The Grip of Death: A Study of Modern Money, Debt Slavery and Destructive Economics [Paperback]

This book explains how the banking system is actually a form of institutionalised fraud, based on the original activities of goldsmiths who would lend more "money" than they actually had on deposit. The only reason we accept the system without a second thought seems to be that it has the weight of tradition behind it. But the weight of tradition is not enough to justify its validity, as the author shows.

This book explains how we have come to regard money--or more precisely, the absence or presence of it--as an indicator of what work can be done or "afforded". The government closes hospitals and schools down because of lack of money. Does that mean there are suddenly not sufficient people with sufficient ability and sufficient willingness to keep these hospitals and schools running? Of course not! All it means is that the government mistakenly believes that "lack of money" = "we can't do it". We have become slaves to the economy, when instead we should be its master. The author shows how we can achieve this.

This book explains how attempts by a government to reduce the national debt can be disastrous for the economy, and why those countries with the largest national debts are in fact those who have achieved the greatest economic success. Sounds paradoxical? It isn't at all, once you understand what the national debt is and how banks create money....

This book explains why projects in developing countries funded by the likes of the World Bank and the IMF are destined to fail, and how the only beneficiaries of interest payments made on third-world debt are commercial banks--commercial banks which created (out of nothing) the money that formed the original loans.

This book explains how the boom-and-bust cycle is a necessary consequence of the way in which the vast majority of money in a nation's economy is created (by banks) as a debt. One way to escape this cycle is to turn our economy from a debt-based to a credit-based one. How? A simple solution, involving the creation of debt-free money by the government, is suggested by the author. If anybody should question whether it is entirely "fair" that the government create such money, let them ask this question: Is it "fair" that we should let private institutions create, with no effort on their part, and then CHARGE US FOR USING (in the form of interest payments on debt) 97% of the money in our economy? The government has a right to create its own money debt-free, and it should exercise that right.

In short, this book is one of the most eye-opening, informative and inspiring books you could wish to read about money and its origins. I agree with the reviewer below: Buy it, read it, and send a copy to Number 10 (and Number 11)! Read more ›