Ezra Pound on money

Most people unfortunately will give me a blank stare when I mention the literary genius that is Ezra Pound. An American expat who emigrated to Italy and supported the Axis in WWII who was then imprisoned in an animal cage before being sent back to the United States to be locked in a mental institution rather than a prison (a form of tested punishment at the time), luckily Pound was soon released and moved back to Italy where he lived out his remaining days a very quiet man. But before departing the US he made the comment that the “United States is a giant insane asylum” (paraphrasing of course).

Now that you have a bit of his history in your head time to move onto the subject at hand, his statements on gold and the Rothschilds. Pound was a great literary genius but one subject he adored was economics, it was this passion which led him into trouble when he decided to support Fascism in Italy as the only viable alternative to Anglo-American Financial Capitalism and Soviet Bolshevik Communism. He became a great annoyance to Western industrialists and merchants with his works, especially when he wrote about the monetary system.

Already gaining a considerable following and being respected among those in right-wing circles from New Jersey to Venice his work had an impact on many individual’s politics during the 1920s, 30s and 40s. It is important to note that what made him a likable person to constitutionalists in the US is that he opposed any form of Fascism here as in Italy because he believed that the Constitution was the best example for governance in our nation. His belief was one shared by the old Conservatives and modern New Right intellectuals, there is no one-size-fits-all for nations, each country should adhere to its own unique customs.

One area that would divide him from the modern Libertarian Right especially is over the gold standard and this is where the heart of my thread begins. Pound argued against the gold-standard, preferring a further elaboration and testing of social credit instead, but upon arguing against the gold-standard he stated this:

“The trick is simple. Whenever the Rothschild and other gents in the gold business have gold to sell, they raise the price. The public is fooled by propagandizing the devaluation of the dollar, or other monetary unit according to the country chosen to be victimized. The argument is that the high price of the monetary unit is injurious to the nation’s commerce.

But when the nation, that is, the people of that nation own the gold and the financiers own the dollars or other monetary units, the gold standard is restored. This raises the value of the dollar and the citizens of “rich” nations, as well as citizens of other nations, are diddled.”

For this exact reason he supported Fascism in Italy, for any form of Financial Capitalism inherently involved such treasonous activities. Pound went on to further state:

“The definition of an idea, as observed by someone who understands the events of the day, may shed more light on the historical process than many volumes.”

“History, as seen by a Monetary Economist, is a continuous struggle between producers and non-producers, and those who try to make a living by inserting a false system of book-keeping between the producers and their just recompense.”

“The usurers act through fraud, falsification, superstitions, habits and, when these methods do not function, they let loose a war. Everything hinges on monopoly, and the particular monopolies hinge around the great illusionistic monetary monopoly.”

His conclusion for why the Anglo-American world was so corrupt and degenerate was that there was a close alliance between government and finance to defraud the public in their nations. This is the only way monopolies can exist; it is due to state protection and a close relationship.

According to Pound Fractional-Reserve Banking began after businesses were created by families who then began to issue receipts for gold and silver deposits, this eventually led into the issuing of more receipts than they had in gold and silver deposits. The reason this did not originate within the sovereign (Kings) is because they did not want to risk their power by gambling like that however they did find themselves becoming dependent upon these bankers to issue the loans.

This turned into the business of central banks as the Kings and Parliaments needed easy access to lots of money and credit. The bank would become a national Fractional-Reserve Bank and have the ability to regulate the size of money, collect taxes, issue paper currency and sell sovereign debt. However a very strategic part for the bankers involved was that they would know ahead of time when emergency borrowing would tick-up (back in the days of the gold-standard). Add to that those who sat on several different central bank boards had knowledge of the deposits and income of each state, during war time this allowed them to place bets on the winner and make enormous sums.

So why was the gold-standard so idolized by the elites? It increased irregularly and usually slower than the rate of population growth which meant that the value of loans would increase overtime along with the burden on the debtor. And it was for these reasons that Nazi Germany was so despised in its beginning. Hitler had abandoned the gold-standard which allowed Germany to avoid default by simply printing more money, then he took back the power of central banks by having the state issue notes in payment to laborers, contractors, and suppliers directly rather than go through the central bank.

If the Third Reich maintained monetary growth at the same speed as the growth of GNP then there would presumably be no inflation. Add to that the government issued debt directly to their citizens fueling what was called the ‘economic miracle’ and crushing the opportunity of central bankers to cause financial panics and meltdowns as they had before which led to the Great Depression. Is it any wonder why the Third Reich was the mortal enemy of the Anglo-American financial elites?

Pound had argued that this was a similar path the leaders of the early American republic took to take control away from the London financiers. It is no wonder why he supported the Axis with beliefs like these. But it was not about just blaming any elite for the problems, they may be the ones enacting it but they can do so only because of the complacency and ignorance of the public in every country which they control. Take away their power to print and manage a nation’s money and watch them die out like pouring salt on a snail.

I shall add my personal opinion that neither a gold-standard nor unregulated fiat currency are acceptable, both can be manipulated by the financial elites to our loss. The Fractional-Reserve Banking practices and all forms of usury must be wiped from our nation(s) if we are to ever enjoy the fruit of our own labor, the greatness of our homelands, and the end to unjustifiable perpetual warfare organized by a self-appointed mob of scoundrels at the top and the brainless masses who roam the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid.

Source

Thanks Misoir. What a flaming choice he had huh? Siding with fascism because he thought western bankers were worse?

No matter how rich, and evil the elite are there is comfort in knowing
that they can fall from grace with just a 55 cent piece of lead.
I will place my wager on that piece of lead trumping all their gold and riches.

Originally posted by Misoir
Most people unfortunately will give me a blank stare when I mention the literary genius that is Ezra Pound.

This may be because it is actually impossible to tell his ingenius verses from ridiculous parodies. See if you can do it yourself: Poetry or Parody?

Thanks for pointing out this great Ezra Pound quote;

“History, as seen by a Monetary Economist, is a continuous struggle between producers and non-producers, and those who try to make a living by inserting a false system of book-keeping between the producers and their just recompense.”

The non-producers that fits Ezra Pound's description of 'make a living by inserting a false system of book-keeping' are money printing nations that then import more world production than they export in return trade, Japan, Britain, United States, I'm looking right at you here.

Reminds me exactly of the the story of The Debtors and the Savers

Which goes on to show that it's not dollars or gold or fractional reserve banking that is inherently bad, it's the way we let these things be used that is bad. Those who work hard for their prosperity can if they choose to see, that as a producer they provide the real wealth that we value in this world. The non-producers who currently control the global money system are getting a free lunch at the expense of the producers.