You can’t even blink with these AI models. Every other day, you hear about “life-changing” new features. Most of it is exaggerated, but it’s still impressive. OpenAI and ChatGPT have the limelight today.
OpenAI has unveiled GPT-4.5, its most advanced language model to date. They say it has improved emotional intelligence and conversational depth.
CEO Sam Altman says GPT-4.5 is “the first model that feels like talking to a thoughtful person.” Being the salesman that he is, he says he was pleasantly surprised when he received genuinely good advice from the AI.
Key Features of GPT-4.5
Enhanced Emotional Intelligence
GPT-4.5 is trained to better understand and respond to social cues. This should make the AI’s interactions feel more natural and empathetic. It allows the model to provide nuanced support, such as offering comfort during challenging times.
I don’t know anyone looking for this kind of support, but it’s there now.
Here, OpenAI demonstrated how the new model handles a request to write an angry text to a friend. GPT-4.5 manages the situation better, as you can see.
Although, one could argue it performed worse because it strayed further from the request and tried to play the role of a responsible aide, stopping you from sending a text you might regret.
Listen, if you vent to your AI, then more power to you, I guess.
Reduced Hallucinations
GPT-4.5 has a lower tendency to generate inaccurate or fabricated information across various topics. Now, this is huge.
The model generates fewer inaccuracies compared to GPT-4. It has a lower hallucination rate of 37.1%, compared to GPT-4o’s 61.8%.
The AI hallucination problem persists, and any update that reduces it will always be welcome.
Improved Performance
As you would expect, with an expanded dataset and improved training techniques, GPT-4.5 offers deeper contextual understanding across diverse topics.
GPT-4.5 excels in tasks like writing, programming, and problem-solving, making it a versatile tool for both personal and professional applications.
Not Free for Now
However, these advancements come with increased computational demands. Altman says GPT-4.5 is a “giant, expensive model” and adds that GPU shortages have limited its immediate availability.
Currently, GPT-4.5 is accessible to ChatGPT Pro subscribers and developers via the API, with plans to expand to other subscription tiers as more GPUs become available.
Comments
11 responses
Imagine you have been praying for something for a very longtime. The Lord answers because the Lord always answers. Then you dismiss the Lords answers because self doubt or pre-conceived ideas. My people suffer because of a lack of knowledge, our Lord declares in the scriptures. If Only you had the faith of a mustard seed.
The Lord uses the most unlikely of candidates,from sherpard boys to sons of carpenters. Even the wisest of men failed in this test, they went to look for the King of kings in a Palace but he was in a manger among farm animals. This goes to show what the Lord thinks about earthly wealth and position.
The Lord humiliates the proud and lifts the scorned, rejected, persecuted from dust and prepares a table for them among their enemies. Is this not scripture?
David (Dah vid) said not by my hand when he had the chance to kill Saul. How history tends to repeat itself. The future King of Israel had to go live in a cave, humiliated and downcast but through faith suplication and prayer prevailed.
Not by my hand…
I serve a jealous God, a living God, a loving God who searchs the hearts of all men. As I walk in the valley of the shadow of death I fear no evil. Thy rod and staff protects and guides me.
Hoping to find a way to obviate or at least mitigate that burden, Harari also initiated one other
particularly ambitious recruitment program. “I heard that the KGB used to identify orphans, who wouldn’t
have any restrictive commitments, at the age of thirteen or fourteen, took them under its wing, and trained
them under the best possible conditions to be operatives functioning under cover. I thought it was a good
idea.” He got Caesarea’s psychologist to find a fourteen-year-old Israeli boy without parents, and Caesarea
took him under its wing, without his knowing who was now taking care of him. A psychologist and two
tutors kept constant tabs on him, and he was given an excellent education, enrichment classes in art and
culture, and time for sports and leisure. “We told him we wanted him to serve the nation when he grew up,”
says Harari.
All of the grooming and tuition was a success. The boy became a soldier and then a talented young
officer, highly cultured and capable of functioning under cover as a foreigner. But the project as a whole
failed. “It became clear to me that it may work in a totalitarian country like Russia, but not in Israel. The
Israeli Jew doesn’t have that kind of perseverance, and very soon he wanted a girlfriend, a civilian career,
and a good salary. He would likely have aspirations in very different directions than what the intelligence
world could offer. We had no alternative but to just let him go his own way.”
Other recruitment policies proved more successful. For practical operational reasons, the Mossad
actually became an early pioneer in gender equality. “It is a huge advantage having a woman on the team
during an operation,” says Ethan. “A team made up of members of both sexes…always provides for a
better cover story and reduces suspicions.”
If recruits manage to make it past the initial screening stage, they then begin the “operatives course.”
Most Caesarea cadets never visit Mossad headquarters during their training and have no contact with other
trainees. They are exposed to as little information as possible so that they will have little to reveal if they are
captured and tortured. During training, their home base is one of several apartments in Tel Aviv, so that
they won’t be exposed to regular Mossad employees who come to work at headquarters every day.
Cadets undergo training in a host of spycraft fields—encrypted Morse code transmission (until
technological developments rendered that mode of communication obsolete), surveillance, losing tails,
weaponry, and hand-to-hand combat. They also study the geography, politics, and history of the Arab
countries.
Skills are honed in a series of practice missions, almost entirely on Israeli soil, and are usually mundane:
slipping a listening device into a telephone in a bank lobby, recovering innocuous documents, breaking into
homes or businesses just to prove a recruit has the skill.
