The Forgotten American (William and Mary, England's first central bank and living in the land of Oz)

 The Forgotten American ( William and Mary, England's first central bank, and  living in the land of  Oz)

By: Terrance Mann

Are you living the life you chose? Are you living the life that chose you?

The Life You Chose by Jason Isbell

The American consumer has followed the yellow brick road to easy credit while he has accepted the uniform corporatist world given to him by the Wonderful Wizard of Oz.  The land of Oz has given each city the same "golden arch" uniformed look and feel. Unlike the age of Oz and easy credit, each small town had its unique charm and localized economies—a place where people lived without uniforms and the "forced cultural conformity of Oz and his corporatist personal policies" and other "politically correct" scriptures to be quoted and worshipped. Certainly, the false "god" of our age has to be the easy credit. The results have been devastating: decline in personal savings, increase in advertising and psychological manipulation, chase of sensation at an adult playgrounds nearby, increase in stock values as a result of everyone's speculations, cultural acceptance of consumer debt as a regular part of life, stagnant wages, decline in financial literacy, and increase in bankruptcies—all given to America by the Wizard of Oz and his masters of the universe, "the Banksters." Of course, America is not the first society that Oz has charmed into submission.

History is not a single line or an idea which one great man can fingerprint in an entire era. Still, there are times when one person sets in motion a series of events or policies which has ripples for many generations to come. Certainly, debt and banking policies often drive everyone in one direction for better or worst.

William and Mary ascended the British in 1689 as a result of the Glorious Revolution, in which James II lost his crown. William of Orange had Dutch ties and wanted to involve England in the wars of continental Europe, which England's previous crown heads had wisely avoided for the last 200 years. The money was needed for overseas force projection, and the parliament was not onboard. In 1694, the Bank of England was chartered. England's central bank could now give the king the necessary funds to fight foreign wars and begin a process of outsourcing the economy and chasing cheap labor. William sold monopolies, as had James, Elizabeth and Henry before him, but William and the Bank of England would only support businesses that invested in the Bank of England. William and the Bank of England made it possible to create a British Empire and start a cycle of wars, which didn't end until 1945. The Bank of England made possible the wars of the 18th, 19th and 20th century, growing production and boom times, free markets, industrial revolutions, and, most significantly, power over future generations with massive debt. The bankers and lenders profited while the ordinary man paid high taxes and inflation and survived the boom and bust cycles (now known as bubbles). The lot of the working man and his loyalty to corporatist England was a another master/slave relationship. The Bank of England backed only those who invested in the Bank or were involved in the great works and projects for the Empire (i.e., colonization). You see, to service the debt, the Crown continuously expand new territories. The Bank of England was now setting the policies for future growth and overseas military expansion. The political leadership had allowed business and government to become intertwined or in collusion: what we now call "crony capitalism".  Collusion was one of the silent forces behind the American Revolution. For the Crown and Parliament, their power was usurped by the forces of debt and wealthy private corporations such as the East India Company. If the Bank of England or East India Company wanted it, the political leadership submitted. It was (and is today) that simple. A corrupt money system corrupts everyone. Karl Marx wrote in the NY Tribune in 1853, "The East India Company survived not because the company produced an excellent product, but because the company was in collusion with government." Naturally, Marx always had great facts, but his conclusions were wrong. Marx failed to understand the difference between a business in a free market and a company operating in collusion with government. The American left has a similar problem today. The American left can't distinguish the difference between collusion or free markets because America hasn't had a free market since the early 1960s, just before the Great Society or the Great Fall of Freedom. The Seven Years War transformed the East India Company from a commercial to a military and national power. Now, someone had to pay for the war, and the British, or should we now say Bankers, turned to the American Colonies for payment in kind for protection from the French and Indians, which the Colonial Militias had placed vast amounts of men and material to fight. No, the real reason for the taxation was to use the Colonist to pay for a Global War, which had nothing to do them.

