The 2084 Precept

by Anthony D. Thompson

  “Ah hah!” Jeremy laughed out loud, his eyes lit up, he waved an arm around in the air. He really enjoyed that one. He chuckled and he cackled, a rare interlude away from the depressing content of our interview themes. “All succinctly summarized,” he continued, “by means of a single once-reiterated word. Yes, I like that, Peter, I really like that!”

  “Pleased to have been of assistance,” I said.

  He laughed and nodded his head. "Flap, flap, O.K., thank you very much.” And then he was back to serious mode, the solemnity required for his delusional study work for his delusional doctorate taking precedence again.

  “And so this ‘more is better’ is a pillar of most of your so-called economic systems?"

  "Yes."

  "Amazing."

  "I should also mention inflation in this connection, Jeremy. Inflation is necessary because we are a greedy species by nature, we are always wanting more. As a result, we have recognized that zero inflation is impossible on an ongoing basis. Wages, salaries and the prices of goods may not stay the same (now wouldn't that be stupid?). They must in fact increase, because deflation would be even worse than the 'zero' scenario. Nevertheless, we do recognize that too much inflation is bad, it leads to uncontrollable chaos. If you research the horrors of the hyperinflation in Germany's Weimar Republic in the early part of the last century (prices would double in a matter of hours and a loaf of bread, for example, eventually ended up costing 200 billion marks), you will understand what can happen. And so most countries want inflation, but introduce inflation limit targets. Needless to say, the politicians are frequently unable to control or manage the targets they create, and so the targets are often not met, what's new?"

  "So it doesn't work of course."

  "Only for certain periods of time and usually only by luck. The way the United States is going today, printing—just as in the Weimar Republic—more and more currency, is a guarantee of what is going to happen. The dollar is now a worthless piece of paper. So are many other currencies. The only question is how long it will take before the international masses—and their international birdbrains—recognize this. But more important than all of this is the subject of debt."

  "Ah yes, economics based on debt, you said."

  "Yes. Most of the world's developed states have an economic system which can only survive if they borrow money…more and more each year. Another type of snowball being pushed uphill, flap, flap. The birdbrains in charge wish to finance the things the voting masses would like to have but for which insufficient tax income is available. And so they borrow the money to do it and, since they themselves have no personal liability for these debts, they borrow more and more and more until they have created a situation whereby the amount is such that it can never, ever, be paid back. Irresponsible idiots, according to the powerless minority, a charge which the majority and—need I say it?—the birdbrains themselves reject."

  Jeremy stood up, stretched, and began to pace slowly around the table. He wanted to get back to his office, but he also wanted to hear a little more about our so-called economic systems.

  "They blame the world markets," I said, "they blame the banks, they blame everybody and everything except those responsible, namely themselves. And so what do they do? They borrow even more money to pay off the old debts as they become due, as well as the additional new amounts they need each year to enable them to continue with their totally insane system. They keep muttering the word 'growth'. Growth and more debt to be able to achieve the growth is the only way out, they keep saying. At the same time, their puerile verbal inanities continue and they add more and more unbelievable promises to the historic political dunghill. 'We will stop increasing our country's debt by the year 2020' or whatever. Laughable, not even their aunts believe them. But the aunts are a minority. The masses believe them, and the masses therefore vote for them. And if somebody were to stand up today and say, 'I will stop this lunacy tomorrow morning; we will only spend what we earn', you can believe me that he or she would hardly receive a single vote. Because the intelligence ratios of the masses continues to be the same as those of the clowns they vote for."

  "So they think that the cause of the problem is colossal debt which can never be repaid. And they think that the 'solution' to this problem is to create even more debt which can never be repaid? New unprecedented levels?"

  Jeremy's forehead was more than furrowed and his eyebrows were raised high above his chapel hat pegs.

  "That is the way it is Jeremy. Obviously, at some point in time this snowball also grinds to a halt. The most bankrupt countries in the world at the moment include Japan, the USA, Italy, France, Germany, Great Britain and a host of smaller economies such as Greece, Spain, Ireland, Portugal and so on. And, I don't know whether you can believe this, but some of the bigger bankrupt countries are even giving away more billions they don't have—they only have debts—to some of the smaller bankrupt ones, like Greece. And all of them will soon go feet up, no need to think about it."

  "What do you mean by soon?" asked Jeremy.

  "Oh, I can't tell. I don't know. Could be years. That depends at the moment on countries like China. I say at the moment because, under this system, China will go down the same road in a few decades' time. Countries are like companies, they have customers who buy their goods. And when a customer has no money left and he can't continue buying from you, you have a choice. You can stop selling to him, in which case you lose money and you create unemployment for yourself, or you can lend him more and more money so that he can continue to buy from you. In the latter case, and ridiculous though it may seem, you are, unless your customer is going to repay you one day, buying from yourself. Now, up until now, it has suited China to assume that major customers like the USA will repay their loans, and it has therefore continued to lend them more money. By the massive purchasing, for example, of US Treasury Bonds. But when China determines that its potential losses are bigger than its benefits, either because their hard-earned money is going to disappear into a big black hole, lost forever, or because the dollar begins to heavily devalue, in which case the value of their loans will disintegrate, they will stop. How soon this will happen, and some economists still maintain that it won't, nobody knows. But it gives China tremendous power, economically, politically and consequently—very important on this planet—militarily. We in the industrial countries are placing ourselves in their hands and our future birdbrains will go flap, flap."