The creation of an elaborate cover story goes well beyond a fake name. The recruit is expected to learn
an entirely new, fictitious biography: where he was born and raised, who his parents were, the social,
cultural, and economic background in which he was raised, his hobbies, and so forth. A passport issued by a
friendly base country—or forged by the Mossad—will allow the warrior to travel freely, even to countries
that don’t admit Israelis. The counterfeit profession, meanwhile, typically is one that requires frequent
international travel and lots of time spent working alone, without partners, offices, or regular hours. A
newspaper reporter or photographer, for example, or a screenwriter doing research for a movie script both
work well, because neither requires much explanation.
Growing up I never received what you would term excessive pocket money. I always just enough and that was enough for me. Like any child you would like to do things you love.
So I came with up a plan.I would walk home from school then pocket the bus fare. Those were the days of the golden $2 coin with a Pangolin.
I would set off from Prince Edward School to Main Meadows via Park Town and First Avenue. At the end of the week I would have 10 or so dollars to splurge. I would spend some on car and menshealth magazines. I became a regular by that former American Donut shop at Copa Cabana. I would also buy The Herald or Sundaymail. There was a competition around 2000 to design the coat of arms for Midlands State University. I saw the advert in the paper then mailed my submission, prize money was around $2000 USD, it wasnt to be and they went in another artistic direction.
The other cash would be spent on chocolate tofees,mint imperials and biscuits (maramba waraira). I have an issue when I start eating biscuits I cannot stop, I have come to terms with my flaw….kkkk
The Rest I would spend on videos games at Park Town shops. There was street fighter zero two. There was a character who was a cheat his name is Akuma. The screen just goes white and he gobles up 100 percent health. I used to then play after. Then There was Soul Edge (It has a different name in other markets)the one with Taki, Cervantes, Voldo, Sophia…If you leave the ring or chucked out you lose. For the time the graphics were insane.
Fantasy Land had a lot more games but we were not allowed by Mr. Barnes to go to such places in school uniform. Every afternoon the prefects on duty would patrol town. If they caught you they would ask for your school books, then copy down your name and class. The next day you would have a date with a cane or manual labour. Manual labour was twice a week. Walk Around picking up litter and boring you to death. Detention was only for academic related infractions and teacher would preside. Manual labour on Friday was the worst. It would drag on and on, and you would miss someone on the Eaglesvale bus. It was a massive detterent and standards were kept high and prefect power took the burden off teachers to maintain disicpline.
What at time it was…
Julius Caesar. Commissioned in 1696 for the Gardens of Versailles.
Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar (100-44BC) was born into an aristocratic family on July 12, 100BC. He was tall and fair-headed and practised briefly as a lawyer before becoming a brilliant military commander who conquered Gaul (France) in 59-52BC. After his defeat of Pompey the Great in 48BC at Pharsalus, Caesar became the undisputed leader of the
Roman Republic. On his return to Italy in September 45BC, Caesar found the streets
and cities crowded with homeless people, who had been forced off the land by usurers
and land monopolists. 300,000 people had to be fed daily at the public granary. Usury
was flourishing with disastrous consequences.[4]
The Forum Romanum was commissioned by Julius Caesar in 54BC and dedicated by him in 46BC. It was the very
centre of ancient Rome where Caesar would meet his untimely end on March 15, 44BC.
The principal usurers,many of whom were Jewish,[5] were charging interest rates as
high as 48% per annum. As Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4BC-65AD), the philosopher,
would later remark in de Superstitione “The customs of that most criminal nation have
gained such strength that they have now been received in all lands. The conquered
have given laws to the conqueror.”
At that time there were two main political parties: the Optimates centered around the
nobility, the Senate and the privileged few; and the Populares, who represented the
citizens. Caesar immediately assumed leadership of the latter.
Caesar fully understood the evils of usury and how to counter them. “He recognized
the profound truth that money is a national agent, created by law for a national
purpose, and that no classes of men should withhold it from circulation so as to cause
panics, in order that speculators could advance the rates of interest, or could buy up
property at ruinous prices after such panic.”[6]
Caesar introduced the following social reforms:
1. Restoration of property was done at the much lower valuations which held
prior to the civil war. (49-45BC).
2. Several remissions of rents were granted.
3. Large numbers of poor citizens and discharged veterans were settled on allotments.
4. Free housing was provided to 80,000 impoverished families.
5. Soldiers’ pay was increased from 123 to 225 denarii.
6. The corn dole was regulated.
7. Provincial communities were enfranchised.
8. Confusion in the calendar was removed by fixing it at 365¼ days from 1
January 44BC.
His monetary reforms were as follows:
1. State debt levels were immediately reduced by 25%.
2. Control of the mint was transferred from the patricians (usurers) to
government.
3. Cheap metal coins were issued as the means of exchange.
4. It was ruled that interest could not be levied at more than 1% per month.
5. It was decreed that interest could not be charged on interest and that the total
interest charged could never exceed the capital loaned (in duplum rule).
6. Slavery was abolished as a means of settling debt.
7. Aristocrats were forced to employ their capital and not hoard it.
These measures enraged the aristocrats and plutocrats whose “livelihood” was now
severely restricted. They therefore conspired to murder Caesar, the hero of the people.
On that fateful morning of 15 March 44BC, only four years after assuming power he
arrived at the Senate building unarmed, having dismissed his military guard, who had
previously been in constant attendance. Surrounded by 60 conspirators he was stabbed
to death and received 23 wounds.
