Fiat Money History in the US

Fiat Money History in the US

OVERVIEW
In a fiat money system, money is not backed by a physical commodity (i.e.: gold). Instead, the only thing that gives the money value is its relative scarcity and the faith placed in it by the people that use it. A good primer on the history of fiat money in the US can be found in a video provided by the Mises.org website.

In a fiat monetary system, there is no restrain on the amount of money that can be created. This allows unlimited credit creation. Initially, a rapid growth in the availability of credit is often mistaken for economic growth, as spending and business profits grow and frequently there is a rapid growth in equity prices. In the long run, however, the economy tends to suffer much more by the following contraction than it gained from the expansion in credit. This expansion in credit can be seen in the Debt/GDP ratio. We track the bubbles created by this expansion of debt at the inflation / deflation page.

In most cases, a fiat monetary system comes into existence as a result of excessive public debt. When the government is unable to repay all its debt in gold or silver, the temptation to remove physical backing rather than to default becomes irresistible. This was the case in 18th century France during the Law scheme, as well as in the 70s in the US, when Nixon removed the last link between the dollar and gold which is still in effect today.

Hyper-inflation is the terminal stage of any fiat currency. In hyper-inflation, money looses most of its value practically overnight. Hyper-inflation is often the result of increasing regular inflation to the point where all confidence in money is lost. In a fiat monetary system, the value of money is based on confidence, and once that confidence is gone, money irreversibly becomes worthless, regardless of its scarcity. Gold has replaced every fiat currency for the past 3000 years.

The United States has so far avoided hyper-inflation by shifting between a fiat and gold standard over the past 200 years.

1785-1861 – FIXED Gold standard 76 years

The founding fathers were concerned about the unrestrained control of the money supply. One thing they all agreed upon was the limitation on the issuance of money,
Thomas Jefferson warned of the damage that would be caused if the people assigned control of the money supply to the banking sector, “I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a money aristocracy that has set the government at defiance. This issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people to whom it properly belongs. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of the moneyed corporations which already dare to challenge our Government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country” Thomas Jefferson, 1791

Many of the founding fathers experienced the damage caused by fiat currency. Most of the revolutionary war was financed by worthless currency called “Continentals”.

The Continental Currency (“Not worth a Continental”) that American colonists issued for the Continental Congress to finance the Revolutionary War was replaced by the US Dollar in 1785 when The Continental Congress adopted the dollar as the unit for national currency. At that time, private bank-note companies printed a variety of notes. After adoption of the Constitution in 1789, Congress chartered the First Bank of the United States and authorized it to issue paper bank notes to eliminate confusion and simplify trade. The U.S. Constitution (Section 10) forbids any state from making anything but gold or silver a legal tender. The Federal Monetary System was established in 1792 with the creation of the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia. The first American coins were struck in 1793. The U.S. Coinage Act of 1792, consistent with the Constitution, provided for a U.S. Mint, which stamped silver and gold coins. The importance of this Act cannot be stressed enough.
One dollar was defined by statute as a specific weight of gold.
The Act also invoked the death penalty for anyone found to be debasing money.
President George Washington mentions the importance of the national currency backed by gold and silver throughout his initial term of office and he contributed his own silver for the initial coins minted.
The purchase of The US Mint in Philadelphia, was the first money appropriated by Congress for a building to be used for a public purpose. It was purchased for a total of $4,266.67 on July 18, 1792.
1862-1879 – FLOATING fiat currency 7 years

The first use of fiat money (called Greenbacks) in the United States was in 1862, it was used as a tool to pay for the enormous cost of the Civil War. Greenbacks were a debt of the U.S. government, redeemable in gold at a future unspecified date. They were circulated along with Gold certificates, backed by the government’s promise to pay in gold.
1880-1914 – FIXED Gold standard 34 years

The US dollar was hard pegged to gold resulting in domestic price stability and virtually no inflation. The financial needs of WW1 ended this.
1915-1925 – FLOATING Fiat currency 10 years
In order to “pay” for WW1 countries had to print a lot of paper currency which by necessity mandated a delinking from gold because there wasn’t enough gold to support the paper.
1926-1931 – FIXED Gold standard, 5 years

The gold exchange standard was established wherein each country pegged its currency to the US dollar and British pound which were then supposed to be backed by the dollar. When the depression began countries tried to cash in their pounds and dollars for gold. That “run” on gold forced the end of the gold exchange standard.
1931-1945 – FLOATING Fiat currency, 14 years
Fiat currencies reign worldwide leading to huge economic imbalances from country to country and was of the major contributing factors to the beginning of WW2.
1945-1968 – FIXED – Gold standard, 26 years
1944 Bretton Woods Accord (similar to gold exchange standard of 1926-1931) Two main currencies again, the US dollar and British pound. A run to convert pounds to gold collapsed the pound and began the end of the Bretton woods accord. It took 3 years while governments tried to salvage the system and also to determine what to do next. Kind of like having one leg on the boat and the other on shore. 1963 – New Federal Reserve notes with no promise to pay in “lawful money” was released. No guarantees, no value. This is also the year of the disappearance of the $1 silver certificate. Once again, a subtle shift in plain view.

1965 – Silver is completely eliminated in all coins save the Kennedy half-dollar, which was reduced to 40 percent silver by President Lyndon Johnson’s authorization. The Coinage Act of 1965 signed by Lyndon Johnson, terminates the original legislation signed by George Washington 173 years earlier (carrying the death penalty) enabling the US Treasury to eliminate the silver content of all currency.

