Materialism

The constant advertisements thrown at us, and virtually all the peer pressure we experience try to convince us that to be "good patriotic Americans" we have to buy a bunch of "stuff". We are supposed to invest in America—have confidence in the economy—by taking out huge mortgages, buying cars, spending all our money, and even going in debt if need be. Worrying that constant growth cannot be sustained forever is un-American, according to them.

These things do not make us happy though. People keep trying all the time, and in fact some things DO bring temporary excitement—but not that deep peace that few people get to experience these days. Most people today, especially those in debt, experience only stress, not peace. There is nothing like the wonderful feeling of owning your house (debt-free), driving a car that is paid for, or having no credit card debt. Your very food tastes better when you know that it is paid for, and not sitting on your credit card just waiting to be paid for someday. Every trip to the gas station is a joy, when you know that your car is
not horrible on gas—and you can afford it, because you are not paying hundreds of dollars a month in fruitless interest payments.

Americans pride themselves on being free, but how free is a man who:
- Does not own his house
- Does not own his car
- Owes thousands of dollars to various banks
- Has to send his wife to work out of necessity, because his expenses are so high
- Sends his children to public school—not by choice, but by necessity
- Restricts the number of children he has, because he feels he cannot afford more
- Pays a huge portion of his earnings every month to his "masters", the bankers

Those traits describe someone living in serfdom or slavery, not freedom. It describes someone living under a tyrant—who takes most of the peasant's income, and just keeps them alive enough to keep working for him. The tyrant tells them how many children they can have, and forces even women and older children into public service projects. The land, the house they sleep in, and the animals they work the fields with do not belong to the peasants, but to the tyrant.

The tyrant today is not the government (although Income Tax is something surprisingly new in our nation's history). The tyrant is the network of banks, which conspire to suck people dry at every turn, which causes such a drain that both parents have to work. This alone causes countless problems in the world today, because children were meant to be raised by their parents. They were not meant to be wards of the state.

On a side note, I am not a "good little consumer". I contribute almost nothing to the banking system—neither paying interest, nor giving them money to lend out at exorbitant rates to other people. If I kept $5,000 in the bank, they could lend out $50,000 at 6 or 7% interest, while only paying me 3% interest on that $5,000. Talk about massive profits! Banks can lend out 10X their cash reserves, due to the structure of the Fractional Reserve banking system. Now you see why the banks want your business! Whether you are a saver or a spender, they can make big money off of you.

I stick to reality—if something does not make sense (like every man, woman and child making 8% each year, every year, on the stock market) then I do not participate. Sure, money can be made on the stock market, but once in a while the whole thing crashes because it was puffed up like a marshmallow in the microwave—just begging to pop. The same with real estate. When large sums of money can be made without any effort, we should be suspicious. How possible—or moral—can that possibly be? Who am I exploiting to make that money? I know for a fact that money cannot produce more money by just sitting there.

If I invest in Wal-mart and receive yearly dividends, etc. how did I make all that money? The answer is: off the backs of the slaves in China, and the poorlypaid employees of Wal-mart.

We may be powerless to bring down the "Federal" Reserve and return the authority to print money to the Federal Government where it belongs, but we can limit their power over ourselves by avoiding their chains—by voluntarily staying out of debt. At the moment, slavery is not forced upon us—we can choose to reject the yoke of their slavery. When you select that more expensive car, when you charge that new plasma TV, when you buy something (on credit) just to keep up with the Joneses, you are attaching one more chain to your ankles.

Every loan you have contributes to reducing your net income. You work hard every day to bring in $3,500 a month, but the bankers get to legally steal almost $1,200 of that right off the bat. Out of the other $2,300 you make a small payment on the principal (the actual MEAT) of all your loans, and what is left over can actually be spent by you (on food, utilities, etc.) Remember, the interest portion of your various loans does not reduce your debt load by even 1 cent. That is the bankers' fee, the bankers' reward, for lending you some money.