In 27BC shortly after Caesar’s death (and his deification) the Romans adopted the gold
standard, which would have far reaching implications for the financial stability of the
empire and lead directly to its demise. Previously, during the days of the Roman
Republic, gold coins were issued only in times of great need, such as during the Second
Punic War or the campaign of Lucius Cornelius Sulla. There were few gold mines in
Europe, except in remote places like Wales, Transylvania and Spain and therefore most
of the supplies could only be secured from the east. This in turn required a large and
expensive army, which became engaged in constant conflict at the empire’s fringes.
The gold coin was known as an aureus.Also in circulation were the silver denarius and
various copper coins: the sestertius, dupondius and the as.
The scarcity of gold or commodity money frequently induced periods of deflation as a
result of the lack of a circulating means of exchange. In 13BC a measure of relief was
provided when the weight of the gold aureus was reduced from 122 to 72 grains and
this remained the standard weight until 310AD. However, metals continued to flow
eastwards in order to pay for luxury items, religious dues and usury payments.
Furthermore wear and tear resulted in the loss of one third of total coinage in
circulation over a 100 year period.
As gold was treated as a commodity, its debasement was not tolerated. Emperor
Constantine (275-337AD) personally ordered death for counterfeiting, and the burning
of public minters who committed falsification. Money changers, who did not report a
counterfeit gold bezant (solidus), were immediately flogged, enslaved and exiled. These
regulations were effective for the bezant, which weighed 70 grains and was slightly
more than the bezant that was still circulating in 1025AD and weighed 68 grains.
In 313AD Christianity was tolerated by the Edict of Milan and from 380AD was
established as the official religion by Emperor Theodosius I (347-395AD). From this
time monetary power residedinthereligiousauthorityofthe pontifexmaximus.Afeature of
the imperial era was social injustice and the undermining of the middle classes through
excessive taxation. The Roman businessman was not a trader, but a looter of the
provinces, as the homeland had a weak industrial production base, which was
incapable of providing the required manufactured goods. As the monetarisation of
society continued, with the rich parasitising of the common man, the plebians became
more like slaves. The abolition of the jury system was symptomatic of the declining
respect and importance for the common man in Roman society.
Establishment of the Bank of England
The need for a privately owned central bank was fronted by a retired pirate,[45] William
Paterson, when he wrote a pamphlet in 1693 entitled A Brief Account of the Intended Bank
of England.[46]
He would later boast that this Bank “hath the benefit of interest on all moneys which it
creates out of nothing.”[47] On Thursday, 21 June 1694 subscription lists for the Bank,
which had a capital of £1,200,000 were opened. By the following Monday this amount
had been fully subscribed.
The ostensible purpose of the bank was to lend King William unlimited sums at 8% per
annum to enable the prosecution of war, and in particular the conflict against Louis
XIV of France whose country was not on the usury system.[48] The Bank would thus
receive from the Crown interest of £100,000 per annum, the additional £4,000 being an
administrative fee. The Bank also acquired the right to issue £1,200,000 in bank notes
without any gold cover.
Prior to its listing, the byelaws of the Bank were carefully scrutinised by Serjeant-at-
Law Creswell Levinz in order to ensure that the Bank complied with its hidden
purpose, viz. to fleece the English people in perpetuity by allowing the creation of the
nation’s money and means of exchange out of nothing at interest. All this fake money
was to be accompanied by compounding interest. Levinz was a crypto-Jew or Marrano
who practised as an advocate[49] and later served as a judge.
There was much opposition to the establishment of the Bank. Foremost were the
goldsmiths and moneylenders, who correctly foresaw that it would bring an end to
their usurious racket of fractional reserve banking based on their gold receipts.
Landowners and country gentry feared an escalation in interest rates, as the Bank
would control the nation’s money supply. There were allegations that the Bank would
favour certain merchants with low rates of interest. The biggest fear was that “the Bank
would grow too powerful and would become the keystone of the commercial world.”[50]
Unfortunately, this is exactly what happened, as the Bank of England became the
model on which all subsequent central banks were replicated.
At that time the House of Commons had 514 members consisting of 243 Tories, 241
Whigs and 28 members whose allegiance was unknown.[51] About two-thirds of the
members were country gentlemen and it is believed that of the 514 members
approximately 20% were illiterate. The bill was debated in July 1694, the high point in
summer, when most of the rural members were engaged in summer pursuits and the
harvesting of their crops.[52] On that fateful Friday, 27 July 1694 when the Charter of
Incorporation was granted only 42 members were present, all of them Whigs, as the
Tories opposed the bill, who all voted in favour of it. (This begs the question as to what
a quorum consisted of in those days).
The title of the bill made no mention of the proposed Bank of England, which is only
described or one might say secreted, two-thirds down in the unintelligible verbiage – to
the layman that is – of the bill.
The opening sentence of the bill reads as follows: “William and Mary by the grace of
God, King and Queen of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, defenders of the faith
etc. To all for whom these presents shall come greeting.” The third sentence, which
contains 242 words starts “Whereas in and by a certain Act lately made in Parliament
entitled an Act for granting to Their Majesties several rates and duties upon
TONNAGE OF SHIPS AND VESSELS, and upon beer, ale, and other liquors, for
securing certain recompenses and advantages in the said Act mentioned, to such
persons as shall voluntarily advance the sum of fifteen hundred thousand pounds
towards carrying on the war with France it is amongst other things enacted……”[53]
The gist of the first two-thirds of the bill details the necessity to levy a complicated
array of new rates,duties and taxes on ships,beer, ale and other liquors.The true
purpose of these taxes was that they were needed in order to fund the interest on all
future government loans. Shortly thereafter further taxes were introduced including a land tax, paper tax, poll tax, salt tax, stamp tax and window tax, which replaced the
hearth or chimney tax. Other taxes initiated were a tax on pedlars, a tax on hackney
coaches, a tax on births, marriages and deaths and lastly a tax on bachelors.[54] However,
the most punitive tax introduced was an income tax levied at a rate of 20%. It was
applied not only to companies, but labourers too.[55]
War and Debt Slavery in Perpetuity
Henceforth a pattern would emerge where unnecessary wars would be embarked
upon which simultaneously increased the national debt and the profits of the usurers.