1968 – June 24 – President Johnson issued a proclamation that all Federal Reserve Silver Certificates were merely fiat legal tender and could not really be redeemed in silver.

1971 – FLOATING – Fiat currency, 5 months
August of 1971 President Nixon ended the international gold standard and for the first time no currency in the world had a gold backing.
1971-1973 – FIXED – Dollar standard, 2 years
The Smithsonian Agreement was passed pegging world currencies to the dollar rather than gold as a fixed exchange rate.
1973-? – FLOATING – Fiat currency, 30 years
The Basel Accord established the current floating exchange of currency rates we are operating under today.

A good barometer of the size of a currency’s leverage is the percentage of total Debt to GDP (Gross Domestic Product). Currently, that percentage (299%) is higher than the level the nation experienced during the depression era 1930’s. With budget deficits projected for 2003 and 2004, the US will soon exceed this already inflated level.

http://www.kwaves.com/fiat.htm

Inflation is an Invisible Tax

Inflation is an Invisible Tax
By Eli James

Many people cannot see throught the con game that is called fiat money. Even Sheldon Emry failed to understand that fiat money is the bankers’ primary weapon against civilization. He taught that it is impossible to have gold-backed money. But that is only true when the bankers control the gold. Under the US Constitution, the government is supposed to hold onto its gold and use it to back any issuance of paper money. When Woodrow Wilson created the Federal Reserve Bank, he turned the issuance of the nation’s currency over to a private corporation of bankers. This violates the USConstitutionk, which still states “Congress shall have the power to coin money.” The key word here is COIN. Real money is always in the form of a valuable, stable commodity, such as gold and silver. Any unstable currency will cause fluctuation of value, thus violating the “just weights and measures” law of the Bible. Throughout history, bankers have always sought control of the currency, so that they could issue it and speculate on its fluctuations.

The fact is that the international bankers have always implemented fiat money currencies in the place of gold and silver. There is a very simple reason for this: He who controls the gold controls the world. The gold and silver are supposed to belong to the people, not to the bankers. Those who argue against a gold-backed currency do not unmderstand that the reason why the bankers want to deprive the people of their gold and silver is so that the bankers can substitute their fiat currency instead.

The bankers also hire so-called economists to tell you that gold-backed currency is not necessary. Sheldon Emry fell for this ruse because he did not have a thorough understanding of how the bankers play this game.

Since it is impossible to inflate the volume of gold and silver as currency, the bankers cannot use such currency to manipulate the economy. Those who argue against gold-backed money are actually playing into the hands of the bankers, who, historically, have ALWAYS legislated ways to prevent the people from using gold and silver as money.

Fiat money is how bankers rob the people of our wealth. This is why the Jewish bankers had FDR make it illegal for Americans to own gold. This enabled the bankers to buy it low and sell it high. Roosevelt’s gold recall was nothing but robbery, in the name of economics. As long as gold and silver are forbidden as currency, the people will have a fluctuating medium of exchange, which violates Yahweh’s law against unjust weights and measures. This is why our Constitution specifies that a dollar is to defined in terms of a weight of silver.

The most important factor is who controls the currency supply. This is why Mayer Amschel rothschild stated, “Give me the power to control a nation’s currency and I care not who makes its laws.” The strategic purpose of the Federal Reserve Bank’s creation was so that the bankers could gain control of the issuance of money, no matter what form it takes. Once they have control of issuance, the bankers gradually remove the gold and silver coins as currency and replace them, first, with backed currency, and finally, with unbacked fiat money. To the bankers, the backed currency is just an intermediate stage on the road to fiat money. First, the public must be weaned off of actual coins by issuing backed currency. This stratagem gets the people used to paper money. After a couple of generations gets used to this form of paper money, then the bankers invariably remove the backing, so they can issue fiat money in whatever quantities they desire.

Those who argue against gold and silver backing simply do not understand this process. They blame the gold instead of the bankers. Even Bill Still of “Money Masters” fame doesn’t understand this. The fact is that the bankers themselves have promoted this myth in order to fool otherwise intelligent analysts.

When I was growing up in Chicago in the 1950’s, the prevalent saying about the US Dollar was, “The dollar is as good as gold.” Why? Because we still had backed currency in circulation; and anyone who had a gold certificate or a silver certificate could take it to a bank and demand actual gold or silver for that certificate. Thse backed currencies actually stated, “Pay to the bearer on demand” whatever the weight of gold or silver the note was worth. This has never been true of any fiat currency. Fiat money is just worthless paper. Commodity-backed paper currency at least has a value in terms of the commodity that backs it. Banks are legally obligated to provide real money (gold and silver) in exchange for the certificate.

The Bible completely accepts gold and silver coins as money. The Israelites routinely used gold and silver as money; and there is no statement in the Bible that says it should not be used as such. There is a reason why the bankers always fnagle a way to remove gold and silver coins from circulation. They want the power to issue their own fiat currency, by which they can spend it into circulation without the people knowing the purposes for which it is spent. This is why inflation is the invisible tax.
By Eli James

OIL IN AFRICA

OIL IN AFRICA
African countries that produce oil are listed below, starting with the highest producer all the way to the lowest. I have analyzed the % of citizens living below KES 80 per day for each country and the main international players in each.

1. Nigeria.

2.8m barrels per day.
Oil Discovery date: 1956
Oil Discovery Nationality: British. Royal Dutch Shell
% of population living on less than KES 80 per day:70%
http://www.indexmundi.com/nigeria/population_below_poverty_line.html
Conclusion:
The largest oil producer in Africa has over 70% of its population in deep poverty. Royal Dutch Shell has been controlling this oil industry since 1950s.

