Central bank
A central bank is a nation-state's representative in the banking system and deals with private banks to keep governments at arm's length from currency interactions. Typically, each nation-state has "its own" currency (with exceptions such as the multi-state Euro or U.S. dollar pegged currencies such as the yuan which are still managed separately).
The interaction between central banks is regulated by the Bank for International Settlements. Credit bridges and other assistance are provided by the International Monetary Fund under certain conditions. The World Bank invests directly in projects that it sees as being of utility. These institutions were all established at Bretton Woods before the end of World War II and are the economic equivalent of Yalta, setting the terms of the conquering powers' post-war relations. Although it considered doing so, the USSR did not join, and instead established the competing COMECON system which failed eventually with that state.Our current system of exchange was created with a profit motive aimed at capitalising on people's need for currency. The Central Banking System (which produces the actual currency and loans it to governments at interest and sells it to high street banks at face value) was set up as a network of private businesses with official-sounding names, engineered to make a profit for their shareholders. These include the Bank of England,1 The Federal Reserve,2 and all the other Central Banks throughout the world. Not one of them is democratic! All of them are masters of disguise. Even nationalisation has not stopped Bank of England stock holders from receiving their dividends, nor stopped the bank from keeping 75% of its profit, while writing off the 25% it pays to the Treasury as corporation tax. 3
The use of money allows the necessary exchange of goods and services within our world, much the way blood cells aid the distribution of oxygen through our bodies. It would be right and good if this exchange medium was provided freely according to need; but instead, the production of money has been turned into a profit-centre. If our own bodies were to work on this basis they would not function in a healthy way for long. The Central Banks (which charge interest to governments for the money they produce from out of nothing, with no labour or wealth involved) have secured these loans against your future taxes. Without even asking you, a substantial part of your future worth has been put up as collateral. What Central Banks do in a big way with countries, your local bank will replicate on organisations and individuals, using the same slight of hand to produce the funds they lend out of thin air. [1]
The Economist of April 10, 2004, reported (on page 86) the following figures for central bank staff:
"About 360,000 people work for more than 160 central banks around the world... over a fifth - 82,000 - of the world's central bankers work in Russia... some 55,000 central bankers are employed in the euro area. That is over twice as many per head of population as in the United States. Japan gets by with a mere 5127 central bankers." Per 100,000 population the number of central bankers are (rounding to the nearest full number based on a chart from Morgan Stanley Central Bank Directory, 2004)
- Russia 56.7
- Euro area (including European Central Bank) 18
- Czech Republic 14
- Israel 14
- Hungary 9
- Hong Kong 8
- United States Federal Reserve System 7.5
- Turkey 7
- Egypt 7
- world average excluding China 7
- Thailand 7
- Argentina 6
- Philipines 6
- South Africa 5
- Poland 5
- South Korea 4
- Australia 4
- Japan 4
- Taiwan 4
- Chile 4
- Britain 4
- Canada 3
- India 2.5
- Mexico 2
- Brazil 2
- Indonesia 2