The year 1767 was pivotal to the buildup of the American Revolution. More Taxes. Why should the Colonist save a Private Company?  Must the Colonist purchase tea and other products from the East India Company. Why were the Colonist forced to buy from qualified companies? Why did the Colonist pay inflated prices?  The answer was simple: The East India Company had to pay off the Bank of England. The British government couldn't allow competition. The policy had been to be one of forcing Americans to buy from monopolies. The Bank of England and East India Company were silent partners driving Parliament to respond aggressively to the American tax rebellion of the 1760s.  Also, this silent force pushed enforcement policies to break up the black market run by Americans and the Dutch. Monopolies can't have competition, period. The average colonist never fully understood the big picture. All he or she understood was prices are higher and jobs are fewer unless you have connections. After the American Revolution, the American political leadership maintained pretty much the same tenants well into 19th century. 

These tenants all grew from the pre-American revolutionary experiences and were maintain until Grover Cleveland's campaign for president (1896). After Cleveland's campaign, both parties lost their Jeffersonian edge except when it was politically convenient to give Jefferson some lip service. These lessons came over a period of many generations and were lost. just as England, the  Americans created a central bank, they made a play for Empire. In 1913, legislation was established to charter the Federal Reserve, a private central bank. Also worth noting is that this same legislative session produced elections for U.S. senators. Before, state legislative bodies appointed senators. One must wonder: was it easier to buy off 51% of the senate or 51% of state legislative bodies to get the leverage needed to monopolize a given outcome? I think we all know the answer. Madison wanted the senate to be a moderating filter, not answerable the voters,  between the House and the President. The House was supposed to represent the momentary passion of the people, and the Senate would filter and moderate the legislation so that the president could sign a mild form of a given piece of legislation. Madison's genius was forgotten. After 1913, senators would need funding to run re-election campaigns which banks and monopolies were all to ready to fund.  The Federal Reserve, along with a more "democratic" Senate, changed America as follows: Government and business colluded for overseas projects. Inflation passed onto the working man via MasterCard and Visa. Boom and bust cycles are now called bubbles. Protracted depressions are now called quantitative easing (QE). Military alliances entangle America in wars which have nothing to do with American national security. Military bases abroad are maintained to defend 16 geographic coke points for "free trade". The problem is, there is no free trade, only trade deficits for the outsourced American worker. Foreign Wars, the first of which was in 1917, would end all wars. Standing armies are now called professional armies and, finally, a massive debt left for future generations.

Of course, banks and monopolies in the modern era did, in fact, fine-tune consumption policies, forcing individuals to consume products cost too much to police. A new mode of advertising was created to help stimulate desire and sales. Rather than create policies that require a rifle and a bayonet, why not use psychology to drive sales up or to make consumers feel inadequate if they don't buy? Sigmund Freud's nephew, Edward Bernays, who sold World War I to the American public as "the War to end all Wars," used advertising to link an optional service to a lifestyle psychologically. Once the desire was created, it had to be fulfilled. Enter easy credit, and like magic, desires were met once the store manager went behind his black curtain and returned with credit approval. Feelings of inadequacy were all gone. Only, what does one do about that buyer remorse when the first payment is due? In reality, a wizard can only give us false fulfillment.

This essay started with a spin on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The story had a pre-cinema interpretation using the tale as a pitch for an honest money system based on gold, as the story was written in 1900. Maybe, the tale is about dishonest money and easy credit. Who knows? It seems each character could fulfill a role that most consumers experience while shopping. Can I afford this? Can I afford not to? Dorothy needed a way home. The lion wanted courage. The tin man wanted a heart. Scarecrow wanted intelligence.  Oz provided everything the characters ever wanted from behind his black curtain—false courage, false heart, false information, and a wicked way home. We, like Dorothy, know the way home. It's not easy to travel back to a constitutional government, but there's "no place like home." There's" no place like home" Now, open your eyes and  let's go back home, America. Never, Neverland isn't any fun after all.