2. Algeria.

2.1m barrels per day.
Oil Discovery date: 1956
Oil Discovery Nationality: Algerian. Sonatrach.
% of population living on less than KES 80 per day:23%
http://www.indexmundi.com/algeria/population_below_poverty_line.html
Conclusion:
The 2nd largest oil producer in Africa has 23% of its population living below KES 80 per day. Its own National Oil company controls the oil industry hence solid poverty reduction felt by all Algerians.

3. Angola.

1.9m barrels per day.
Oil Discovery date: 1955
Oil Discovery Nationality: Portugal. ChevronTexaco-American.
After 2002 civil war: China involved in oil industry.

Africa and China: At a crossroads in Angola

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2012-03/28/content_14927698.htm

% of population living on less than KES 80 per day:40.5%
http://www.indexmundi.com/angola/population_below_poverty_line.html
Conclusion:
The 3rd largest oil producer in Africa has 40.5% of its population living below KES 80 per day.

After entering into deals with China in regards to Oil mining, the Civil war ended and the poverty level reduced.

4. Libya.

1.7m barrels per day.
Oil Discovery date: 1959
Oil Discovery Nationality: British. Esso[ExxonMobil].
After 1974: Libya nationalized its oil industry.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Libya_under_Muammar_Gaddafi

% of population living on less than KES 80 per day:33%
http://www.indexmundi.com/libya/population_below_poverty_line.html
Conclusion:
Libya has 33% of its population living below KES 80 per day.

5. Egypt.

0.56m barrels per day.
Oil Discovery date: 1886
Oil Discovery Nationality: British. Shell
After 1961: Egypt nationalized its oil industry.

http://www.oilegypt.com/webpro1/oil/oilegypt/shell/history.asp

% of population living on less than KES 80 per day:20%
http://www.indexmundi.com/egypt/population_below_poverty_line.html

Conclusion: A new political regime in Egypt means uncertainty in terms of increase or reduction in poverty levels.

6. Sudan.

0.5m barrels per day.

¾ of oil in South Sudan. ¼ of Oil in Northern Sudan.
Oil Discovery date: 1959
Oil Discovery Nationality: Italian. Agip Oil
After 1974: USA.Chevron TexaCo.
2005:End of Civil war.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Sudanese_Civil_War

Currently: China is a major investor in Sudan oil.

China, Sudan Discuss Oil Dispute

South Sudan % of population living on less than KES 80 per day:90%
http://www.wvafrica.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=152&Itemid=169

North Sudan % of population living on less than KES 80 per day:40%
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/su.html

Conclusion: North Sudan has over 60% of its population living above the KES 80 per day range. Northern Sudan has strategic relationships with China regarding oil.
South Sudan has 90% of its population living below KES 80 per day i.e one of the poorest countries in the world. Southern Sudan recently expelled a Chinese national due to Oil revenue sharing allegations.

South Sudan Expels Chinese Oil Executive

7. Equatorial Guinea.

0.35m barrels per day.
Oil Discovery date: 1995
Oil Discovery Nationality: American. ExxonMobil

% of population living on less than KES 80 per day:76.8%
http://data.worldbank.org/country/equatorial-guinea

Conclusion: Despite having oil revenue, Equatorial Guinea has 76.8% of its citizens living on less than KES 80 per day.

8. Chad.

0.24m barrels per day.
Oil Discovery date: 2003
Oil Discovery Nationality: American. Esso/WorldBank

% of population living on less than KES 80 per day:80%
http://www.indexmundi.com/chad/population_below_poverty_line.html

Conclusion: Despite having oil revenue, Chad has 80% of its citizens living on less than KES 80 per day.

9. Congo Brazzaville.

0.22m barrels per day.
Oil Discovery date: 1980
Oil Discovery Nationality:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2255297.stm

% of population living on less than KES 80 per day:70%
http://www.amurt.org/en/current-projects/congo-brazzaville/

Conclusion: Despite having oil revenue, Congo Brazzaville has 70% of its citizens living on less than KES 80 per day. Political instability and civil strive contributes to poverty in Congo Brazzaville.

10. Gabon.

0.19m barrels per day.
Oil Discovery date: 1967
Oil Discovery Nationality:USA. Shell Oil

% of population living on less than KES 80 per day:32.7%
http://data.worldbank.org/country/gabon

Conclusion: Gabon has long ties with China.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3450969.stm

Other Countries:

11. South Africa. 0.11m barrels per day
12. Tunisia. 0.09m barrels per day
13. Cameroon. 0.08m barrels per day
14. Cote de Ivore. 0.06m barrels per day
15. DR Congo. 0.02m barrels per day
16. Ghana. 0.007m barrels per day
17. Morocco. 0.004m barrels per day

New Entrants:

Uganda.

0.00m barrels per day.
Oil Discovery date: 2006
Oil Discovery Nationality:Britain. Tullow Oil

% of population living on less than KES 80 per day:24.5%
http://data.worldbank.org/country/uganda

Kenya.

0.00m barrels per day.
Oil Discovery date: 2012
Oil Discovery Nationality:Britain. Tullow Oil

% of population living on less than KES 80 per day:45.9%
http://data.worldbank.org/country/kenya

Architect Francis Gichuhi Kamau
info@a4architect.com
+254721410684

Going green in these harsh climes

Going green in these harsh climes
By MWAURA SAMORA msamora@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Wednesday, February 29 2012 at 16:25

Buildings account for at least 40 per cent of a country’s energy consumption, and one of the best ways to cut down on these huge energy needs lies in our roofs and walls. Discerning architects could create energy-saving concepts because those same walls and roofs are the links between the building and the outer environment

The collective attention of conservationists was last month directed towards Gigiri, Nairobi, where the United Nations Environmental Programme’s (Unep) global ministerial environmental forum debated ways to make the world as “green” as possible. Before this, Unep had already declared 2012 the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All.

