From: "John Zube" To: "Christian Butterbach" Cc: "Rolf Keppler" , References: <5.1.0.14.2.20030401112728.024d55f0@butterbach.net> Subject: 030402 FB, War, Central Banking, Dollar, Euro Re: Neuer Aspekt des Irak-Kriegs Date: Wed, 2 Apr 2003 02:02:42 +1000 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2600.0000 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2600.0000 Dear Christian, there are all kinds of "conspiracy" and "cause" ideas on war. The Nazis, too, had their own, on a supposed international "Jewish" conspiracy and their own anti-capitalism and anti-laissez fair "philosophy" was, among other things, expressed by their attacks against the international financial conspiracy of the "plutocrats". Those who ascribe all to "oil interests", "international corporations" or "multi-nationals" or "globalism", to the "almighty" dollar, the World Bank, the IMF, or, as here, to a currency conspiracy, are all in the same vein. I read somewhere that there are now between 1000 and 1500 different conspiracy theories. Absolutely expressed none is right. By their very contradictions and differences in their "exclusive" or "main cause" presentations or "explanations" they refute each other, just like the various religions, churches and sects do. Is that "theory" a fact based one, or a mere hypothesis? Is it an informed or another wild guess? Does it accept the current situation as an unchangeable "given" or as an imposed condition, that could, with a large effort in the right directions, be changed? Is good money everywhere free to drive out the bad? Are we everywhere free enough to drive out the bad rulers, as far as our own affairs are concerned? Or are they given legal tender and cours forcé over out fate? Also a monopoly position? As for me, I choose full monetary, financial, clearing, credit and investment freedom over any despotic system in these spheres, as part of my general panarchistic stand. That often some little truths and natural trends are behind the generalizations of them, does not justify their generalizations. Hitler, for instance, got SOME capitalist backing from Germany and perhaps also some from overseas. He and the Weimar Republic before him, were also, for a while, collaborating militarily, with the Soviet Union, to circumvent the restrictions of the Versailles Treaty. Early and quite just and liberating interventions against Lenin, Mussolini, Hitler, Mao and others would have saved the world much trouble. But territorial governments are, probably, not capable of quite rightful and timely interventions, at least not of pursuing optimal and quite just programs against despotic territorial regimes, seeing that they are also authoritarian by degrees. What annoys me about most libertarians and anarchists is that they do not seriously enough consider their libertarian and anarchist alternative platform, action and enlightenment programs against totalitarian and authoritarian regimes overseas, although only they could offer rightful and effective programs against them. They rather criticise the more obvious wrongs and mistakes of territorial governments on "their" side. Territorialists can only offer territorial non-solutions, that make for more and more crises and problems. Freedom and peace lovers should seriously consider the case for interventionism and for non-interventionism. Both are not absolutes but relative notions. Numerous fundamental questions have to be asked about both. Intervention by whom? Governments or volunteers? For or against what cause, persons, principles or institutions? Using what means, methods and weapons and in what ways? Using publicity or secrecy? Using boycotts and bombing indiscriminately against whole populations, countries, cities or is it a "war to the palace, peace to the huts" intervention or liberation? Have completely rightful war and peace aims been declared and are they strictly adhered to in practice already, even before it comes to a war, on the own side? Is democratic "voting" and "representation" good enough as a war aim? Can anyone's territoria ideal serve as the ideal for all in that territory? At least the simple questions of Aphtonios should all be anwered, instead of proceeding in the conventional and traditional way, based on numerous false premises and assumptions. Jumping to conclusions and taking assertions for facts, adopting seeming opposites as only alternatives and mere hypotheses as sound theories and considering only one-factor "explanations" - can lead us from one crisis to another. This theorist presupposed that one central banking system, competing with another central banking system, would be the main cause for this war. The truth lies, I believe, closer to the observation or