Significantly, most of these wars were started against countries, that had implemented
interest- free state banking systems, as was the case in the North American colonies
and France under Napoléon. This pattern of attacking and enforcing the bankers’
system of usury has been deployed widely in the modern era and includes the defeats
of Imperial Russia in World War I, Germany, Italy and Japan in World War II and most
recently Libya in 2011. These were all countries which had state banking systems,
which distributed the wealth of their respective nations on an equitable basis and
provided their populations with a standard of living far superior to that of their rivals
and contemporaries.
Within two years of its establishment in 1696 the Bank of England had £1,750,000 worth
of bank notes circulating with a gold reserve of only 2% or £36,000.[56] On 1 May 1707
the union between Scotland and England was established, motivated in no small way
by the necessity to seize control of the Royal Mint in Edinburgh which took place in
1709.
By 1720 after the conclusion of the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-14) the national
debt had risen to £30 million with the war itself having cost £50 million.[57] After the
American War of Independence (1775-83), which had been fought after the colonists
had been forced to replace their debt – and largely interest-free colonial scrip with
English money and had resulted in 50% unemployment, the national debt soared to
£176 million. According to Sir John Harold Clapham, who wrote The Bank of England: A
History 1694-1914 in 1944, Solomon de Medina and two da Costas, Fonseca, Henriquez,
Mendez, Nuñes, Rodriguez, Salvador and Teixeira de Mattos, who were all Sephardic
Jews, had acquired the majority of the bank’s shares by 1722.
In 1786 Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger tried to abolish the national debt with
a sinking fund which generated interest of £1 million pounds per annum to repay the
debt.[58] This scheme was soon abandoned because of the enormous increase in loans
incurred to finance the war against Napoléon. In 1797 in order to pay for the
burgeoning interest burden, a system of graduated income tax had to be introduced,
which by 1815 was yielding £70 million per annum.[59]
The war against France lasted from 1792 until 1815. Among the principal objectives of this pointless bloodletting was to destroy Napoléon’s debt- and interest-free system of
finance. (See Chapter III). During this period England also waged a war against the
United States from 1812 until 1814. This war, as was the case with the war against
France, was instigated by England at the behest of banker Mayer Amschel Rothschild
(real name Bauer) after the United States Congress refused to renew the charter of the
Rothschild-controlled[60] Bank of the United States, which had been the central bank of
America from 1791 until 1811.[61] Mayer Amschel Rothschild is famously credited with
having said: “Give me control of the economics of a country, and I care not who makes
her laws. The few who understand the system, will either be so interested from its
profits or so dependent on its favours, that there will be no opposition from that class.”
British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval (1809-12) tried to stop this completely futile
war, but was assassinated on 11 May 1812 in the lobby of the House of Commons by
John Bellingham, a political radical, who had been set up by Rothschild.[62]
By 1815 the national debt had ballooned to £885 million. This completely unnecessary
war resulted in approximately three million military personnel and at least one million
civilians losing their lives. In order to destroy Napoléon’s state bank, it cost the
deluded British public a staggering £831 million[63] of which over £2.5 billion were still
outstanding in 1914. The principal of £504 million had over the intervening period
increased fivefold as a result of the compounding effect of interest.
An astute agrarian and parliamentarian William Cobbett (1763-1835) at that time
perceived what was afoot and wrote as follows: “I set to read the Act of Parliament by
which the Bank of England was created. The investors knew what they were about.
Their design was to mortgage by degrees the whole country…lands…houses…
property…labour. The scheme has produced what the world never saw before –
starvation in the midst of abundance.”[64]
In 1800 a member of parliament Sir William Pultney proposed the formation of a
national bank after having made “vigorous attacks” against the Bank.[65] In 1824 another
member of parliament, David Ricardo, submitted a detailed plan[66] to convert the Bank
of England into a national bank. Both attempts failed. The affairs of the Bank of
England remained secret and it was not until 1833, 139 years later that a sanitised
version of its accounts was presented to parliament by means of the Act of 1833.[67]
At the start of World War I in 1914 the national debt stood at £650 million.[68] On March
31, 1919 it had increased to £7.434 billion[69] of which £3 billion is still outstanding after
95 years at an interest rate of 3.5% per annum. In the 1919 budget 40% of expenditure
was allocated to the payment of interest. In World War II the national debt rose by
almost 300% from £7.1 billion in 1939 to £20.1 billion in 1945. As at March 2017 it
stands at over £1.8 trillion.[70] However, if one includes all liabilities, including state and
public pensions, it exceeds £5 trillion.
On 14 February 1946 the Labour government nationalised the Bank of England. The
shareholders received Treasury Notes to the value of £11,015,100 which were
redeemable after 20 years.
This nationalisation, which supposedly placed the bank under public control, did not
introduce any change to the privately run system of fractional reserve banking and was
undertaken purely for propaganda purposes, as part of the Labour Party’s
nationalisation programme of certain financial and industrial concerns.
