The Grip of Death advocates that the government should create some money,

not as debt, but to be spent on public services. There is no need for the
perennial cry of “there’s not enough money. Public services must be cut
back.” Money is man-made and should be made available if something is
socially desirable and practically possible.
• Money, controlled now by the banks for their own profit, is our master. It
should be our servant and used for the good of society as a whole.
• The book highlights the often catastrophic effects our system of debt-
money has on all parts of the economy and our lives, ranging from why
businesses go bankrupt to the burdens of third world debt. He puts forward
eminently sensible and well-thought out proposals to remedy the situation.

• In the UK for example, 1997 Bank of England statistics show that the total
amount of money created by the Treasury on behalf of the UK government is a
mere £25 billion in notes and coins.

• Banks and building societies created the remaining £655 billion (97% of
all money in use in the UK.) by lending it into existence in the form of
mortgages personal loans and overdrafts. Consequently, borrowed money makes
up almost the entire UK money stock.

• The same is true elsewhere. In the US well over 90% of the money supply
has been lent into existence.. , Traditionally, the amount of money banks
could create and lend into circulation was controlled by governments setting
liquidity and reserve/asset ratios for the institutions to meet. By the
1980s, however, the liquidity ratio had become functionally meaningless
because, as The book explains, the banking system had found ways around it
by investing in short-term government securities.

• The term mortgage refers to the medieval ‘death pledge’, a form of

borrowing where the owner pledges his house to another ‘until death’. This
form of usury was forbidden under Christian law.
• land price inflation and spatial squeeze so characteristic of the ‘boom’
economy. purchasing power and near total wage dependency. Demonstrating
these in action he demolishes the suggestion that growth is responsive to
the aggregate desires of people either as consumers or workers.

• His analysis is revealing and complements the perspective on decadent

growth and ‘growth illusion’ which enriches the few, impoverishes the many
and endangers the planet. It is not consumers, but the debt-based financial
system which makes a techno-marvel, disposable, wasteful, junk-product
‘consumer’ economy inevitable, he states. The consumer is ‘completely
subordinated to the process.’ Industry and consumers are also completely
subservient to the regular booms and slumps of the business cycle which he
contends is entirely monetary in origin, shape and effect.

• Historically both the landed and financial aristocracies have wielded

formidable power but The author does not acknowledge the central role of
inequitable land distribution in determining socio-economic evolution. Land
still provides the collateral for the largest portion of lending and neither
could succeed to the same extent without the partnership of the other. He
could perhaps have included landlessness, homelessness, and housing/rent
inflation among the factors contributing to forced economic growth.

• Although the role of land and property speculation is omitted from his
explanation of the boom bust cycle, his analysis is full of insights and
does not seem incompatible with this reviewer’s neo-Georgist viewpoint.

• Being a net exporter means the economy is vigorous and healthy, although
effectively losing real wealth with a net outflow of goods because it
provides a supply of "debt free money boosting domestic purchasing power".
• This book explains how the banking system is actually a form of
institutionalised fraud, based on the original activities of goldsmiths who
would lend more "money" than they actually had on deposit. The only reason
we accept the system without a second thought seems to be that it has the
weight of tradition behind it. But the weight of tradition is not enough to
justify its validity.

• Lincoln’s Monetary Policy, a literary gem, is included in full. Thus the

author more than amply covers the ground before outlining his prescription
and it was the first time in history during Lincoln’s period when the
government created its own money debt free. His monetary policy was a
masterpiece, whose main point was that the government should stand behind
its currency and credit and the bank deposits of the nation. No individual
should suffer a loss through depreciation or inflated currency or bank
bankruptcy.

• The author also praises the work of C.H Douglas, founder of the social
credit movement. Douglas A+B theorem was a piece of the art which states the
analysis of the industrial costs and price generation. This theorem clearly
showed that the general increase in price level is more than the increase in
incomes, through this outstanding theorem he proved that the money income
is not sufficient enough when the debt factor is in between. He said that
the system was made for man, not man for systems. He held the financial
system as the main culprit.

GRIP OF DEATH: WHAT DOES IT SAY

Money Reform (sometimes called, Monetary Reform) highlights the fact that
our economy today is "debt-based", meaning that virtually all money is
supplied into the economy as a debt owed to the private banking system. We
are reliant upon this banking system for the supply of almost all our means
of exchange. In Britain today, 97% of our money stock is created by this
private banking system as a debt, while only 3% is created by the government
debt-free.
As a consequence of virtually all our money coming into existence as a debt,
we see the indebtedness of people, families and countries growing daily.
Money Reformers believe the present debt-based system perpetrates debt
slavery, and this is destructive of society, the environment and the planet.
Money Reformers believe this debt-based money supply is the big issue which
governs all the issues.
Money Reformers advocate that the virtual Monopoly of Money Creation must be
removed from the private banking system and we work to establish a
publicly-created supply of debt-free money, created on behalf of the people,
by a public body. This money should be spent, not lent, into society on the
basis of proven need. This will gradually reduce the overall burden of debt
in society, break reliance upon the private banking system for the supply of
money, open potential for change, and empower people democratically. The
Money Reformers' proposal is not a left-wing, or right-wing idea. It's just
good sense!
The book fearlessly reveals deeply disturbing truths about our debt-based
money system that befuddle bankers, economists and politicians’. This is a
very relevant, informative and well-written book The truths it reveals are
at times shocking. For example, it is frightening to learn the extent to
which our collective indebtedness has grown in recent years. The book also
explodes more than a few widely accepted myths. However, it is not just a
powerful indictment of bankers, economists and the money system. First, The
book shows the reader how our present type of money is created almost
entirely by private banks and other lending institutions. Although the power
to issue, manage and control the supply of something so vital to us all as
money should be under democratic or government control, unfortunately it’s
not.
The Grip of Death dispels the myth that these institutions lend their
depositors’ money to borrowers. They don’t. If they did, it wouldn’t be
available to their depositors.
Banks and building societies create new money out of thin air, every time
they credit the account of a borrower. So 97% of the money supply comes into
circulation as debt on which borrowers have to pay interest.
If no one borrowed there would be no money to finance the economy, except
the miniscule amount issued by the government.
This is seen to a large extent during times of economic depression when
banks are reluctant to lend and start calling in their more risky loans. In
boom times the banks fall over themselves to lend money. How much money
there is around is determined, not by the needs of the community but whether
or not the banks can make a profit.
Over the centuries, governments have passed their right to provide the money
supply to private banks. Instead of creating what money is needed to finance
government spending, they borrow from the private sector the shortfall from
taxation, thus creating the national debt which taxpayers have to pay in the
future.