97% Owned (2012)

97% Owned (2012). 1h 44m

“This is a very informative and powerful flick about the nature of our monetary system and how it came to be. It explains that most money is created basically out of thin air and that money is debt. Most people think that banks lend money out of deposits but in fact every time a bank lends money to you it creates that money out of nothing and creates your debt to them at the same time. Similarly, Government spending isnu0026#39;t funded by tax receipts, it occurs electronically and taxes just exist to reduce inflation. This film explains that austerity is a failed policy and criticises asset speculation such as on property and during the tulip fever and it does a good job doing so. One way in which it is a bit lacking though is suggestions of credible solutions – it suggests a tax on currency speculation and says that we should aim for a system where various national currencies are based of a u0026#39;basketu0026#39; of different assets or based on energy consumption in kWh rather than being entirely fiat, iow based on nothing. It should really be more explicit in advocating redistributive taxes and nationalisations such as for the Bank of England and a u0026#39;quantitative easing for the peopleu0026#39;, by which I mean money should be created out of thin air and spent on, not lent to, poor individual and SMEs and more generally spent in potentially productive sectors of the economy like manufacturing, education and healthcare rather than parasitic sectors like banking (and the FIRE sector more generally).”