Tuesday, July 28, 2015

That Film about Money (part 2)


Ep. 7: THE SECOND PART OF THAT FILM ABOUT MONEY | James Schamus from We The Economy on Vimeo.

11 comments:

  1. This second video on money was very eye-opening to the financial system and how it operates through money. Money is mostly debt and not physical paper as stated in the first video. Our whole economy runs on debt because most of our transactions take place electronically. Banks take advantage of the money that we lend them as deposits and turn them into debt that we owe them through credit cards and mortgages. The slowdown on real wage growth has increased our reliance on debt. This brings up the need to increase wages, but there is a downside to that which may lead to unemployment. This all shows that our economy is a delicate system with many factors that need to remain in balance.

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  2. In contrast to the first part of this video, this video enabled me to learn more about what a dollar really is in the real world. It is evident after watching this video that money is really just an illusion and that debt by consumer spending is essentially what keeps our economy going. I found it very interesting that productivity has gone drastically up, while people are still not getting paid anymore to be productive. In addition, people are just taking their short-term money and using it to buy stuff that they cannot afford. This video has showed me how complicated money and the bank can be because it can chafe so drastically due to small fluctuations in wages, unemployment, spending, and more.

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  3. When they stated that money is always someone else's debt, I fully understood what money actually is. It's interesting that the Federal Reserve can give money to banks cost free and tell them to lend it out, in order for circulation to hopefully occur. I find it disheartening that since 1970, real wages have stagnated, but worker productivity has greatly increased. The idea of delusions is surely required for regular people and for banks.

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  4. This second part to the film on money furthered my understanding of the broad statement in the first video when describing money as somebodies debt. It is quite interesting how banks are being recovered but no one else is. When they are given money, they take advantage of it in a sense. Just as Chandler wrote, money is a very complicated thing when you truly think about how it travels through our economy and in particular how it is used by the banks.

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  5. I have to say that the airplane-cash-dumping plan seems like it may be a bit more efficient than the actual route taken. At least that may very well have given a bit more wealth to those whose wages have stagnated.

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  6. I'm with John on this one - it is a terrible thing to realize that at the same time the top .01% of the population has run away with most of the wealth in America, the wages for the rest of the population have not risen commensurate with the enormous increase in productivity. Neither have wages kept pace with inflation which allows the idea that debt as a way of life is acceptable. This video shows just how banks would really like us all to take that on as our status quo.

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  7. Oh man, this video was really depressing. We're trapped in the money matrix without Keanu Reeves to save us. At what specific point did we stop regulating financial markets so influx of capital would perpetually stay within the banking/lending/investing system, and therefore benefit the wealthiest Americans, instead of distributing this money out as a wage increase to the 99% of hard working Americans? What presidents in the past twenty years have fought for the middle class? Wheres all my money?

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  8. I think dante had it a bit right when he created a circle of hell for those who charge interest. I also think that this video (and part 1) should be shown to everyone who is about to sign up for a credit card or bank account so that they understand the "un-realness" of money and where it comes from. I always find it fascinating where money comes from and the fact that it just doesn't really exist is constantly baffling. Especially for something we depend on so heavily.

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  9. This was an interesting follow up to part 1. It was interesting to see how the Federal Reserve deposits new money into circulation, by giving it to banks rather than consumers. It was also interesting to see how the banks then flipped the money that they were getting from the federal reserve to make greater profits. The video states that the banks payed 0.5% interest on the new money that comes in from the Federal Reserve. Then the banks take that new money and loan it out to the government and charge 2-3% interest. It was interesting to see how the banks were able to turn the situation around and make greater profits and to be able to recover from the crisis.

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  10. I never really thought before of how the Federal Reserves gets their new money in to the system. Before I never would have expected that loans would be how they actually get the new money in. Also, it was kind of unusual to think that banks would take this money for loans but then used it how they pleased and basically just lend it right back to the government to get higher interest than what they have to pay for it. The whole arrangement sounds very sneaky and seems to only be beneficial for only banks.

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  11. It's mind blowing to think that we get paid and buy things with an idea of money that doesn't really exist. It's scary thinking about how the system is designed to force people into a cycle of debt while the top tier gains from the bankruptcy of the lower classes to cover their own debt.

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