But while the world’s attention is fixed on these lofty plans on how to reverse the wanton destruction of global habitats in years past and prevent — what scientists have called an ‘environmental Armageddon’ — a local architect says the journey to a sustainable world starts with the small steps of adjusting our building styles.

“Green architecture is not only aesthetically appealing and environmentally friendly, but also economically viable in the long run since it embraces methods that save on power and water usage,” explains Francis Gichuhi, an architectural consultant who specialises in designing green buildings.

“New structures are rapidly adopting this concept, not just because of its resource-friendly nature and cost-cutting, but also the now popular global obsession with matters green.”

Sustainable construction is a relatively new concept in Kenya, where the first truly green building is the Unep headquarters in Gigiri. Although several other projects are underway across the city, the Unep building remains one of the greenest beacons across Africa.

Through his company, Prism Designs Africa, Gichuhi has drawn from his 11-year experience of designing green houses across Africa and parts of India to come up with a concept called Diamond Eco-House, where one can complete an entire bungalow at a competitive rate by building in stages of one room at a time as long as one has a piece of land.

“One only needs to have a piece of land and Sh80,000 to get a one-room house in three weeks,” explains the architect, who says the house is called Diamond because of the shape it takes when all the rooms are complete. “The reason the house is affordable is that it utilises interlocking stabilised soil blocks which are much cheaper than ordinary stones.”

The blocks are made of sand that is pressed to a rock-hard status using a machine, hence it’s much cheaper than the ordinary stone while having the same hardiness and hardness. Although the stabilised soil blocks are better suited for residential buildings that rarely exceed one or two storeys, they are recommended for in-fills and partitions in high-rise commercial structures.
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“Another economic plus for using the stabilised soil blocks is the fact that you don’t need plaster since the blocks are made in such a way that they join by interlocking,” he observes. “The blocks can also be made on site if the soil quality is good, which, besides lowering the costs further, increases environmental relevance since no carbon is released during transportation.”

Unlike most standard homes, the Diamond Eco-House has a twin waste-water piping system, with one carrying foul water from the toilet while the other drains the grey water from kitchen sinks and washbasins. Gichuhi points out that while the foul water is hard to recycle since it needs complex specialised treatment, the grey water can be re-used — after simple filtration — in the toilet and to irrigate gardens.

“A 10-storey building with 50 tenants per floor, each using five litres of water per day for non-drinking purposes, leads to a total water consumption of around 2,500 litres on a daily basis,” the architect notes. “Recycling 30 per cent of this amount across the Nairobi Central Business District, for instance, would translate into hundreds of thousands of shillings in savings besides conserving many litres of the precious commodity”.

This, combined with run-off collections, which he says should be made mandatory for every building, would go very far in ensuring residents’ water needs are met even when the taps run dry.

Unfortunately, no building in the city has implemented an efficient recycling system, which means all the water flushed down the drains goes to waste.

According to Green Building Workgroup, an American environmental architecture organisation, buildings account for at least 40 per cent of a country’s energy consumption. This percentage is higher in countries that experience extreme winter conditions in the Northern Hemisphere.

One of the biggest solutions to cutting down drastically the energy consumption of a building, according to Gichuhi, lies in its roof and walls. These are the main areas where the architect can create energy-saving concepts because walls and roofs are the links between the building and the outer environment.

“When called upon to adopt green designs, one of the options is a technology called building integrated photovoltaic (BIP) system, where solar panels replace a piece of the wall, window or roof,” he says.

“While the solar panel still serves the purpose of the part it has replaced, it has the added value of generating energy.”

However, the popularity of this concept is still very low because solar panels are relatively expensive compared to other building materials. This is because, Gichuhi laments, they have to be imported, mostly from Asian countries, despite the fact that the technology required to make them is very basic and simple.

“In China, for instance, by the time children complete their primary studies, they are able to cobble together a fully functioning solar cell using a simple wire and a piece of silicon,” the architect says.

“By the time they get to university as architects, they have accumulated enough technical know-how to design complex photovoltaic designs that are exported to Africa for sale.”

Although there is no institution in Kenya that teaches students how to make solar panels, tutorial materials explaining the step-by-step procedure abound online, and these, Gichuhi says, should be used by the government to popularise the technology through the education system.

“The concept should be legislated so that every citizen who has electricity in their house is required by law to contribute power to the grid by mounting solar panels on their roof. This will help the country move away from weather-reliant power generation methods and reduce the frequent power blackouts.”

In Germany, one of the world’s greenest economies, elaborate government initiatives have triggered a national interest in green energy production by the citizenry in the last five years. As a result, 50 per cent of solar energy production, which contributes around three per cent to the national grid, is in the hands of private individuals.
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Through a system known as feed-in tariffs, grid operators are required by law to pay for renewable energy supplied to them by citizens for a fixed price in a period of 15 to 20 years, and this has created a surge in the production of renewable energy by citizens. The payment can either be in cash or electricity bill subsidies.

The German renewable energy production policy is backed by a legal requirement where every new house built should not waste more than 75kWh/m2 per year. With no meaningful energy-saving measures put in place in many Kenyan houses, it is obvious that we waste far much more than this annually.

