LETTER: Spend it; don’t lend it

Published 10:49 am Friday, December 5, 2008

It is a good idea to “invest” in roads and bridges to help our economy. To provide sustainable relief, the money must be created and “spent” into circulation not created and “lent” into circulation.

Money created as loans and “lent” into circulation only creates the principal. The principal is uncreated when repaid.

Adding interest creates a debt greater than the money supply. More borrowing is required to pay the interest causing the inevitable crisis situation we now face.

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Borrowing more to pay this debt has not worked, will not work and cannot work. It’s mathematically impossible.

Investments should show a growing benefit over time. America’s “investments” have not shown the desired returns not because of “spending” but because of”lending” and using an evidence of unpayable interest bearing debt as our medium of exchange.

The proposed “spending” spree to build roads and bridges is not what it is at all. It’s another “lending” spree whereby money is created and “lent” before it is “spent.”

We can only get rid of debt by paying for it with something that is not a debt, money that is created not as a loan but as a debt-free payment for production that benefits everyone. Roads and bridges would work.

Spend it. Don’t lend it.

May the words forever ring in our ears.

Gregory K. Soderberg

Austin