The year of peaceful and fertile rabbit has dawned.
War and disease, sanctions and threat, terror and sabotage, extreme weather and food/energy crisis, etc. there is no sign of end for this dark tunnel yet. but the sun has risen without any disruption.
High prices, high interest rates, high FX rates are imposing severe hardships of life to the people without no clear solution is shown by anybody yet.
Stars and creatures in the universe have been coexisting in balance and harmony throughout the time. However, it’s hard to say whether human history is really advancing or regressing.
Maybe it would be irrelative to the real value whether advance or regress. Conflict and fighting against each other might be the human nature of coexistence.
However, one thing clear is that the hostile other also should deserve its value of existence. The balance of power between different social groups would force each group find their own positions eventually.
Like the food chain and natural enemy in the eco system, human society also has friends and enemies according to geo-political position, thoughts and belief, knowledge and intelligence, wealthy or poor.
Right now, I respect every one of you who are in this same ground. No matter how much different background each of us have, I wish to be a beneficial person to you more than I need you.
In this year, may every one of us be really free of any prejudice or restrains due to those differences of ideology, political party, creditor/debtor, employer/employee, landlord/tenant.
Some suggestions for true freedom
First, Human life of about 100 years is mostly shaped by the environment of birth and growth.
The process of building identity and being awaken to it of a family or any cultural community in its historical sense make people distinguish us from others and their effort to confirm or exalt the identity becomes their formal character which functions as a fenceless jail for them. Endless revenge in typical Chinese play is one of its direct example.
However, real freedom begins not by fulfillment of revenge but by forgiveness. It’s straight shooting truth.
I proudly believe that Korean cultural identity is deductive from the humanitarian ideal originated from our great forebear Dangun, which most Koreans accept emphathically, that under this banner flying high we, Koreans can stand together to serve people of the world with dignity.
Korean people, south and north, are confined within their camps and deprived of freedom of thoughts against their will. Koreans should realize that we are of world class civilized race, that once we got the grand union free of foreign interruptions, we can lead the people of the world to the great humanitarian ideal by forgiving those Chinese, Japanese and American invasion, exploitation and mass murder. This unification of two Koreas shall be the road and answer to the human history.
Second, Inequality and unfairness caused by turning blind eyes to the wrong custom and manipulated truth.
Money and banking system is man-made historical product. The most terrible creature restraining human freedom is debt. Debts always have been before any existence of money. Money was made as a handy tool to execute claim for debt. Once the state sovereignty monopolized the authority to create money, bankers invented and put into circulation certificate of deposit of it. This certificate diluted the seigniorage of the state and they took multiplied greater part of the pie by lobby and corruption. This misguided custom prevailed the whole history of money and finance with very little challenge from criticism.
Today in most economy bills and coins issued by its central bank are recognized as main or official legal tenders. However, when you get loans from the banks they create money by electronic key stroking and destroy it when the loan is paid back. They handle money as perceived experts, but they do not respect the state authority at all.
The decline of Swiss referendum on sovereign money in 2018 by 25% of support tells us how far and difficult monetary reform is.
Surprisingly simple solution to this issue.
We need to designate official means of payment generally accepted. Physical cash, bank deposits as digital cash, maturing sovereign debts, cashable balances of money market funds, etc. Every item should be carefully examined and defined to be designated with annual updates by sovereign authority. Among selected and listed means free exchange at par to be guaranteed, no abolition and/or incineration of these means to be allowed except by the sovereignty itself. By doing this, money in circulation is compiled transparently as real time statistics.
If the economy needs increase of total amount of money in circulation, the sovereign monetary authority can create new money out of thin air, this newly added money to be distributed evenly to each citizen or to be spent directly into a specific public project.
Especially we need to police strictly any criminal behaviors of making and putting into circulation of similar alternative money which is not listed on the official means of payment. And regarding refinance or renewal of existing debt, increasing outstanding balance of debt without providing any real economic value to the debtor should be prohibited.
I think above mentioned ideas are mostly understandable and acceptable, there is a huge task standing before us to bring these ideas into a social consensus and actual enactment. I wish this task not to be a new burden restrain our freedom and the process of solving this difficult homework to be a real rewarding and glory of success in the open class room.
Third, In reality more people are satisfied with their position as outsiders like wanderers, day laborers or observers rather than responsible sovereign people. Freedom and democracy are not free, they require more sweat and blood to be achieved and defended through the long way to go.
Let’s keep in mind that every person born to live in this planet naturally deserves to be treated as a landlord and reflect on ourselves whether I did ignore it, unconsciously embezzled others’.
New international institution for cross border payment and settlement
Credit evaluation among nations needs a new principle. Not based on current outstanding balances of debts/credits or military power, I suggest territory and population as new basis of credit. I don’t have a detail scheme about it yet. But I believe it’s worthwhile to refer this idea to public opinion.
Recent Report from BOK
Bank of Korea recently published “Report on financial stability”. It says that during 3rd quarter of last year average daily amount paid and settled through Korean financial system reached 937 trillion Won.
[BOK Wire: 511, Small amount settlement system: 95, Securities settlement system: 231, FX system: 100]
Obviously, this numbers represent paid and received separately the actaul amount of money moved around daily should be half of it 468 trillion Won, still it’s huge. This huge amount of money is moving out of breath to pay off debts and create new debts but we have no jdea about why and how it’s beyond our imagination.
Closing Words
Interest rate hike started to fight inflation, like a sword dance of crazy bitch will eventually stop. Some analysts see it as a pre-set for “The Great Reset”.
”The Great Reset” could be a total new starting point where no debts outstanding, so no interest accruing, everybody can set his or her own finish line, we can freely discuss and make decision which principle we should re adapt, what kind of rights enjoyed by the few oligarchs would be respected. Isn’t it really fun to imagine freely about money and banking system?
<This essay was written in Korean and posted at Korean networks and translated by the author Young Kim>