  "I see," said Jeremy with another laugh, "or at least I think I do. No wonder your system doesn't work."

  "Right. It works only as long as people keep lending money to those who want to borrow it in order to spend it on what they can't afford. And all of this is aggravated by the fact that the borrowers have to continue finding even more money to make ever-increasing interest payments on their ever-increasing debt. Some economists have now begun to admit that the Euro crisis arose because the birdbrain liars have committed massive crimes by breaking their own EU economic contracts and by ignoring their EU constitutional laws. They say that, thanks to those imbeciles, the whole Euro system is doomed. At the same time, it being the human race, a large number of other economists continue to maintain that the whole thing is not doomed. They say it is a great and wonderful system. But trust me, Jeremy, everything will one day go belly up. A mammoth crisis. Economic history will be rewritten."

  "Now hang on there a moment, Peter. You just described the politicians as liars. Now that is definitely an opinion as opposed to a fact."

  "No, Jeremy, it is not an opinion. It is a fact. A fully substantiated and proven fact. Certainly, it is a generalization in the sense that a minority must be excluded. But in general, if they didn't lie, they wouldn't keep their jobs. Or even be voted into them in the first place. It is an integral part of their profession. Someone should collate the evidence into a book. The title could be 'The Top One Million Lies in Political History'. It would make for an interesting read."

  "Well, please do me a favor, Pet
er. I find this interesting. But I am running out of time. Just give me two or three examples please; current ones, up-to-date ones. Maximum two or three."

  "Nothing could be easier, Jeremy. We have a whole cornucopia to choose from. How about this one? The birdbrains in various countries have recently been telling their electoral masses that they are SAVING MONEY. Check it out, it's been in all of the headlines. This is, however, one of their many lies. In spite of the national bankruptcy situations they themselves have already created, they continue, as I have already made clear, to pile more and more debt every year onto the shoulders of said masses. Now any person with more than five brain cells knows that saving money means taking money you have and, instead of spending it, putting it away for a rainy day. The birdbrains, on the other hand, are taking money they don't have—they only have debts—and are increasing the debts still further. Their countries' debts, you understand. But because they now intend borrowing only large amounts of money instead of crazily large amounts of money, they issue the statement that they are SAVING MONEY. These people are professionals, Jeremy. They know that if they lie about something, and that if they do it often enough, the masses will end up believing them. And—hopefully—the masses will vote for them next time around. And the masses are stupid enough—the 10% intelligent ones carry no weight—to do exactly that."

  "Dementia," said Jeremy quietly.

  “And the Greece fiasco,” I continued. “Hundreds of billions in loans being thrown away by those European birdbrains naïve enough to believe the Greek birdbrains’ promises that they will repay them. Naïve enough, indeed, to believe that the Greeks could repay them even if their birdbrains were not lying in the first place. Allow me to mention some of the German birdbrain lies to those who voted them into power. The Finance Minister in 2009: ‘We Germans will not pay for Greece’s problems’ (five months later the first European rescue package of 110 billion Euros was approved by the German government). And the same man again in 2010: ‘The rescue packages are becoming due. That is what was clearly agreed’ (eight months later the EFSF rescue package was prolonged - and what is more, for an indefinite period). In the same year, the German Chancellor said: ‘all the experts confirm that Greece can meet its debt obligations, both with regard to the interest payments and to the repayment of the nominal loan amounts’ (ten months later, 100 billion Euros of Greek debt was simply waived, obliterated). And in 2012, the pinstriped statements became even more colorful: The CSU Party Chairman blustered: ‘There can be no more concessions, either on repayment deadlines or anything else’; the Chancellor again: ‘Greece has already achieved a lot and is achieving more every day’; and the Finance Minister again: ‘the agreed-upon measures are costing the taxpayer nothing’; and the Bavarian President: ‘what must never be allowed, is to waive any of Greece’s debt’; and the FDP Party Chairman………”

  “Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, Peter. It is clearly insane. These people are liars, either voluntary ones or involuntary ones, no doubt about it. Hopefully the latter. Like eight year-olds who have been given the responsibility for hundreds of billions of their voters’ Euros, and don’t know how to explain what they’ve done with them.”

  "Quite," I said. "And for the third and last example, how about the European birdbrains' latest trick? As from the fourth quarter of this year, all European countries can include prostitution income as 'income from services' in their official GDP data. Fraud, black market labor and illegal business proceeds can also be included, under the description 'productive revenues'. And illegal drug purchases can be estimated and included under the heading 'individual consumption turnover'. I mean, how pathetic can you get? The situation remains the same. The debt remains the same. But 90% of the masses will be fooled because their countries’ debts will appear to be slightly lower—as a percentage of GDP."