generalisation that ALL central banking systems greatly contribute to wars, civil wars, revolutions and dictatorships. I will not attempt to prove that here, since I have expressed myself often and at length on this subject. The "Almighty Dollar" was never "almighty" and for a long time it hasn't even been a properly defined "dollar". Nevertheless, since most national currencies, run by their central banks, are even worse, most of the time, it has become an internationally widely accepted means of exchange, officially or unofficially, as well as a value standard. This in spite of the fact, that neither its acceptance nor its value is enforced, internationally, as it is internally, in the USA. Indeed, internationally, other currencies might come to compete with it, as formerly did the Pound Sterling and as, for some years in parts of Europe, did the DM and may, in the future, the Euro do, internationally, if this paper exchange medium, with its forced value and forced acceptance and monopoly position - in Europe - may under as good or least evil administration as this system permits, gain a similar role in the rest of the world. So what? Should we support either of these kinds of monetary despotism? That means support for all the evils that they do lead to, internally and internationally, causing a permanent crisis, already considered to be "normal", with occasional flare-ups, considered as crises but still not ascribed to monetary despotism. Nobody should be forced to accept these exchange media and "value standards" at all, internally, nor should people of other nations be put monetarily into such desperate situations, by their "guardians of the currency", that they come to prefer either the Dollar or the Euro to their own nationally enforced exclusive currency or forced currency. All people should be free to issue and to refuse to accept or discount the currency of others and obliged only to accept the own always and at their face value. All should also enjoy full freedom in the choice of value standards. That means, among other things, that anyone should be free to offer better value standards - and exchange media and clearing and credit avenues - than are offered by the Dollar and the Euro, also for international transactions. No capital or power is required for that but merely informed agreement between two or more trading partners who are free enough to make their own deals undisturbed by governments, bureaucrats and powerful lobbies or pressure groups. Add to this full financial freedom, which means absence of compulsory taxation, compulsory loans and compulsory investments in governmental insecurities and some of the main root causes for wars, poverty and despotic regimes would be cut. Free Trade and free foreign investments would be just part and parcel of that monetary and financial freedom. Free migration would be a natural consequence, with more immigrants being wanted as workers almost everywhere. No monetary despotism is without wrongful and harmful consequences, internally and internationally. Nor is any monopolistic disposal rights of any government or corporation over natural resources. Least of all should any territorial government be allowed to consider all "its" inhabitants to be considered and treated and exploited at its natural resource. If overseas hoarded millions or thousands of millions of US dollars or Euros would suddenly stream back, increasing the local circulation of national legal tender or forced currency, correspondingly, an inflation of the price level will be inevitable as long as the pricing of all prices, wages and contracts in that currency can be enforced. To the extent that people are free to price their goods, services and labour otherwise, and free to issue, accept, refuse means of payments and value standards or discount alternative issues of private or cooperative currencies, in their own payment and clearing communities, they will be independent of the fate of any of the governmental currencies. The sooner they begin this monetary revolution the better, the less friction and difficulties will arise when a national currency finally collapses totally or almost totally. Instead of speculating whether one or the other form of monetary despotism will win world-wide or will be worse or better than the other, we should do away with our dependence on all of them. For all too long have we allowed the rulers of and exploiters of central banking systems to determine our fates to a very large extent. I for one don't want to be ruled by an exclusive and forced Dollar any more than by an exclusive and forced Euro. To each his own or a voluntarily chosen exchange medium, clearing process, value standard and credit system. PIOT, John. (Panarchy