On 6 April 1974 the Bank of England established the Bank of England Nominees
Limited, company registration No. 1307478, a wholly-owned subsidiary, with private
shareholders holding its 100 £1 shares, of which 50% were sold. There is a suspicion
that this rearrangement of the bank’s affairs represents a reverse takeover of it by
private shareholders. In view of the fact that certain aspects of the Bank of England’s
operations are protected by its Royal Charter, Section 27(9) of the Companies Act of
1976 and the Official Secrets Act of 1989, and are therefore not subject to public and
parliamentary scrutiny, there may well be substance to this allegation.
Napoléon and the Banque De France
The deadly facts herein revealed lead me to wonder that this monster, interest, has not
devoured the whole human race.
– Napoléon Bonaparte on being shown an interest table.
France under the Bourbons
When the Bank of England was established in 1694, one of its principal aims was to
provide sufficient finance so that England could prosecute its war against France. At
that time France was the premier world power both in terms of maritime forces and
territorial possessions. Four years previously at the battle of Beachy Head, near
Eastbourne, England, the French navy defeated the Anglo-Dutch fleet
comprehensively, when it sank twelve ships, while a further twenty ships were
exploded by their English crews.[71]
Since 7 June 1654 France had been ruled by its most glorious monarch, King Louis XIV,
the Sun King. Louis was well versed in the wiles of the bankers. When he discovered
that his Superintendent of Finances, Nicolas Fouquet, was a representative of what we
term to-day the money power, and received irrefutable evidence that “he had long
been betraying the trust reposed in him by mishandling the State finances and by
monstrous corruption”, he had him arrested. Fouquet was put on trial and sentenced
to complete isolation for the rest of his life in the inaccessible fortress of Pignerol.[72]
Louis XIV, the Sun King, was always wary of bankers. His inability to finance his army and navy with credit led to
his defeat in the War of the Spanish Succesion (1702-1714).
The War of the Spanish Succession (1702-1714) was the largest military conflict since
the Crusades. It was fought after Louis declared his intention to place his grandson,
Philip, Duke of Anjou, on the Spanish throne. This attempt, if successful, would have
created a vast Franco-Spanish empire and posed a direct threat to the Bank of England
and its proxy, the government of Great Britain. With the ability to create money out of
nothing, the English were able to build a large fleet and buy the loyalty of France’s
enemies by bankrolling them.
Louis held out for nine years, until his heirs suddenly started to die in unnatural
circumstances. On 13 April 1711 his heir Louis, Le Grand Dauphin, died allegedly of
smallpox, even though he had had the disease when he was a small child. On 12
February 1712 the wife of his grandson, the Duke of Burgundy, died of a fever. A few
days later her husband was covered in spots and he died on 18 February 1712 of
unknown causes. A few weeks later the King’s two great-grandsons fell ill with scarlet
fever. The five year old Duke of Brittany died on 18 March 1712.The three year old
brother, the Duke of Anjou, survived – miraculously – after the King ordered his
isolation and treatment with an antidote.
As a result of these tragedies, the King was persuaded to cease hostilities and
commence negotiations. At Utrecht a treaty was signed in March and April 1713 which
allowed France to retain largely its pre-war boundaries. Thereafter the heirs to the
French throne stopped dying, although this did not prevent the other grandson of
Louis, the Duke of Berry, who was the regent of the future Louis XV, dying in an
unusual riding “accident”.[73] A broken man, the Sun King died of natural causes on 1
September 1715.
The ability of the English to command vast sums of money had not gone unnoticed by
the French, who realised that the war had not been won because of a deficiency in
financial credit.
On 1 May 1716 a Scotsman, John Law, received a patent to open a private bank, the
Banque Générale, which was patterned on the Bank of England and which was entitled
to issue bank notes and exchange them for gold.[74]
The regent of Louis XV, Phillipe II, Duke of Orléans, realised that this bank could
provide government with a means of financing its expenditures and in 1718, France’s
first central bank came into existence and was renamed the Banque Royale.
The adoption of the Bank of England paradigm of creating money ex nihilo soon
enabled the French economy to recover and flourish. However, this period of
prosperity was of short duration. In January 1720 the French government received a
record-breaking loan of 100 million livres. The following month news spread suddenly
that the bank was experiencing difficulty in exchanging its bank notes for gold coins
and an “atrocious panic”[75] ensued. The source of these rumours is not clear, but the
most likely suspect would have been the Bank of England which wished to destroy its
dangerous rival.[76]
Various attempts were made to shore up the Banque Royale. A decree of 11 March 1720
banned the use of coins from 1 May onwards. When this measure failed to staunch the
impending catastrophe, a decree was announced on 22 May 1720 which reduced the
value of the bank notes by 50%. A third decree of 10 October 1720 stated that on 1
November bank notes would no longer be used and that they were to be exchanged for
state bonds with a further reduction of 50% in their value.
In November 1720 the Banque Royale declared itself bankrupt and its founder and
Controller General of Finances, John Law, fled the country the following month. For
the Bank of England and its Jewish stockholders, the demise of the Banque Royale was
an unmitigated triumph.
Napoléon the Monetary Reformer
Napoléon, who was Emperor of France from 1804 -1815, was very mindful of the fact
that money always remains in hiding and only acts through agents, who are often
unaware of the aims that they are pursuing. He realised that international money stood
behind every foreign enemy, every monarch and every political party, including the
Jacobins,[77] stating on one occasion that; “The hand that gives is above the hand that
takes. Money has no motherland; financiers are without patriotism and without
decency: their sole object is gain.”[78] He had very clear ideas as to how he wished the
French economy to be run. He defined his system as being for the application of the
resources of government, including finances, for the benefit and use of his people for
the greater glory of God. His system was for the maintenance of spiritual as against
material values, the nation as against political parties, patriotism as against greed,
loyalty as against fear.[79]
The bedrock of the economy was to be agriculture – “for that is the soul of the people…
the foundations of the Kingdom.”[80] Next in importance was industry, which “ministers
to the comfort and happiness of the population.”[81] A poor third came foreign trade,
which only consists of the surplus of agriculture and industry. In his opinion “foreign
trade ought to be the servant of agriculture and home industry; these last ought never
to be subordinated to foreign trade.”[82] Napoléon’s ultimate objective was to ensure not
only financial independence, but self-sufficiency in the production of goods for
domestic consumption.
