Apparently, Ghana's vice-president believes that he and his economic management team have created a new paradigm, for funding economic development in Africa. Amazing.
Perhaps it has never occurred to the geniuses who now govern us that relentlessly pursuing GDP growth without ever stopping once to examine what actually constitutes that growth in the real world, no longer makes sense. Pity.
With that kind of mindset, no wonder the vice-president thinks that an agreement that sees Ghana entering into a "joint-venture" with resource-hungry China, which gives the Chinese carte blanche to mine our nation's mineral deposits - including even those underneath our forest reserves, incredibly, at a time when global climate change is negatively impacting rural Ghana - ;is a bright idea. How very odd. And how very shortsighted.
And, worst of all, to then go on to hold that shortsightedness up as an example of stellar-smart-thinking and proudly inform the world that Ghana is not being loaned U.S.$19 billion by China, but is rather being paid upfront by its joint-venture Chinese partners for access to the minerals underneath our nation's forests, betrays the delusion our new masters of the universe are labouring under.
Undoubtedly, the Chinese simply cannot believe their luck. China is literally being given access to all of Ghana's bountiful natural resources by the selfsame nation whose citizens are up in arms protesting against environmental degradation caused by mere minions in the game of the brutal gang-rape of Mother Nature - Chinese galamseyers.
Ghanaians must prepare themselves for even more lethal poisoning of their nation's streams, rivers and groundwater sources and environmental degradation on an apocalyptic scale - which is what we will have to contend with when the big boys from China finally descend upon us to "partner Ghana in a joint-venture" mining our nation's mineral deposits.
At a time of global climate change, it is definitely not a very smart move asking China to advance Ghana U.S. $19 billion as payment for access to our country's massive mineral deposits: including even mineral deposits underneath forest reserves.
If ecotourism will fetch us even more than the magical U.S.$19 billon that the vice-president is so enamoured with, over time, and create wealth that stays in Ghana instead of flowing out of it, and jobs galore for our nation's younger generations, then the more responsible sections of the Ghanaian media owe it to all the people of Ghana to point out the fact that there are better "economic models" to levarage to enable our nation generate money from China, which are actually available to Ghana.
To begin with, it ought to be pointed out that last year (2016) Thailand made U.S.$71 billion from the 31 million visitors it hosted that year. So we can focus on creating an outbound Chinese ecotourism market in Ghana by incentivising tens of millions of well-off middle-class Chinese tourists to travel here.
If the geniuses who now govern our country had thought things through properly before embarking on their trip to China, perhaps they would have come up with a better plan using ecotourism to enable Ghana to leverage some of China's wealth.
For example, if a ban is placed on the export of all unrefined gold from this country - after seeking joint-venture partners in China for the Precious Minerals Marketing Company Limited (PMMC) to produce credit-card-sized gold bars, gold coins with Adinkra symbols and our unique traditional-style gold jewelry - could we not create a thriving outbound Chinese ecotourism market in Ghana for Chinese tourists coming here to purchase the PMMC's credit-sized gold bars, gold coins with Adinkra symbols on them and traditional-style Ghanaian gold jewelry?
And would that not turn Ghana into a global gold trading centre, which attracts tens of millions of Chinese and other Asian countries' nationals to travel to Ghana regularly to purchase gold, I ask?
And would that not be a far better and more sustainable way to leverage some of our mineral wealth to our own benefit in truly win-win joint-venture partnerships between Ghanaian and Chinese entrepreneurs accessing long-term loans from Chinese banks at concessionary rates?
For the information of the vice-president and members of his economic management team, with the greatest respect, yet another new paradigm for economic development that they can share with the rest of Africa, is to encourage joint-venture partnerships between Ghanaian (ditto entreprenuers in other African nations) and foreign investors, to profit from opportunities offered by the need to modernise and expand our infrastructure.
The government of Ghana must allow such joint-venture partnerships to bid in open international tenders, to self-finance the building of railway lines, tolled concrete motorways, harbours, airports, etc., etc., and own, operate, as well as maintain them for 25-30 years without paying any taxes on their profits during that period.
Clearly, there are other far better "economic models" available to enable Ghana to develop with than that used to secure the advance payment of U.S.$19 billion by China for access to Ghana's mineral deposits.
Finally, we have culled and posted a Positive Money NZ blog article by Marc Joseph entitled, "Change Money, Change the World" that ought to be food for thought for the vice-president and his economic management team, and will be an eye opener for many discerning and independent-minded Ghanaians. If our leaders were creative thinkers we could become a prosperous society very quickly. Pity.
Please read on:
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Change Money, Change the World
By Marc Joseph
Isn't it frustrating to witness the growing inequality, poverty, homelessness, and suffering that plagues society? The government's efforts to address these ills are feeble and year after year the situation gets worse. We all know well the government's litany of excuses: "we don't have the money, we'd have to raise taxes, we have to be fiscally prudent, we have to service the debt, money doesn't grow on trees." It all boils down to money, doesn't it? But is it true?
