.

He went on to say that this phenomenon is making America “ungovernable.”

Mr. Hybels did not go into detail as to how this phenomenon would make the country ungovernable, but the idea got us thinking.  What makes a country governable in the first place?  Do people naturally need government in order to survive?

In the sense that people need to feel protected and able to care for themselves and their loved ones, people may need the concept of government.  People, knowing their weak state on this planet, need to believe that someone is looking out for them.  This need leads them to subject themselves to the idea of government.

Inevitably, those who are entrusted with embodying the idea of government find that they are given quite a bit of power over the lives of others and quickly learn to abuse it.

This leads the subjects to seek freedom from the government while at the same time looking for someone of something else to fulfill the basic needs of protection and material well-being.  Seen this way, when a people become “ungovernable” they are rejecting the government under which they are because of a perceived or actual abuse.

It is important to note that, for people to reach this state, they must feel that they are out of options under the current government.  Economic hardship has a lot to do with how people perceive their options.  It should come as no surprise then that economic hardship is a result of policies which restrictive freedom.

Free men are infinitely more productive than slaves.  A policy change in either direction will express itself in economic results.  The results in America prove that we are a people becoming enslaved.

When things go well, no one cares who is governing.  When things go badly, they become unnaturally preoccupied with the political process.  America circa 2011 is moving towards this unnatural preoccupation.

Ironically, the more one concentrates on the government and its political processes, the more it becomes evident that the very existence of a government organized by men may be more a threat to than a protector of the basic needs of protection and material well-being.

We have stated before that in practice the governments of the world today operate like competing defense agencies.  It may be, then, that Americans are tired of the current contractor and are searching for another one; one that is less intrusive and has fewer overhead costs to cover.

Will they find it before they are completely enslaved by the current one?

Stay tuned and Trust Jesus.

Stay Fresh!

David Mint

Email: davidminteconomics@gmail.com

P.S.  For more ideas and commentary please check out The Mint at http://www.davidmint.com/

Key Indicators for August 17, 2011

Copper Price per Lb: $4.03
Oil Price per Barrel:  $87.43

Corn Price per Bushel:  $7.11  
10 Yr US Treasury Bond:  2.16%
FED Target Rate:  0.10%  TIGHTENING?  NOT!

Gold Price Per Ounce:  $1,789 PERMANENT UNCERTAINTY

MINT Perceived Target Rate*:  2.00%
Unemployment Rate:  9.1%
Inflation Rate (CPI):  -0.2%!!!  PULL OUT THE HELICOPTERS!!!
Dow Jones Industrial Average:  11,410  TO THE MOON!!!

M1 Monetary Base:  $2,140,300,000,000 RED ALERT!!!
M2 Monetary Base:  $9,404,000,000,000 YIKES!!!!!!!