For my blog post, I am going to be adding timestamps and descriptions as well as insights on various sections of the video “The Collapse of The American Dream Explained in Animation.” Although it very clearly discusses many of the themes we discussed in class I have a couple concerns about it. There were a few times where information seems deliberately falsified to deceive people which always causes me to distrust the information, and there is crude humor in some segments. It is mild and infrequent, but I figure I should warn anybody who would consider clicking the link. If you are interested in watching the video I’d love to hear your opinions on the main points brought up. The video seems compelling but I do not know the counterpoints to its arguments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mII9NZ8MMVM&t=1409s
0:00-40
depiction of the American dream. Good house, nice dog
45:00
Going into debt due to too many loans
2:20:00
Explanation of how banks profit. Fractional reserve banking. Debt=Loans= Money
3:40:00
Discusses how banks due to profit motive are incentivized to give loans to literally anybody so they can put people into debt
4:10:00
The average American doesn’t even need loans. People are trapped because loans are pushed on them so they gotta live their life in debt so others can prosper
4:30:00
The creation of a new evil that can control even more people
Credit cards
6:50
Introducing the Federal Reserve. Its a private bank that has the power to loan money to banks
8:00
Because the Federal Reserve controls the money, they technically get their money from the U.S mint and it gets printed out for them to use.
8:20:00
They print out the money, they loan it to the government, charge them interest, then the government taxes you to pay for it.
In class Baugus mentioned that this is a mischaracterization of the FED. The video infers that they loan money to banks frequently but this is done very rarely. Although the FED has private shareholders, any profit based on these loans goes back to the treasury (unless they claim business expenses).
9:00:00 explanation of the concept of banking and the origin of money. Explaining money as backed up by a resource (gold in this case) Initially, there is bartering and there are issues. Cant sell fresh food. Hard to barter for nebulous value items. A price was set on gold which made commerce easier.
9:50:00
To prevent theft people can store money in a vault with some charge. An IOU is set and everybody knows that these IOUs are worth the amount of money it claims it is for.
10:38
After loans so many people have IOUs and prices on items increase even though the gold could buy more. Inflation
11:20:00
Bank crash. Problem with fractional reserve system. If everyone wants their money, there will be no money for them to get.
15:00:00
The video claims this was dictated and controlled. Essentially the country started selling its bonds as they believed they would be useless and private banks bought them up. This caused the country to be in tons of debt to them after the war. During times of crisis, banking families gained tons of money and power.
Nathan Rothschild- If I could control a nation's wealth, I care not who makes its laws.
17:00:00
The video claims “Yes he really said this” but the economic concepts he discusses haven't even been coined yet. He is falsely attributed in saying this. The first quote of his was legitimate but the creator of this video is trying to mislead people slightly. A 5-second Google search proved that Jefferson never said that.
Despite the shady information, there are interesting things happening in history here. Hamilton was in favor of a national bank to secure finances but Jefferson thought that it could only lead to perpetual debt and servitude.
18:00:00
Another mislead. We do not know Jackson's last words. The video does not need to mislead people as there is compelling evidence. He sought to get rid of the central banking system. After he accomplished this we did have a great economic boom via the Industrial Revolution but it is debatable whether we can attribute any of this to currency backed by gold.
20:00:00
Woodrow Wilson establishes the federal reserve and the IRS. Federal reserve adds immediate debt to our money. This leads to inflation. Our taxes don’t go to the government, they go towards the reserve.
22:00:00
Example of inflation. Things that you could buy in the past could be sold for more money, but after taxes, you end up having less money than the cost of the original items. We are not becoming richer.
24:00:00
More potential conspiracy theory. Kennedy signed an executive order which would've stopped the federal reserve. The video implies whoever goes against bankers will be targeted as they control politics.
I watched the video and I though it was entertaining. Your comments helped bring clarity to some of the misleading facts. The moral if this video seem to covey that American citizens are sold a bag of goods that we don't really want. The dream of having a new house in the suburbs and a dog isn't bad but is it really worth going into debt? I don't think it is. I think it is better to save up your money for the future and live within your means for the time being.
In the Middle East children live with their parents until they get married(According to my friend from Jordan). I think apart of this is cultural but it could be to save money. Why go into debt to live in a house that isn't fully yours rather then saving up enough money so you can actually own a house, car, etc.
I've also heard that it is ok to go into debt to own a house because they tend to last longer than if you go into debt for a car. You can get more money from selling a house than a car. However going into debt is still going into debt whether if its a car or a house.