David Rogers Webb, money manager, shares investigative findings in a free book.
With exceptional clarity and brevity, Mr. Webb reports his findings from research on financial markets [1] in a wonderful free book, called The Great Taking. It reveals some astonishing and essential, yet little-known, 'analysis of the challenging and deceptive environments in which we live', and work [2]. His studies tracked back through the history of financial markets and banking regulations to conclude what is going on now is not so new.  Markets have, however, changed over decades in ways that people haven't noticed. There are problems.
Webb writes that his Book is, 'about the laws and conditions under which mergers and acquisitions, venture investing, and the public financial markets' have functioned over the last century. These markets work on common assumptions that production, exchange, and trade are all backed by collateral. Many assume assets back up the value of money which, in turn, is a metric to measure and control economies, markets, and the populations in which we live.
Near the center of Webb's findings was the insight that money creation and funds flows outpace real growth in the economy. This has implications for the relationship between money, economics, and business. Important links are falling apart under changing regulatory regimes.
Webb observed that the Velocity of Money (VOM) has been breaking down. Over the last two decades, he watched VOM hit a lower level than during The Great Depression. Money, its supply, and the number of units used over time to exchange things (Velocity of Money) of particular monetary value constitute the economic measure of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), [2: pg 2-3].
Velocity of Money X Money Supply = GDP
GDP is a relative, inclusive economic measure that says little about real-world human values. It accounts for funeral costs and weapons like they have the same value as the annual cost of food, an investment in having a healthy baby with a lifetime of potential, or a micro-loan to an innovative new business. Lives come on and go on standard mathematics as if past accounting marks the value of an algorithmic economy which sets a baseline for future opportunities for everyone.
Velocity is the number of times that a unit of currency is spent to buy goods and services in a period of time. This is measured by comparing the value of all goods and services produced in a period of time (Gross Domestic Product, or GDP), with the value of all cash and deposits which can be used nearly as easily as cash (Money Supply). Velocity of Money = GDP / Money Supply
Money moves as some people lend or 'rent' things, including money, to those who can't afford to own. We presume assets back loans and leases because we are accustomed to seeing terms of agreements and regulations requiring a definition of collateral. Yet, our perceptions and beliefs just might not match the current reality.
Where we see a rare depth of insight in Mr. Webb's analyses is in his most basic observation that everything financial is manmade and controlled to be, what he calls, dematerialized. It roughly means tangible things are now managed as intangible, digital records of assets, debt, and currency with an electronic proxy. Indeed, we live in the era of emerging electronic media, times about which the philosophical brothers, Marshall and Eric McLuhan were known to say, The medium is the message. [3]. And, they also provided analysis showing how money is a medium, a manmade product that is, therefore, a form of technology, created and supported through a common set of beliefs and commitment to uphold a system of shared principles, laws, rules, policies, and regulations. These are all extensions of people and of 'our' or 'their' own making. [3]
We might therefore ask about who is doing what matters in these things, especially when authorities and power brokers are setting the system rules to control us, from behind a closed door. Webb shows readers that a big problem is growing when, even for heads-down workers in Finance, an economic divide is growing between those making the rules including a few at the top of big powerful institutions, banks, and funds management firms. And then there's everyone else.
His telling of his research findings is understandable, easy, and enjoyable to read despite terribly worrisome observations and conclusions expressed in memorable quotes referring to children's stories. Perhaps we live a fairy tale, and a rather dark joke (2. chapter VII).
Humpty Dumpty was pushed, said Mr. Potato Head in the movie Toy Story.
We all face hidden deceptions. What if our assumptions about financial markets seem to work but don't truly reflect the changes that have been made to the mechanisms underlying monetary values? Webb describes the institutions and their people who hold control over real-world crises, the perceptions, and events that we don't need or want: Financial market participants -- including us -- face big underlying challenges to life as we it if Mr. Webb's map of financial problems of yesterday and today is correct.
Tomorrow, problems become crises unless we do something about it:
[We are living] in a scheme of central bankers to subjugate humanity by taking all securities, bank deposits, and property financed with debt.
We're not giving away his well-written story. Because he does. So we thank you, Mr. Webb, for The Great Taking Book on your Finance Research and findings of collateral damage, if not loss. It's so telling, we wish we knew this long ago. Still, we'd prefer to prevent the long storyline line from unfolding further, into a fundamental crisis.
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Where to from here? If you have curiosity about where life is going by 2030, please read the Great Taking, and let us know your thoughts and ideas. Mr. Webb's account is compelling.Â
REFERENCES
Webb, David Rogers. ‘The Great Taking’. Education and awareness. The Great Taking. com, 2023. https://thegreattaking.com/about-this-book.
Webb, David Rogers. The Great Taking. Edited by Michael Palmer. Electronic. David Rogers Webb, 2023. https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/1ee786fb-3c78-4903-9701-d614892d09d6/taking-ebook-c044a5e.pdf.
McLuhan, M., and E. McLuhan. Laws of Media: The New Science. Toronto, Ontario Canada: University of Toronto Press, 1988. https://books.google.ca/books?id=4lkNAQAAMAAJ.
OTHER MEDIA FEATURING WEBB'S ANALYSIS - The Great Taking.
Webb's Documentary video, The Great Taking, on YouTube:
Guest on James Howard Kunstler's Kunstlers Cast  Podcast