“Assuming a metre square of solar panel in Kenya produces approximately 2kW per day after 10 hours of daylight — Kenya is right in the tropics — if just one per cent of the country’s total surface area is put under this system, it would produce approximately 14,000 MW daily,” Gichuhi analyses. “Nairobi consumes around 5,000 MW on a daily basis. Therefore the total energy generated by solar from one per cent of the country’s total surface area in a day can sustain the capital’s total energy needs for three days.”

Taking into consideration that Kenya enjoys more hours of sunshine per day than Germany, such a people-driven power production programme would be a huge boost to Kenya Power’s output.

“The blackouts that Kenyans have to endure on a daily basis would be drastically reduced while individuals and corporate entities will have their power bills drastically reduced.”

Another green initiative that high-rise building designers are gradually embracing is the concept of rooftop gardens, or “green roofs”. Although still not very popular in Kenya, Gichuhi says architectural consultants have been selling the idea aggressively to investors.

“Besides reducing carbon footprints and regulating the buildings’ temperatures, roof gardens improve the scenery by cutting the monotony of run-on mabatis and tiles,” he observes. “For these reasons, high-rise developers should be compelled to dedicate a fraction of their buildings to a garden, especially in the roofs.”

To jump-start the culture of green roofs in Kenyan urban centres, he says the up-coming Konza and Tatu cities should stipulate that every roof should have some greenery. “If need be, the Ruiru and Mavoko county councils, under whose jurisdiction these mega projects fall, should draft a law that will make green roofs mandatory,” Gichuhi adds.

Through simulations, Japanese scientists established that, if 50 per cent of high-rise buildings in Tokyo had roof gardens, they would reduce their internal air temperatures by almost a degree, with owners saving about $1.6 million dollars (Sh128 million) per day in electricity bills.

Construction of roof gardens is only possible where the roofing is flat, a concept that most green architects advocate for because, besides the ability to accommodate a garden, flat roofs also use less timber, hence reducing the number of trees that have to be felled.

Unlike in Southern Africa, where roofing styles are influenced by traditional flat-roofed concepts, East, Central and Western African building designs have high roof pitches which are more costly.

“Most of our styles follow the 1967 Building Code, which was heavily influenced by Europeans, whose roofs are made steeper in order to shed off snow during winter,” he says. “My hope is that the current Building Code that is awaiting approval by Parliament is drafted to reflect methods that are appropriate to our environment.”

Francis Gichuhi Kamau, Architect.
http://www.a4architect.com
info@a4architect.com
0721410684

Solution to Kenya’s Poverty.

Solution to Kenya’s Poverty.

The level of poverty in Kenya, just like in many other African countries, keep rising by the day.

This has thrown the social fabric into disarray resulting to issues such as the recent Domestic violence cases in Nyeri and rampant cases of alcohol abuse among jobless youth through out the republic.

The jobless Kenyan men have tried anything possible under the harsh tropical sun to eke out a living. Unfortunately, the harder they try the dryer their pockets become. This is because the political leadership has not been knowledgeable when signing contracts with International Finance institutions. This has resulted in Kenya, just like many other African countries, getting the shorter end of the stick in the bargain.

The contracts signed by Kenyan political leadership have resulted in endless debt and over consumption of unnecessary imported goods and services, hence very high inflation.

No matter how hard the Mkokoteni pusher works, no matter how many tones the woman who makes ballast out of rock using bare hands make, a large chunk of their money will go to servicing a foreign debt they have no idea how it came about.

Solution. No need to reinvent the wheel.

Over the years, research has been done as to why African countries remain poor no matter how hard their citizenry work.

The research points out to African leaders signing contracts that they don’t understand, resulting to International Finance Institutions giving large loans that take forever to be serviced, and contracts that restrict local consumption of goods and services. This creates inflation of which the benefactors are thee International Finance Institutions.

This book written by Graham Hancock, Lords of Poverty  has researched into this issue and should be a must read for any one aspiring into political leadership in Kenya.

http://www.thefreemanonline.org/columns/book-review-lords-of-poverty-the-power-prestige-and-corruption-of-the-international-aid-business-by-graham-hancock/

 

Another book written by John Perkins in 2004, Confessions of a Political Hitman, explains in detail how Political leadership in African countries is tricked into ensuring their citizens will forever live in abject poverty no matter how hard they work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man

Wikipedia explains the book as below

====According to Perkins, he began writing Confessions of an Economic Hit Man in the 1980s, but “threats or bribes always convinced [him] to stop.”

According to his book, Perkins’ function was to convince the political and financial leadership of underdeveloped countries to accept enormous development loans from institutions like the World Bank and USAID. ====

Kenya situation.2012 elections.

Recently, a 2012 presidential aspirant asked Kenyans to give views on which issues they would want changed and improved once he gets into power. This is the very first step in liberalizing Kenyans and Africans in General. Research has shown that knowledge is crowd sourced as opposed to monopolized by a few. By acknowledging this fact, Kenyans will raise issues that are of priority to them as opposed to situations whereby the International Finance institutions mentioned in the John Perkins book Confessions of a Political Hitman, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man   through the Kenyan political leadership, and guide into Kenyan citizenry priorities.

The Kenyan political leadership should go further and upload all international contracts between Kenya and these International Finance institutions so that Kenyan citizens can discuss and deliberate .The discussions should then guide the Parliamentary committees under whose jurisdiction the subject matter lies. This way, the collective intelligence of Kenyans will be tapped into assisting the political leadership make the best decisions for Kenya.

