Why Banking Is Our Collective Purpose – And Why It Shouldn’t Be

One could argue the sole goal of all economic policy in the United States is to ensure that the gross domestic product (GDP) keeps growing; that’s another way of saying that the sole goal of all economic policy in the United States is to ensure that the banking system keeps growing.

If that’s indeed the case, and GDP is the only measure then it’s also proof that the only point of our entire economy is to benefit the banks that run it. There is literally no other point to our economic system. That means that the sum of everything we do, all our work, adds up to propping up the banking system.

This is how our economy has functioned since the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 and therefore it’s hard to tell what is happening. It may give banks security, but it is dangerous for humanity. Yet somehow, we’ve all been convinced this should be our collective goal, to make sure the banking system can survive. As it stands today, growing the GDP is the only point of the economy and to do that it requires on-going repetitive lending and ever-increasing government and personal debt spending.

Of course, the concept of banking and what it can provide isn’t entirely bad; there are benefits. However, it can’t be the sole purpose for our existence because our ability to exist is being jeopardized by this banking system we are beholden to. If a few small tweaks to the system can create massive change, massive benefits, and still allow you to go about your normal day-to-day activities, all while making humanity sustainable, would you be game?

There’s an instinct amongst many to try to rationalize the prioritization of the banking system as necessary. It’s that old line of thinking: “This is the way things have always been done. These are the factual realities. So, what choice do we have?” In this case, it’s all reinforced by academia —we’ve invented a whole art/science around our understanding (however limited) of economics. Well, as it turns out, economics is not a study of the banking system. And perhaps academics is part of the problem. Everyone is beholden to the way things have always been done. We have systems set up and designed to support that one central, deeply flawed system.

We need to get to a place where economics is based on real science not a pseudo social science. Science is fueled by real variables, not built around biased human behavioral structures and systems. We just need to reimagine the way we think about money so it behaves in a scientific way and a more natural way that can be measured. The first step is to not look at human behavior as the main input into what makes the economy the economy. We need to be able to examine and control other inputs into society so that we can create sustainable outcomes. When we look at the economy through the lens of variables we can control, then it can be understood and viewed as predictable. As scientists, we can determine why things are going wrong and then take steps to fix them. Today’s economists can’t do this. They may think they have ways of determining why an economy is going wrong, but really, it’s just guesswork. And they have no idea how to fix things.

Why are we still doing this? Why do we continue to stand behind a system that is supposedly random, when the real problem is that we have wool pulled over our eyes and haven’t realized that the purpose of our entire existence is to grow the GDP and protect the banking system? It is fair to conclude that the biggest failure of intelligence in human history is happening right now. The greatest minds and the leaders of the world fail to see how the American banking system has turned the work of humanity into nothing more than activity, as measured by GDP. Change is possible and necessary.