2 May 2012

Th 64 trillion dollar question : How much interest gets paid to commercial banks

In my recent Youtube presentations in which I propose a solution for the debt crisis, I point out that the 27 EU countries paid the banks €5.6 trillion in interest payments between 1995 and 2011.  Such payments can be considered to be extortion, because the banks that lent the 27 governments the €10.4 trillion that they currently owe  didn't actually have the money they lent. They just created it out of thin air. I think that when the general public realizes this, there could well be a mass revolt. There can surely be no way to justify a system in which commercial banks are allowed to create money out of thin air, lend the money to governments, and then change colossal interest charges.

But let us not forget that the banks don't just create money out of thin air to lend to governments. They also create money out of thin air to lend to individuals and companies. The total amount of lending is thus way higher than that lent to governments alone.

For example, in the USA, everyone knows that the level of government debt is over $15 trillion.  But what about the other figures?

The Wall Street Journal just published the figures from the credit rating agency Equifax that said that US Consumer Debt at the end of the first quarter stood at $10.9 trillion.

In april 2011, Michael Hodges' website reported that total debt in the USA had topped $57 trillion. Other reports put the figure at $120 trillion.

Can you imagine how much interest is being paid on this? We are talking about people's credit card debt, which often incur interest rates of 20% or more. And what about the payday loans, where the rates can reach an unbelievable 14348% (see this comparative site in the UK) - the worst culprit is Quid 24.

Anyone know just how much the banking system creams off the economy in interest charges on debt if all of these different sources are taken into account? It seems likely that the amount will completely dwarf the €370.8 billion paid by the 27 european governments. The trouble is that while the European Central Bank keeps a close eye on the amount of interest paid by governments, I don't know anyone who is keeping tabs on the amount of interest paid by the rest of us.

One solution would be for individuals and companies to calculate themselves how much they pay in interest charges.

If anyone knows where there is information on this sort of thing, please let me, and the rest of us, know.

2 comments:

  1. "There can surely be no way to justify a system in which commercial banks are allowed to create money out of thin air, lend the money to governments, and then change colossal interest charges." 
    On top of which they still end up making a mess of it all and squandering the lot; then they have the audacity to squeeze everyone else for more ...

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  2. Indeed.

    I'm working on an alternative proposition where the creation of money is in the hands of elected governments, who will be able to decide where to put the money that is created.

    Simon 

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