This essay written by Hayek, Friedrich A.(1899-1992) published in 1945, has stood the test of time to prove that the best way to get knowledge is through crowd sourcing.

http://www.econlib.org/library/Essays/hykKnw1.html

 

Conclusion.

Poverty in Kenya and other African countries contributes to tribal violence and social fabric disharmony and decay.

Poverty in Kenya and other African countries is caused by political leadership not being able to tap into crowd sourcing collective Kenyan intelligence while dealing with International Finance institutions contracts. This collective intelligence can now easily be tapped through using the internet and social media networks.

Already a leading presidential candidate has spearheaded this method to collect diverse views which will enable better Governance. Other political leaders in Kenya should learn from this and follow suit.

This crowd sourcing of Kenyan citizenry collective wisdom will enable the political leadership engage with International Finance Institutions from a point of knowledge, hence ending poverty in Kenya. Without poverty in Kenya, tribalism  and social decay will die a natural death.

 

Francis Gichuhi Kamau, Architect.

http://www.a4architect.com

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man

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This article is about the book. For the song by Anti-Flag, see For Blood and Empire.
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
Confessions of An Economic Hitman Cover.jpg
Author(s) John Perkins
Publisher Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Publication date 2004
Pages 250p
ISBN 0-452-28708-1
OCLC Number 55138900

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man is a book written by John Perkins and published in 2004. It provides Perkins’ account of his career with consulting firm Chas. T. Main in Boston. Before employment with the firm, he interviewed for a job with the National Security Agency (NSA). Perkins claims that this interview effectively constituted an independent screening which led to his subsequent hiring by Einar Greve[1], a member of the firm (and alleged NSA liaison) to become a self-described “economic hit man”. The book was allegedly referred to in an audio tape released by Osama Bin Laden in September 2009.[2]
Contents
[hide]

1 Content
2 Controversy and criticism
3 In popular culture
4 See Also
5 References
6 Further reading
7 External links

[edit] Content

According to Perkins, he began writing Confessions of an Economic Hit Man in the 1980s, but “threats or bribes always convinced [him] to stop.”

According to his book, Perkins’ function was to convince the political and financial leadership of underdeveloped countries to accept enormous development loans from institutions like the World Bank and USAID. Saddled with debts they could not hope to pay, those countries were forced to acquiesce to political pressure from the United States on a variety of issues. Perkins argues in his book that developing nations were effectively neutralized politically, had their wealth gaps driven wider and economies crippled in the long run. In this capacity Perkins recounts his meetings with some prominent individuals, including Graham Greene and Omar Torrijos. Perkins describes the role of an EHM as follows:

Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly-paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. They funnel money from the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other foreign “aid” organizations into the coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the planet’s natural resources. Their tools included fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder. They play a game as old as empire, but one that has taken on new and terrifying dimensions during this time of globalization.

The epilogue to the 2006 edition provides a rebuttal to the current move by the G8 nations to forgive Third World debt. Perkins charges that the proposed conditions for this debt forgiveness require countries to privatise their health, education, electric, water and other public services. Those countries would also have to discontinue subsidies and trade restrictions that support local business, but accept the continued subsidization of certain G8 businesses by the US and other G8 countries, and the erection of trade barriers on imports that threaten G8 industries.

In the book, Perkins repeatedly denies the existence of a “conspiracy.” Instead, Perkins carefully discusses the role of corporatocracy.
“ “I was initially recruited while I was in business school back in the late sixties by the National Security Agency, the nation’s largest and least understood spy organization; but ultimately I worked for private corporations. The first real economic hit man was back in the early 1950s, Kermit Roosevelt, Jr., the grandson of Teddy, who overthrew the government of Iran, a democratically elected government, Mossadegh’s government who was Time‘s magazine person of the year; and he was so successful at doing this without any bloodshed—well, there was a little bloodshed, but no military intervention, just spending millions of dollars and replaced Mossadegh with the Shah of Iran. At that point, we understood that this idea of economic hit man was an extremely good one. We didn’t have to worry about the threat of war with Russia when we did it this way. The problem with that was that Roosevelt was a C.I.A. agent. He was a government employee. Had he been caught, we would have been in a lot of trouble. It would have been very embarrassing. So, at that point, the decision was made to use organizations like the C.I.A. and the N.S.A. to recruit potential economic hit men like me and then send us to work for private consulting companies, engineering firms, construction companies, so that if we were caught, there would be no connection with the government.[3] – November 4, 2004 interview ”

[edit] Controversy and criticism

Some of the book’s critics have questioned whether Perkins makes a significant contribution to the debate on global finance and the development of the Third World. For instance, columnist Mark Engler of In These Times, has written that “the actual content of Perkins’ admissions proves distressingly thin.”[4] According to the New York Times, “the book’s popularity seems driven more by the mix of cloak-and-dagger atmospherics and Mr. Perkins’s Damascene conversion” than by insight into “the larger issue of America’s role in emerging economies.”[5]

Columnist Sebastian Mallaby of the Washington Post reacted sharply to Perkins’ book[6]: “This man is a frothing conspiracy theorist, a vainglorious peddler of nonsense, and yet his book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, is a runaway bestseller.” Mallaby, who spent 13 years writing for the London Economist and wrote a critically well-received biography of World Bank chief James Wolfensohn,[7] holds that Perkins’ conception of international finance is “largely a dream” and that his “basic contentions are flat wrong.”[6] For instance he points out that Indonesia reduced its infant mortality and illiteracy rates by two-thirds after economists persuaded its leaders to borrow money in 1970. He also disputes Perkins’ claim that 51 of the top 100 world economies belong to companies. A value-added comparison done by the UN, he says, shows the number to be 29. (The 51 of 100 data comes from an Institute for Policy Studies Dec, 2000 Report on the Top 200 corporations; using 2010 data from the CIA’s World Factbook and Fortune Global 500[8][9] the current ratio is 114 corporations in the top 200 global economies.)