Napoléon would not allow loans to be employed for current expenditure, whether civil
or military, under any circumstances. On the subject of debt he had this to say:
“One has only to consider what loans can lead to in order to realise their danger.
Therefore I would never have anything to do with them and have always striven
against them. At one time people asserted that I did not issue loans because I
possessed no credit and could find nobody who would lend me anything. That is
quite false. That surely implies a very scanty knowledge of human nature and an
ignorance of stock exchange methods if people imagine that I could find no one
ready to lend. It was not part of my system.”[83]
The State Bank of the French Empire
Napoléon’s first act on assuming power as First Consul on 9 November 1799, was to
establish the Banque de France on 18 January 1800 as a joint stock company, which
commenced operations on 20 February of that year. This Bank replaced the 15, mainly
Jewish, private banking houses which had been deeply involved in the events leading
up to the Jewish revolution against the French people commonly, but incorrectly,
known as the French Revolution 1789-1799[84]. These banks had increased the national
debt to £170 million and had charged rapacious rates of interest on loans to the French crown, to the extent that prior to 1789, it was allocating over 50% of its budget
expenditure to interest.
The Bank was set up with a share capital of 30 million francs divided into 30,000 shares
of 1,000 francs each, of which a portion was subscribed by Napoléon, his family and
members of his entourage.[85] The dividend of the shareholders was initially limited to
6% per annum, but was increased in 1806 to two thirds of the bank’s profits, with the
remaining one third being allocated to the Bank’s reserves. The two hundred largest
shareholders elected 15 regents or directors, who sat on the General Council
administering the Bank and three Censors or inspectors, who supervised management
of the Bank. The General Council in turn elected a Central Committee consisting of
three members, one of whom was chairman.[86] Napoléon made himself president of the
Bank, declaring that “The bank does not belong to the shareholders only; it also
belongs to the state, since the state has entrusted to it the privilege of issuing money. I
wish the bank to be in sufficient measure in the hands of the state, but not too much
so.”[87]
Treaty of Tilsit – Napoléon and Tsar Alexander I sign the treaty on a raft on the Neman river.
On 14 April 1803 by means of an Act of parliament, Napoléon abolished the right of
two rival banks, the Caisse d’Escompte de Commerce and the Comptoir Commercial to issue
bank notes. As he remarked at that time:
“Have you not told me that, in order to preserve credit, it is a general practice that artificial money, like that of the Bank of France, shall issue from only one source? I
adopt that idea. A single bank can be more easily watched than several concerns –
both by the Government and the public. With a view to emergencies I cannot see
any virtue in competition of this kind.”[88]
On 22 April 1806 a new Act was passed, which replaced the three member Central
Committee with a Governor and two Deputy Governors.[89] These appointments were
personally vetted by Napoléon. The new Act also increased the Bank’s capital to 90
million francs. Napoléon was so suspicious and distrustful of bankers that he
personally supervised the operations of the Treasury, lest the secrets of his monetary
policies leak out and be exploited by speculators. He was thus his own banker, who
controlled both the creation and distribution of money and credit, to the chagrin of the
international bankers, particularly the Rothschilds, who were virtually excluded from
operating in continental markets. Napoléon made the franc the most stable currency in
Europe. After France had abandoned the loan markets of the City of London, a fog of
depression settled on its fraternity of bankers and usurers. In typical fashion the
English press began to stir up trouble for Napoléon. He was accused of having not
observed the conditions of the Treaty of Amiens, which had been signed between
England and France on 25 March 1802. Relations broke down when Napoléon refused
to sign a trade treaty, which would promote “free trade” and a modern day version of
globalisation, and thereby force him to diminish the autarky and isolationism of his
continental policy.
England, under the direction of her international bankers, proceeded to bankroll[90]
Austria, Prussia, Russia, Spain and Sweden and duly declared war on France. The
coalition forces[91] exceeded 600,000. Napoléon could not muster even a third of that
number, and would under normal circumstances have been compelled to secure a
banker’s loan in order to arm and feed them. On 20 December 1803 he trumped the
warmongers by selling Louisiana to the United States of America for £3 million. A brief
period of peace and prosperity ensued. However, in 1806 a new coalition consisting of
England, Russia and Prussia at the initiative of the last named country took to the field.
Although the coalition forces were defeated at Jena on 14 October 1806, Napoléon was
forced to engage in a series of needless and senseless wars for the next nine years in
order to protect France and her new economic dispensation. He promulgated the
Continental Blockade, whose objective was to destroy England’s export trade, as he
realised that England could not finance her imports and fund her allies at the same
time.
At the Treaty of Tilsit signed on 7 July 1807 on a raft in the middle of the Neman river
in east Prussia, Napoléon and Tsar Alexander I agreed to an alliance which made them
the masters of continental Europe. Alexander agreed to join Napoléon’s Continental
Blockade of England and to provide each other with mutual support in the event of
disputes with other nations, and in particular the British Empire. At that time France
and Russia were the only two countries in Europe which were not on the usury system…..
