The Great Taking - book, interviews, discussion, what next?

[Heart's Ease]

 

My notes on a short piece to camera on The Great Taking from our very own @Kevin Redshaw.

Nigel gives his usual relaxed and slightly weary take on the book - legit, or fear porn? - and his advice on how to protect yourself.  What 'they' are up to doesn't surprise him, as it's stuff he been talking about for a couple of years.  He is surprised that DRW has managed to get a bit of traction on regurgitating what is self evident (my note on this - there's a lot of research and footnotes in that book and loads of stuff new to me - and, yes, I have a degree in economics).

He recognises that 'they' (uses the WEF as shorthand: NB DRW doesn't name the perps as such but we can assume overlap) are coming for our bank deposits, shares, houses.

He then outlines this in more detail.

The example used at first is that until you've paid off your mortgage it belongs to the bank not you. So no surprise there.  True, but we'll come back to that.*

Second example is using HSBC investment wing to do your share dealing and holding your shares electronically. In his example, those shares don't belong to you: HSBC owns those shares and you have a theoretical claim on them. He gives the opinion that if HSBC goes bust and BlackRock decide to buy the remains of HSBC, BlackRock will own your shares. This isn't true: your shares are held, ultimately in a clearing house. In Europe this is Euroclear.  It is true that if you own the paper certificate then you have good title, but that's a key aspect of the work which has been done - an engineered crisis to switch to electronic holdings.

Nigel then turns to bank accounts and your money becoming the banks money and you being a creditor. That the £85k guarantee is worth nowt (I covered this up thread). True (although didn't it pay out for the Icelandic banks in 2008?).

Onto pensions. Nigel agrees that the scumbags will steal your pension money. Unhelpful to conflate the system put in place to do this and the Mirror pension fund theft by Bob Maxwell though.

Where I think 'pitching to his audience' who come for a bit of northern grit real world economic analysis falls down is the conflation of 'the great taking system' put in place over the past 50 years or so and the concept of counter party risk. The great taking goes way beyond that as it is deliberately constructed to tear up the fundamental, natural concept of property rights. This key difference should have had more attention.  

How to protect yourself? 

Bitcoin held in hard wallet; shares in solid companies which sell a good product and you need to have the certificates**; unmortgaged property and paper deeds; land; classic cars; fine wine; whiskey; a store of value rather than cash in the bank as the money printing ramps up. Nigel notes that the value of assets will increase to reflect the increase in money supply more than money in an account will increase with interest.

Notes that US government confiscated privately owned gold in 1930's. Doesn't think that will wash this time round. 

Notes also that the Muslims have set up a parallel society within Britain and we should also be doing this.

* Repossession by the bank for non payment of mortgage is what he's referring to. Great Taking posits that all assets bought with debt will be ultimately swallowed by the great derivatives black hole, no matter if you are up to date with payments or not.

** Dematerialisation rules this out as a solid plan. In Sweden it's illegal to issue paper certificates. Ironic, as DRW moved there to escape the system set up in USA.

@Kevin Redshaw don't know if you come round these backwaters any more. Happy to discuss if I've misinterpreted anything.