Other sources, including articles in the New York Times and Boston Magazine as well as a press release issued by the United States Department of State, have referred to a lack of documentary or testimonial evidence to corroborate the claim that the NSA was involved in his hiring to Chas T. Main. In addition, the author of the State Department release states that the NSA “is a cryptological (codemaking and codebreaking) organization, not an economic organization” and that its missions do not involve “anything remotely resembling placing economists at private companies in order to increase the debt of foreign countries.”[10] Economic historian Niall Ferguson writes in his book The Ascent of Money that Perkins’s contention that the leaders of Ecuador (President Jaime Roldós Aguilera) and Panama (General Omar Torrijos) were assassinated by US agents for opposing the interests of the owners of their countries’ foreign debt “seems a little odd” in light of the fact that in the 1970s the amount of money that the US had lent to Ecuador and Panama accounted for less than 0.4% of the total US grants and loans, while in 1990 the exports from the US to those countries accounted for approximately 0.4% of the total US exports (approximately $8 billion). According to Ferguson, those “do not seem like figures worth killing for.”[11]
[edit] In popular culture

In 2009, the documentary film Apologies of an Economic Hit Man featuring interviews with Perkins, was shown at film festivals around the U.S. The film is a Greek – U.S. co-production directed by Stelios Kouloglou, and was filmed in 2007 and 2008. Numerous interview-style statements by John Perkins also appear in the 2008 documentary film, Zeitgeist: Addendum.
The song “Confessions of an Economic Hitman” on Anti Flag’s album For Blood and Empire makes several references to the book.
In year 2010 the song “A Worldly Kinda Economic Hitman” by Ecuadorian band Los Batracios was written about John Perkins’ book.

[edit] See Also

Bamako_(film)
[edit] References

^ http://www.economichitman.com/pix/veracitymemo.pdf by Steven Piersanti, President and Publisher, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. March 7, 2005
^ Otterman, Sharon; Mackey, Robert (2009-09-14). “Bin Laden’s Reading List for Americans”. The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-04-30.
^ “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man: How the U.S. Uses Globalization to Cheat Poor Countries Out of Trillions”. Democracy Now: The war and peace report. 9 Nov 04. Retrieved 2009-01-09.
^ Engler, Mark, “Failures of a Hit Man,” In These Times, April 18, 2005.
^ Confessing to the Converted, by Thomas Jr., Landon, New York Times, Sec. 3, Col, 1, p. 1, 2006-02-19.
^ a b The Facts Behind the ‘Confessions’ by Sebastian Mallaby, Washington Post Op-Ed, 2006-02-26
^ The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/opinion/columns/mallabysebastian/.
^ The CIA World Factbook
^ The Fortune 500 list
^ “Confessions – or Fantasies – of an Economic Hit Man?”. US Department of State. 2006-05-10. Retrieved October 21, 2010.
^ Niall Ferguson, The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World, Penguin Books, 2008. ISBN 978-0-14-311617-2

[edit] Further reading

New Confessions and Revelations from the World of Economic Hit Men, John Perkins, 2007-03-15.
Confessions of an Economic Hitman(Video interview of author, John Perkins [Kinetic Reaction])
John Perkins talks about his book with NOW’s David Brancaccio (video), 2005-03-04.
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man: How the U.S. Uses Globalization to Cheat Poor Countries Out of Trillions, Interview with Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!, 2004-11-09.
In hock to Uncle Sam, The Guardian, Nick Lezard, 2006-02-10.
Recipe for empire, New Statesman, March 6, 2006, Paul Kingsnorth
The sinister side of U.S. biz; Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins, The Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin), July 29, 2005, By Judie Kleinmaier
Incapable catharsis, The Weekend Australian, February 18, 2006, Matthew Bright
Hit and Miss; There are good reasons “the mainstream media” has ignored John Perkins’ Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, East Bay Express (California), February 1, 2006.
Undermining poor nations in the name of profit, The Boston Globe, February 8, 2006, by Michael Langan
A miss not a hit, Sunday Times (London), March 5, 2006, David Charters
Conscience, confession from an agent of greed, The Seattle Times, January 22, 2006, Steve Weinberg
A hit man repents, The Guardian, 2006-01-28.

[edit] External links

Video of interview with John Perkins
Film Confessions of an Economic Hit Man at IMDB
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man

furniture

KONZA CITY-How Best To Kickstart This Project.

KONZA CITY-HOW BEST TO KICKSTART THIS PROJECT.

 

The Kenya Ministry of Information through its ICT Board has done a commendable job in conceiving anew cityinKenya, Konza city.

The location is perfect-flat vast vacant grassland nearMombasaroad,JKIAAirportand Nairobi CBD.

The demand for another city is also perfect-Nairobi CBD land has become too expensive, between 200 to 400 million shillings per acre. The traffic jams are too much.

The Konza area needs very little to kick start a new city there. Assistance in terms of Government Policy e.g Town planning, Zoning regulations and laying of infrastructure such a internal roads, sewer and fibre optic cable to name just a few are what is needed to kick start a new city at konza.

Wordldbank/IF as Financial Advisors.

The Ministry of Information has appointed Worldbank/IFC as their Financial Advisors.

The City is being estimated to cost KES 800 Billion.

Its my hope that the Kenya Government through the Ministry of Information will not be pushed to accepting enormous development loans at the expense of Kenyan citizens to finance this.