Achievements of the French State Banking System
As part of the Code Napoléon (Code civil des Français), Napoléon introduced a new
commercial code on 21 March 1804. These economic reforms which included
substantially reduced taxes, quickly turned the French economy around and resulted
in increased trade and the development of new industries, such as cotton-making and
sugar beet, which were assisted by tariffs against foreign goods and low interest rate
loans. The infrastructure was upgraded on a vast scale not only in France, but
throughout western Europe, with the construction of 20,000 miles (32,186 km) of
imperial roads and 12,000 miles (19,312 km) of regional roads, almost 1,000 miles (1,609
km) of canals, bridges, the dredging and expansion of harbours such as Cherbourg and
Dunkerque, waterworks and public buildings, such as the gallery at the Louvre – all
financed with interest free money from the Banque de France.
Napoleon also established an Industrial Board, which provided data and information
to French industry; the Imperial University, which administered French education,
specialised schools or lycées for the study of engineering, science and technology, and
professional schools devoted to midwifery, obstetrics and veterinary science.
Napoléon described these accomplishments to his Irish doctor, Barry O’Meara, on the
island of St Helena and said that they were his most enduring monument. “The allied
powers cannot take from me hereafter the great public works I have executed, the
roads which I made over the Alps[95], and the seas I have united. They cannot place their
feet to improve where mine have not been before. They cannot take from the code of
laws which I formed, and which will go down to posterity.”[96]
In conclusion we may consider some of Napoléon’s achievements, which he
communicated to his former chamberlain and constant companion for 18 months on St
Helena, Comte de Las Cases:[97]
“I inspired France and Europe with new ideas which will never be
forgotten….France’s finances are the best in the world. To whom does she owe
them? If I had not been overthrown I would have made a complete change in the
appearance of commerce as well as of industry. The efforts of the French people
were extraordinary. Prosperity and progress were growing immeasurably.
Enlightenment was making giant strides. New ideas were everywhere heard and
published, for I took pains to introduce science among the people….If I had been
given time there would soon have been no more artisans in France; they would all
have become artists.”[98]
Achievements of the German State Banking System
One of the primary benefits which state banking and monetary reform conferred on
the German people was the provision of adequate housing. During the period 1933-37
1,458,178 new houses were built to the highest standards of the time.[265] Each house
could not be more than two stories high and had to have a garden. The building of
apartments was discouraged and rental payments on housing were not permitted to
exceed RM25 per month or 1/8 of the income of an average worker. Employees earning
higher incomes paid a maximum of RM45 per month.
Interest free loans of RM1,000 (about five months of gross pay) known as
Ehestanddarlehen (marriage loans) were paid in certificates to newly-wed couples to
finance the purchase of household goods. The loan was repayable at 1% per month, but
for each child born 25% of the loan was cancelled. Thus if a family had four children,
the loan would have been considered repaid in full. The same principle was applied in
respect of home loans, which were issued for a period of ten years at a low rate of
interest. The birth of each child also resulted in cancellation of 25% of the loan.[266]
Education in schools, technical colleges and universities was free, while the universal
health care system provided everyone with free medical care.[267]
The People’s Car – Adolf Hitler visits the “Volkswagen” factory in Wolfsburg, 1938. The proposed name of the new
town was Hitlerstadt, but Hitler demurred prefer- ring his pseudonym Wolf instead.
By September 1939 the Reichsautobahn covered 2,400 miles (3,862 km). It was aesthetically designed to serve not
only a utilitarian purpose, but to provide the motorist with scenery and striking views.
During the period 1933-37 imports increased by 31.0% from RM4.2 billion to RM5.5
billion,while exports,particularly to south east Europe, rose by 20.4% from RM4.9
billion to RM5.9 billion. This increased trade is reflected in the 76.9% rise in inland
shipping from 73.5 to 130.0 million tons conveyed and the 69.4% rise in ocean shipping
from 36 million to 61 million tons transported. During this period trade was greatly
enhanced by barter, which bypassed the international payments system and the
requirement of having to pay commission and interest on bills of exchange. By the late
1930’s 50% of all foreign trade was being conducted by means of barter transactions
using offset accounting.There were 25 countries, mainly located in the Balkans and
Latin America, participating in such barter agreements. In the same period expenditure
on roads and in particular the Reichsautobahn, of which 2,400 miles (3,862km) were
completed by September 1939, rose by 229.5% from RM440 million to RM1.45 billion.
This construction, which besides having symbolic value representative of the new
Germany, was necessary in order to accommodate the substantial increase in licensed
vehicles, which rose by 425% from 41,000 to 216,000 vehicles and the even higher
increase of 622% in licensed commercial vehicles from 7,000 to 50,600.
Between 1932 and 1938 iron ore production increased by 45.4% from 843,000 to
1,226,000 tons. German ores contained only 25% iron as opposed to the superior iron
content of the Swedish ores, which they could not afford. This difficulty was overcome
with the Krupp-Renn process which produced high quality steel. Between 1932 and
June 1939 the index of coal production rose by 85.5% from 69 to 128, while the energy
index rose during the same period by 76.0% from 75 to 132.[268]
“Wilhelm Gustloff” (25,484 gross tons) named after the leader of the German National Socialists living in
Switzerland. As part of the Kraft durch Freude (Strength through Joy) programme, German workers earning less
than RM300 a month were able to embark on cruises to exotic destinations. However, these cruise ships were
forbidden entry into British ports for fear of creating unrest and envy amongst deprived and unemployed British
workers. The Wilhelm Gustloff, while carrying Lithuanian, Latvian, and Polish refugee children, sank after being hit
by Russian torpedoes on 30 January 1945, with the loss of over 9,000 lives.