  "Lunacy," said Jeremy. No raised voice. No adjectives. No need.

  "I really do have to leave soon," he continued. "And you still have the subject of what you call 'social economics', I believe?"

  A waitress came in with fresh coffee. I glanced at Jeremy. Had he been sending messages to her or was this just normal service? He caught my glance, raised his eyebrows and gave me an enigmatic smile. Who knows? I filled up, I would really like another smoke, really, really, but we've got to be nearly finished by now.

  "Yes, that's what I call it. Most developed countries have a system whereby a lot of people have to work and pay higher taxes to support those who don't work—that is, those who can't, and those who can but don't want to. Now, before I start, Jeremy, I would like to make it clear that a system which pays a minimum amount to permit people who want to work and who are healthy enough to do so, to support themselves and their families until they eventually find work, is a fine, admirable and necessary system. But this is how it goes, and I will take my country of residence as an example."

  "Germany again? Go ahead," said Jeremy.

  "In Germany, if you are out of work and have only a small amount of savings, you are classified as being poor. The elected clowns have made laws whereby the working population has to provide everybody else who is poor and out of work with an apartment, a washing machine, a dryer, a television, a telephone, furniture, clothes (new clothes), electricity, heating, food, transport, free health care and—believe me, Jeremy—alcohol and tobacco. All of these items are included in the official German calculations as to how much the poor must receive. It is the modern clown definition of poverty."

  "This is poverty in Germany," said Jeremy. "I see."

  "Yes, but there is more. You are poor but you want to have ten children? No problem. You can have as many as you want. And irrespective of whether you are German or not, we will get the working taxpayers, including those who have decided they can't afford to have ten children, to pay you more money for each and every one of them, you don't have to finance a thing. So…go ahead! And…we'll get the taxpayers to pay for an even bigger apartment for you to house them all in. And even if one or more of your children get married, you will still receive a monthly child allowance for them until they're 25. And nobody checks whether you are spending all of these money gifts on your children either. And if you are a foreigner, but your children are still living with their grandparents back in your home country, the nice German taxpayers will pay you the same amount of money each month as they would if your children were living in Germany. An awful lot of nationalities have learned how to benefit from this wondrous German law, the leaders at the moment being the Poles. The Germans are currently paying for over 41,000 Polish children living in Poland."

  "That does sound incredible. But what happens if the working taxpayers want to stop paying for all of these other people? Or at least want to pay them less?"

  "They have no choice Jeremy. The birdbrains have the power. Their laws have caused this; we call it social security tourism, or poverty tourism. The most recent influx is from Romania and Bulgaria. An estimated 180,000 per year are pouring into Germany, where the nice taxpayers provide them with a luxury life compared to what they would receive from their own governments. Whole villages hire buses and they turn up, legally, in Germany where housing and everything else has to be provided for them. Attempts are made to find jobs for them, but many can't work for reasons such as they can't even speak the language. As a matter of fact, many are illiterate, or close to it, in their own language. And as for the remainder, many learn quickly how easy it is to have yourself officially classified as ill."

  "But surely the German people can refuse to pay for this unlimited social security tourism?"

  "They can't refuse, Jeremy. As some of the birdbrains themselves say, we need the masses in order to get elected, but not in order to rule and make the laws. Ha, ha, flap, flap. And, Jeremy, the right to live in Germany means that thousands of young girls, illiterate or not, have become prostitutes and more are still arriving there by the busload as we speak (prostitution is legal in Germany and they now have a legal right to work ther
e). And maybe plenty of not so young ones as well."

  "Fascinating," said Jeremy. His tone was flat; not an unfriendly flat, just a mildly disinterested flat.

  Germany also takes in close to 300,000 political asylum seekers each year. These are people who are threatened with death, violence or imprisonment in their home countries.”

  “Threatened by other human beings? Well, well, well, surprise.” Monotone again.

  "Yes. And then there is the question of illegal immigration as well. The birdbrains flap around like headless chickens, praising the inefficient European border control system they have implemented, denying that they themselves have any responsibility for the mess they have created (what's new?), and affirming that in any case they wouldn't know how to stop it. Quite the contrary. Illegal immigration into Germany increased by 25% last year. But this was not their fault, of course. Someone else is to blame. Oh yes…flap, flap."

  "Awesome." Jeremy fiddled with his coffee cup; again, no emotion that I could note.

  "Anyway," I continued, "back to the overall social security recipients, irrespective of nationality. It is factually true that a larger percentage of these are obese than is the case with the workers who are paying for them; and many of them just sit and watch television all day or spend their time drinking in a pub. You can find plenty of them there at any hour of the day or night, and in any city or in any town. It is legal for them to do that. That is a fact. And there are a lot more facts, some of which you might find difficult to believe. For example, the working taxpayers in Germany—thanks to the birdbrains again—give interest-free loans to these out-of-work people. Last year, the amount was €65 million. Naturally, a lot of these loans are not loans at all. They are never repaid. They are a gift."

  "And that is a fact, is it? €65 million? Interest-free?"

  "According to the official statistics of the German Employment Ministry, Jeremy."