No, it's not true. The government's excuses don't stand up to scrutiny, especially when we look at the facts about money. Money comes in two forms, paper (notes and coin) and electronic. The paper part comes from the RBNZ but that portion, about 2%, is insignificant. All the digital money we use is produced by the private banks. It's our national money, yet private institutions have been given the power of producing it for our economy. Think of it. 98% of New Zealand's dollars, which we must have to participate in the economy, is supplied by private institutions.
So what about this digital money? It's produced by tapping a keyboard and making an entry in a database, and this entry is shown on a computer screen. This happens whenever a bank makes a loan. Here, it's important to note that the financial system is based on a lie, the lie that says the private banks act as financial intermediaries between savers and borrowers. They do not. When you borrow from a bank, you borrow new debt-money that is "printed" fresh just for you. No pre-existing money is loaned. The bank creates the debt-money by merely changing the number that appears in your account. This may come as a shock to you, and it should because it's the shocking truth.
There is an important distinction to understand here. This new money is unearned money. You have agreed to repay it, but the only way you can repay it is to go out and earn it. The banking lie has you believing that you are borrowing someone else's hard-earned money and so you abide by the agreement to repay not just the loan but a premium as well. Your relationship with the bank is completely unequal and lacks full disclosure, and the interest is effortless profit for the banks.
So we need to ask ourselves, is this how we want our nation's money to be produced, only as loans? Is it right that the production of our money be in the hands of private institutions that profit so vastly with little or no effort? No way. And this debt has interest attached, which means that the debt grows over time, increasing beyond the capacity of the people to repay it. Indeed, the total debt owed to the private banks today is almost two times greater than the total money supply! This debt cannot and will not ever be repayed. So we work to repay the unrepayable debt to private institutions who have done virtually nothing. How can this be?
The reason is that people just don't know. Somehow, we've been indoctrinated to never question the source of money. The result of this is evident: inequality, poverty, homelessness, environmental degradation, crisis. Are you concerned about the ludicrous prices being paid for housing in Auckland and Wellington? The private banking system, given free rein by the government, is your culprit. For a private bank, the bigger the mortgage, the better.
And consider this. The authority to produce money comes from government, so why is the government in debt? If 98% of New Zealand's money is digitally produced, why doesn't the government do it? Indeed, the government is constantly invoking "financial prudence" when it explains why it can't provide the programs and services we all say we want, so why does the government allow private production of these debt-soaked dollars? How financially prudent is that?
Let's imagine a hypothetical situation. Society wants an end to poverty and homelessness so the government embarks on a brilliant initiative to do just that, mobilising the fabulous expertise and intelligence of the people of NZ. It pays for it by issuing the money straight out of the Treasury. No bonds, no borrowing, no debt. No excuses. Meanwhile, the government passes laws to restrict debt-money production by the private banks.
Of course, now we hear the last resort of the financial fear-mongers: that would be inflationary! they cry. They don't mention that private debt-money production in the last 100 years has decimated the purchasing power of our dollar by 95%. They never admit that interest-bearing debt is the true cause of inflation. And how many financial crises of the last century can we enumerate? They were all caused by their debt-soaked money and no doubt there's another crisis lurking on the horizon. What possible justification can there be for private control of our money supply? Debt-free money is far less inflationary, if at all.
We need money. We don't need debt. Debt distorts the economy. It makes it run inefficiently, squanders natural resources, drives the growth imperative, wastes human potential, and greatly enriches a few at the expense of the many. It's clear that society would reject private production of our money if it understood this brutal regime with its deplorable consequences.
Our challenge is to expose the lie and reveal the truth about the production of money. Once society knows the truth, the private control of our money will end. The people will demand that the government assume control over our money supply and soon the financial solution to our myriad problems will be available. No more debt.
So the truth is that there is no shortage of money. All that is socially desirable is financially possible. The private banking system's effortless profit is a millstone around our necks. It's imperative that government assert its authority over the money supply and properly fund, debt-free, an end to poverty and homelessness.
Money reform is a growing movement but you'll never read about it in the media. Thankfully there are excellent resources on the internet. Is there a more important use of one's time than to get informed about the true nature of the financial regime? We've lived all our lives in debt bondage, is that what we want for our grandchildren too?
So we have to provoke a public outcry. Why? Because the money scam is an outrage. Because poverty and homelessness are guaranteed by the debt-money system, we cannot succeed while it remains in place. It's not a joke, the situation is dire and getting worse. Once people know, poverty will end. Get informed. Tell everyone. Change money, change the world.
©2017. International Movement for Monetary Reform. All rights reserved."
End of culled Positive Money NZ blog article written and posted by Marc Joseph.
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