When the storm is raging, what or who do you anchor yourself to? Have you built your house upon the rock so you can withstand the storm? For years, our monetary system has been teetering on the edge of implosion. It took up residence on the precipice which is no surprise. The Federal Reserve conditioned the Too Big To Fail (TBTF) banks to believe they were impervious to reckless investment choices. Well, it was only a matter of time before our monetary system slipped off the ledge. It seems we may be headed toward a free fall which can be highly unnerving for some. After all, uncertainty can be… well… uncertain.
Every life circumstance is both a test and a temptation. How will we respond to the uncertainty? Will we exude love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? Or will we give in to temptation and become incapacitated by fear, stress, anxiety, anger and/or depression?
Domino Effect
Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank of New York collapsed within a week of each other. SVB is said to be the largest bank collapse since 2008 and the second-largest in U.S. history. It certainly has captured the headlines, as it should. But if we are brutally honest, we have known for quite a while that this was coming. After all, our banking system is built upon a house of cards called fractional reserve banking. Fractional reserve banking is based upon the notion that not all depositors will withdraw their money at the same time, so the Federal Reserve set the reserve requirements at 10% for most banks.
What does this mean?
If I deposit $100 in my bank account, the bank is only required to keep $10 in reserves. They lend the rest of my money to others and charge high-interest rates in order to make a sizeable profit off my money. As we have seen in the past few weeks, a problem arises when depositors lose confidence in their banking institution and withdraw all their money at once. The FDIC is supposed to guarantee depositors’ money up to $250,000, but if there are multiple bank runs, the FDIC will not be able to cover all the losses. A scenario we all need to consider is whether a domino effect will ensue. If you think it will, have you prepared yourself for this reality?
Now is a great time to increase your prayer life! The Father is faithful to provide for His children. Seek him for the strategy to weather the storm. Try to educate yourself regarding the Dodd-Frank Act bail-in clause and the impact it could have on you.
Derivatives – A Ticking Bomb
Greed is a powerful driving force. Banks engage in “moral hazards” when overextending themselves in risky investments, like derivatives. This type of reckless behavior places the whole monetary system at risk. Table 1 is a list of banks ranked by their investments in derivatives. Let me highlight some of the data. Notice that Silicon Valley Bank is ranked 33rd, Signature Bank is ranked 51st, and First Republic Bank, which was recently downgraded to “junk” by S&P, is ranked 60th? It’s a bit alarming to realize that there are 32 banks with larger investments in derivatives than SVB.
Table 1. Banks Ranked by Derivatives as of 2022-12-31. https://www.usbanklocations.com/bank-rank/derivatives.html?d=2022-12-31
With all this talk about derivatives, you might be wondering, what exactly are derivatives? Derivatives are a contract in which two parties place bets on the price of assets in the future. For example, let’s say Steve opened a smoothie store and decided to make a deal with Tim, the farmer, to purchase 1,000 lbs of oranges. But Steve doesn’t need the oranges right away, instead, he wants to purchase them in 6 months. Steve draws up a contract with Tim, known as a derivative, to purchase 1,000 lbs of oranges 6 months from now at today’s prices. This example is considered a simple derivative. As you can imagine, derivative contracts can easily become more complex when the two parties add additional layers of speculation (gambling) to the deal. In a nutshell, derivatives are bets that two parties make with one another. Steve is betting that the price of oranges will go up in 6 months and Tim is betting that the price of oranges will go down in 6 months.
Derivatives are the largest asset class in the world. “The notional value of outstanding over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives rose to $632 trillion at end-June 2022, up from $598 trillion at end-2021. This marks a continuation of the moderate upward trend evident since end-2016.”[i] I liken derivatives to fractional reserve banking on crack; it’s endemic in our banking system.
A sobering reality is that the top 25 banks have trillions of dollars invested in derivatives (see Table 2). Goldman Sachs is king of the derivatives market with over $53 trillion in derivative purchases. Let’s take a closer look at what this means. The most recent 3rd quarter 2022 report from the Office of the Comptroller of Currency shows that Goldman Sachs is leveraged 99:1 in derivatives.[ii] Meaning for every dollar they hold in assets, they have $99 in liabilities tied to derivatives. To put this in perspective, in 2008, when Lehman Brothers was deemed insolvent and forced to close their doors, they were only leveraged 5:1.
Table 2. Ranking of Top 25 banks in derivatives. https://www.usbanklocations.com/bank-rank/derivatives.html?d=2022-12-31
It's critical we step back and look at the big picture. Are we amid yet another round of the Hegelian Dialect? I believe so.
