Hacker Cinema
Money as Debt
2006 · Film · documentary · 47 min
Paul Grignon's 47-minute animated presentation of "Money as Debt" tells in very simple and effective graphic terms what money is and how it is being created
5 positive1 neutralfrom 6 commenters
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6 comments on Hacker News
> How is "debt" defined if we're defining money as debt?
When you obtain a loan from the bank, you are conveniently paying back in the form of fiat currency, which you have earned through your labour. But if you fail to meet the payments, then the real debt emerges - the collatoral (your house, car, etc).
In this sense "debt" is just reinterpreted as "owing an agreed resource" which, for the most part, is conveniently valued in USD/EUR/etc.
The short film "Money as debt" was the eye-opener for me. It's probably still available on youtube somewhere. I urge anyone looking for a light-hearted, but apparently factual, introduction to start there.
That's exactly correct, from my understanding. Though it's biased, there's a great documentary called 'Money as Debt' that explains the process in an understandable way.
To better understand our monetary system I highly recommend watching the "Money as Debt" movie. It's on youtube as well as http://www.moneyasdebt.net/ (which I think links to y/t anyway). It provides a pretty good explanation of gold-backed vs credit-backed money and is fun to watch.
On a related note, the "Money as Debt" documentary is a fascinating watch to understand where money comes from.
I just submitted it to HN http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3381634 and I'd be interested in hearing the opinion and criticism of people with better knowledge of the monetary system than me.
FWIW, I think this author is hitting around the nail, even if not on target, and his emotional style of writing can further bring his credibility into question. However, I wouldn't say the article is clueless or fictional, far from it. I found myself agreeing for the most part with another article from this author about economic bubbles and Goldman Sachs (http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/28816321/the_great_american_bubble_machine/print) and I'm someone that both predicted and warned of our impending economic trouble as early as Nov '07 (provable screenshots). I recommend watching Money as Debt (5 part series so click at each end): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIIAvdJvCes&NR=1
I am not so sure predicting when a fiat currency will be inflated is tricky.
The money supply and interest rates being econ 101.
And thinking of hyper inflation, where does that usually happen?
Zimbabwe, Yugoslavia, the Weimar Republic - if a bad government wants to screw you, a gold backed currency won't save you. Does anyone think someone like Mugabe wouldn't just change the rules to do what ever he wants?
Besides, even that Money as Debt movie explains that gold is easily manipulated and thus volatile, so not good as a currency.