As a result of all this heightened and ever increasing economic activity,
unemployment, which stood at 30.1% in 1933, had been reduced to almost zero by July
1939,[269] and retired workers had to be enticed back to the labour market in order to
make up for the shortage of skilled workers. In contrast the unemployment rate in the
United States, which had stood at 25.1% in 1933, had according to the National
Industrial Conference Board declined only marginally to 19.8% by January 1940;[270] a
situation which may be attributed to the irrational but nonetheless deliberate policies
of the Rothschild controlled Federal Reserve Bank and the parasitic private banking
sector.
National income in Germany rose by 43.8% from RM45.2 billion to RM65 billion
between 1932 to 1937, while between 1932 and June 1939 the index of producers goods
increased by 219.6 % from 46 to 147;[271] yet the cost of living advanced by only 4% or
less than 1% per annum, a rate which would be achieved throughout the 12 years of
state banking under national socialism. The German monetary policy “was non-
inflationary because government expenditures, which increased the level of consumer
demand, could in turn elicit a correspondingly increased quantity of disposable
consumer goods.”[272]
By 1939 Germany had become the most powerful country in the history of Europe. Its
Gross Domestic Product at an annual average growth rate of 11% per annum had
doubled in the short space of six years of quasi-state banking. The Germans were now
the happiest and most prosperous people in the world, fully employed and enjoying
one of the highest standards of living. This success was achieved by the hard work of
the German people and with the support of an honest money system not based on
usury or the gold standard. One of the myths propagated by establishment historians
is that Germany’s economic renaissance was based on armaments production. The
following table reveals modest levels of defence expenditure which only picked up in
1938/1939 when Germany started to feel threatened by her neighbours.
YearDefence Expenditure RMNational Income
1933/34 1.9 billion 4%
1934/35 1.9 billion 4%
1935/36 4.0 billion 7%
1936/37 5.8 billion 9%
1937/38 8.2 billion 11%
1938/39 18.4 billion 22%
Source: Deutsche Reichsbank
Even expenditure of 22% of national income on defence just before World War II
started may be deemed as not being too excessive, when one bears in mind that
Germany’s borders possess few natural boundaries and at that time she was
surrounded by hostile neighbours – Czechoslovakia, France and Poland. Germany also
had to replenish the armaments, which she had been forbidden to possess in terms of
the Treaty of Versailles. The English historian, A J P Taylor, writes that “The state of
German armament in 1939 gives the decisive proof that Hitler was not contemplating
general war, and probably not intending war at all.”[273]
Bank of North Dakota[284]
In 1919, the 48 states of the United States were offered the opportunity of setting up
their own state banks. North Dakota was the only state which accepted this offer.
North Dakota, capital Bismarck, has a population of 790,000. It is situated in the middle
of America on the Canadian border. Notwithstanding its harsh winters, its primary
source of both direct and indirect income is agriculture. It ranks first in the United
States in the production of wheat, mainly durum,[285] barley, canola, flaxseed, oats and
sunflower seeds. Shale oil obtained by fracking in the Bakken basin and lignite are the
state’s principal mining products.
Most of the states of America are technically insolvent, and with the exception of North
Dakota and her western neighbour Montana, all have been experiencing budget
deficits. By way of comparison California, the largest state in economic terms and
currently the world’s twelfth largest economy, had a deficit of just under $23 billion in
April 2013 and pays out $10.4 billion in interest annually.In 2012 its bond debt
amounted to $167.9 billion. In contrast to the other 49 states, which have been suffering
rising levels of unemployment, North Dakota’s unemployment rate has decreased and
is currently the lowest in the USA at 2.7%. It also has the lowest default rates in the
country.
In September 2012 North Dakota had a budget surplus of $1.6 billion. Between 1997
and 2010 its GDP grew by 93.4% from $16 billion to $31 billion. During the period
2000-11 personal income per capita increased by 127% from $20,155 to $45,747, while
the national increase was 37.4% over the same period.
The secret of its success lies in its state bank. The mission statement of the bank is to
provide sound financial services that promote agriculture, commerce and industry. By law the state must deposit all its funds in the bank, which pays a competitive rate of
interest to the state treasurer.
The bank pays over all its profits to the state, which in 2011 were $60 million. Over
$450 million has been paid to the state in the past 11 years. Most of these funds are
used to offset taxes. The bank also provides a secondary market for real estate loans,
guarantees for new business ventures and loans for farmers at an interest rate of 1%
per annum. There has been no credit crisis or credit freeze in North Dakota, as the
bank provides the state’s own credit. By having established its own economic
sovereignty, North Dakota has become the most financially viable and prosperous state
in the USA.
In 2015 the North Dakota Legislative Assembly established a Bank of North Dakota
Infrastructure Loan Fund programme which made $50 million in funds available to
communities with a population of less than 2,000, and $100 million available to
communities with a population greater than 2,000. These loans have a 2% fixed interest
rate of return and a term of up to 30 years. The proceeds can be used for the new
construction of water and treatment plants, sewer and water lines, transportation
infrastructure and other similar needs to support new growth in a community.
North Dakota’s thriving state bank which was founded by a coalition of farmers in 1919.
While state banking will not resolve the financial impasse being experienced at
national level, state banks in the USA have the potential to provide considerable relief
at state government level – budget surpluses, lower taxes, less unemployment and
higher levels of prosperity. As at December 2016 there were 25 states considering some
form of state banking legislation.[286]
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