The Sorcery of Hegel
The Hegelian dialectic is a form of witchcraft; it manipulates the masses to progress toward a predetermined outcome. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a 19th-century German philosopher who influenced Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the authors of The Communist Manifesto. Stanford professor, Dr. Eric Voegelin, wrote an essay called On Hegel- A Study of Sorcery in which he asserts that Hegel was a sorcerer who believed he had the power to shape history in a transcendent way. In other words, Hegel was the “Alpha and Omega of ‘real history’”[iii]
Hegel stated, “Every single man is but a blind link in the chain of absolute necessity by which the world builds itself forth. The single man can elevate himself to dominance over an appreciable length of this chain only if he knows the direction in which the great necessity wants to move and if he learns from this knowledge to pronounce the magic words that will evoke its shape.”[iv]
The movement of dialectical knowledge as described by Hegel, is “the circle that runs back into itself, presupposing the beginning it reaches in the end.”[v] Hmmm, this reminds me of the ouroboros.
Hegel used language to perform sorcery. He overwhelmed his readers with an indigestible, overwhelming vocabulary that exhibited his high intellect leaving his readers dazed and confused. Alan Greenspan, former chair of the Federal Reserve, exhibited similar behavior in what became known as “Fed Speak.” He spoke in such a convoluted way, it left people dazed and confused. Voegelin asserts that “once you have entered the magic circle the sorcerer has drawn around himself, you are lost.”[vi] I would add, lost for a time, yes, but not lost forever. There IS a way out of the magic circle. The first step is to recognize you’ve been lured into the circle by believing lies.
“TRUST THE SCIENCE” was a Hegelian incantation recited by Fauci, Birx, Redman, and the mainstream media propaganda machine. This incantation mesmerized people, drew them into the sorcerer’s circle, and manipulated them with all the lies swirling within the circle. Hegel pontificated “The Geist (spirit of an individual or group), as by unfolding it comes to know itself, is Science…Science is the reality of the Geist, and the realm it builds for itself in its own element.”[vii] Tragically, the masses blindly trusted the science without testing its veracity. Critical thinking skills were abandoned because fear reigned in the hearts of millions. Now that people are awakening to the truth that the COVID-19 planedemic and “vaccines” were all part of a depopulation plan architected by Nephilim Hosts (global elites), the next round of the Hegelian dialectic is being unfolded.
For Hegel and those who embrace the Hegelian dialectic, the state is absolute and the individual exists for the benefit of the state. The Hegelian dialectic of thesis, anti-thesis, synthesis, (problem, reaction, solution) moves the masses to a prescribed outcome that benefits the elite. The bank failures are meant to drive us toward accepting CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) and digital IDs. The agenda that drives the Hegelian dialectic is one that gives the centralization of power to one governing body, the New World Order. The governing body requires complete obedience from each individual citizen. The individual finds freedom only in obedience to the state. But we know that this is not true freedom.
True freedom comes from placing our hope in Jesus. Jesus is the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE (John 14:6). It’s time we escape the magic circle. Fear draws us into the sorcerer’s grasp but perfect love provides the way out. (I John 4:18).
The Way Maker
Jesus is our living hope, which means, HOPE NEVER DIES. Isn’t this great news? We are never without hope! Even if all the banks in the world were to collapse and we lost absolutely every penny, we still have HOPE. The days we are living in are unpredictable, but we don’t have to live in uncertainty. Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the certainty of things hoped for, a proof of things not seen.”
If our hope is in Jesus, then we will not be disappointed. If our hope is in the security of our bank deposits, we are in big trouble.
I Peter 1:3-7 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
Jesus will provide a way for us to make it through a collapse in our monetary system. His promises abound and He never fails us. Consider this, the Father feeds the birds of the air and clothes the lily of the fields in splendor, we are His children, which means we don’t have to live in fear. Our Father will take even better care of us than the birds and the flowers (Matthew 6:25-32). He knows what we need even before we ask Him (Matthew 6:8). I encourage you to seek first the kingdom of God, then all your needs will be taken care of (Matthew 6:33-34). The Holy Spirit teaches us all things (John 14:26), so ask the Holy Spirit for the strategy to ride out the financial storm. The needs of each person/family are different but FEAR NOT, the Holy Spirit will guide you. This will be your finest hour!!
Written by Laura Sanger, Ph.D.
The Roots of the Federal Reserve is now available on Audible and Apple Books.
References
[i] OTC Derivatives at End-June 2022. Bank of International Settlements. Retrieved from https://www.bis.org/publ/otc_hy2211.htm
[ii] Quarterly Report on Bank Trading and Derivatives Activities (Third Quarter 2022). Retrieved from https://www.occ.gov/publications-and-resources/publications/quarterly-report-on-bank-trading-and-derivatives-activities/files/pub-derivatives-quarterly-qtr3-2022.pdf
[iii] Voegelin, E. (1972). On Hegel — A Study in Sorcery. In: Fraser, J.T., Haber, F.C., Müller, G.H. (eds) The Study of Time. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-65387-2_30
[iv] Ibid.
[v] Ibid.
[vi] Ibid.
[vii]Ibid.