In Our Time or: To each the government or non-governmental society of his or her dreams. That is certainly not yet offered, by either side, to the people of Iraq or any people anwhere. It is not even yet part of a wide-spread public discussion as an alternative to what it happening now. Everywhere the territorialist totalitarians and territorial imperialists prevail, largely with their consent of their victims, the civilian and the uniformed ones.) ========================================================================= ----- Original Message ----- From: "Christian Butterbach" To: "John Zube" Sent: Tuesday, April 01, 2003 7:27 PM Subject: Neuer Aspekt des Irak-Kriegs CB: Ist das nicht erstaunlich? Ich stoße heute zum ersten Mal darauf. Nirgendwo, wo ich bisher etwas über den Irak-Krieg gelesen habe, war dieser interessante Währungsaspekt erwähnt... ===================================================== Kriegsursache nicht Öl sondern der Euro- 106 - ===================================================== Normalerweise bringe ich in meinem Rundbrief keinen Artikel zur Politik. Da die Kriegsursache "Euro" mir hier einleuchtet und vielen nicht bekannt sein dürfte, mache ich eine Ausnahme: Zwei Auszüge aus einem Artikel aus der FAZ ? (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung), Autor Guido Schwelm, Quelle müsste noch überprüft werden: Weil der einzige Grund Saddam zu stürzen, seine Entscheidung vom November 2000 ist, statt Dollar in Zukunft Euro zu nehmen. Damit hatte er sein Schicksal besiegelt. Bush - als der Öl-Industrie verpflichtet - hat sozusagen deren geostrategische Sicht bezüglich des Öls, womit ein "fabrizierter" zweiter Golfkrieg seither in der Luft liegt, darüber hinaus droht der ohnedies schwerstens angeschlagenen US-Wirtschaft der tödliche Stoß, wenn der Euro zur Öl-Währung avancieren sollte. Dass der Irak auch seine 10 Mrd.$ Reserven bei der UNO (vom Programm "Öl-für-Nahrung") in Euro umwandelte, war eine Draufgabe. In diesem Krieg geht es eben nicht um Saddam oder MVW, sondern auch darum, die OPEC einzuschüchtern (auch den anderen Regierungen könnte das Schicksal Saddams drohen) bzw. direkt zu hindern, dem Beispiel des Iraks zu folgen. Dieser hatte sich zum Euro entschlossen, als er bei 80 Cents lag, um wie viel eher liegt ein Umstieg nahe, nachdem der Dollar an die 28% seines Wertes gegenüber dem Euro seit 2002 einbüßte? Was wäre wenn die OPEC plötzlich - statt geordnet (d.h. schrittweise) - auf Euro umstiege? - Nun, alle Öl-verbrauchenden Staaten und deren Zentralbanken müssten die "Währungs-Reserven" von Dollar auf Euro umstellen. Der Dollar würde sofort bis zur Hälfte seines Wertes verlieren - mit den entsprechenden Folgen (u.a. ungeheurer Inflation) für die US-Wirtschaft, die ein derartiger Zusammenbruch der Währung nach sich zöge. Eine Flucht aller ausländischen Anlagen aus dem Dollar - den Aktien und Dollar-bezogenen Wertpapieren - würde einen Sturm auf die Banken wie in den 30-er Jahren auslösen, das Außenhandelsdefizit wäre nicht mehr. . Was die (US-)Eliten ja verstehen, aber sonst nicht allgemein bekannt sein dürfte, ist der Umstand, dass die Stärke des Dollars per se nicht auf der Leistung der US-Volkswirtschaft beruht. In Wahrheit beruht sie seit 1945 auf dem Privileg, internationale Reserve-Währung zu sein - und als fiat-Währung für die weltweiten Öl-Transaktionen (Petro-Dollar) verwendet zu werden. Die USA drucken Hunderte Milliarden dieser fiat-Petro-Dollar, die dann von den Nationalstaaten zum Kauf von Öl/Energie bei den OPEC-Produzenten (mit Ausnahme des Irak und einiger noch zaghafter Versuche Venezuelas und demnächst wohl des Iran) verwendet werden. Diese Petro-Dollar werden dann von der OPEC zurück in die USA über Treasury-Bills oder andere Dollar-bezogene Werte wie US-Aktien, Immobilien, etc. rezykliert. Dieses Rezyklieren der Petro-Dollars ist der Preis, den die Ölproduzenten zu bezahlen und den sich die USA für ihre bisherige Duldung des OPEC-Kartells ausbedungen haben. . http://www.staatsbriefe.de/1994/2003/kriegsgruende1.htm [aus: Gute Ideen von Rolf Keppler, Märzrundbrief 2003, Spreuergasse 24, D-70372 Stuttgart Tel.: +49 (0)711 / 55 93 87 Fax: +49 (0)89/2443 54701 Rolf Keppler ; http://www.s-line.de/homepages/keppler http://home.arcor.de/rundbriefe http://www.rolf-keppler.de] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Christian Butterbach~~~cb@butterbach.net P.O. Box 11 21 21~~~~~~www.butterbach.net D-20421 Hamburg~~~~~~~~Fax +49-40-37501769 (Germany)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Phone +49-40-37501760 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Visit http://www.butterbach.net/ (latest update: 30-MARCH-2003) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~