For starters, the Konza city or Ministry of Information website can publicly avail the contracts so that all Kenyans can be informed on how the Ministry of Information is engaging with the WorldBank /IFC and any other stake holders in using tax payers money to realize theKonzaCityproject.

 

Other financing options friendlier to the tax payer’s pocket can be explored.

The Kenya Government approved the Ministry Of Information to spend KES 1 Billion towards the Konza city development.

Using the Financial advisory offered to the Ministry of Information by the Worldbank/IFC, the Ministry of Information found it wise to spend all of this money to acquire 5000 acres, hire London-based Architectural Master Planning firm Design Engineers and Pell Frischmann to come up with the planning and design of the city and pay for massive TV and Radio advertisement.

Other Land Acquisition Possibilities without using tax payers money.

East African Portland Cement factory, of which the Kenya Government has shares, has 14,000 acres of vacant land next to Konza city. The 99 year lease for this land expired and so it would have been an easy task for the Ministry of Lands to organize on how the Ministry of Information could acquire some land there to create the plannedKonzaCity. Out of the 14,000 acres, am sure a deal to utilize only 5,000 acres of this massive vacant land could easily have been achieved, saving the use of tax payers’ money to purchase land.

There are many other possibilities that the Financial Advisors,Worldbank/IFC could have looked into advising the Ministry of Information into acquiring land for development.

If these possibilities were exhausted, this could have saved Kenyans’ tax payers money from buying the 5000 acre land so that the same money can go into a more direct ICT use such as laying fibre optic cable.

Tatu city and any other private city developments inKenyahave utilized partnership deals with large land owners whereby one side injects cash to lay infrastructure while the other side offers land.  A similar partnership deal could have been utilized to reduce the risk on tax payers’ money into the development.

Slow Disrupted Internet currently in Kenya.

As we speak, the country is being faced with slow internet due to fibre optic cable breakage somewhere along the coast. This money that was used to purchase the land could have gone a long way in ensuring speedy repair and implementing other methods to ensure that such cable damage does not render a whole country’s internet so slow and unreliable.

 

Other Master planning possibilities and options that could save tax payers’ money.

 

As we speak, the Konza city project has been set back by another two months because the Ministry of Information Advisors- Worldbank/IFC and London-based  Design Engineers and Pell Frischmann- had not foreseen requirements spelt out in the Physical Planning act .

Any local architect or town planner inKenyaknows these regulations at the back of their hands.

The Ministry of Information advisors, Worldbank/IFC and London-based  Design Engineers and Pell Frischmann could not foresee the regulations for obvious reasons-they do not have a day-to-day grasp  of the Kenyan real estate legal requirements compared to a Kenyan consultancy firm.

This 2 month delay will have an effect on Kenyan tax payer money since this money has already been used in buying the land ,advertisements and consultancy to Worldbank/IFC and London-based  Design Engineers and Pell Frischmann.

The daily radio and TV adverts are costing the Kenyan tax payer millions of shillings every day to run. When the public consumes the adverts but can’t invest in the Konza city due to the Physical planning hurdle, this means that the adverts will not realize their goals so more money will have to be spent to attract investors.

Architectural Association of Kenya.

The Architectural Association of Kenya should also advice the Ministry of Information on how best to procure services of international Architects and Town Planners so that when they work inKenya, they can be properly advised onKenya’s planning laws to avoid unnecessary delays which translate to loss of tax payer money.

 

Public Procurement and Disposal Act.

Recently, the Kenyan AG also pointed out that the Ministry of Information should adhere to the Public Procurement and Disposal act when leasing land to potential investors. The Ministry of Information advisory from Worldbank/IFC and London-based  Design Engineers and Pell Frischmann is that the land bought with tax payers money should be selectively given to multinationals with potential to invest. The AG’s position is that the land is public property and thus these multinationals will have to compete with Kenyans in an open fair field where the highest bidder gets the land allocation.

 

Consultancy cost reduction through using Local Consultants.

The cost of hiring Kenyan Financial advisory and architectural master planning firms is definitely much lower than hiring these services from overseas as in the case of Konza city where Worldbank/IFC and London-based  Design Engineers and Pell Frischmann are offering these services.

This cost will eventually be borne by Kenyan tax payers. Money can be saved by hiring local consultants. The saved money can then be used to improve the Internet infrastructure within the proposed city.

Conclusion.

The Konza city is a noble idea and is achievable in the long-run if proper team work is achieved.

Partnership with a Government body which already has existing vacant land [14,000 acres] such as East African Portland cement could have gone a long way in freeing cash to be used to enhance internet infrastructure.

Using local consultants who are the major source of the tax payer money could have even gone further to save the Ministry of Information from high consultancy fees and delays due to not comprehending the Kenyan legal requirements in setting up new towns and urban areas.

 

The Worldbank has been mentioned in this book by John Perkins       ‘CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HITMAN ‘

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessions_of_an_Economic_Hit_Man

on how they arm-twist African countries heads of Ministries into signing contracts which ensure the African countries remain impoverished financially. You can google the book to read various reviews available online.

According to his book, Perkins’ function was to convince the political and financial leadership of underdeveloped countries to accept enormous development loans from institutions like the World Bank and USAID.

It’s my hope that all Kenyans who have been privileged to serve the Kenyan Public in high positions do their research well before signing the proverbial dotted line. Careful reading in between the line for all contracts in the Konza city project is paramount to the successful actualization of the new city.

Francis Gichuhi Kamau, Architect.

info@a4architect.com

+254721410684.