Welcome to the Simple Balanced Self Reliance shop.

All prices are in BitCoin and include worldwide delivery, if you would like to pay in a different currency please email me. Discounts for orders inside the UK paying in GBP by bank transfer. Please email all orders to simplebalancedselfreliance@yahoo.com.

High stability Ionic silver solution 2oz spray bottle.

Only 0.05 BTC each. Buy 2 get 1 free.

Love ionic silver? Why not make your own? Ionic silver generator for only 0.5 BTC each.

Ionic Silver Generator.

Fully portable, no plug socket required, so ideal for home, holidays, outings, festivals etc.

Make an endless supply of your own high quality ionic silver containing both silver ions and Nano particles with this compact and fully portable ionic silver generator. No plugs or wires, you can take it and use it anywhere. Ideal for holidays. 27v DC. Near perfect power for silver electrolysis, and a limited current of just 50 milliamps. Warning; avoid low power generators with cheap, plug in power packs claiming low power is best. This is simply not true. 30v is the perfect voltage for electrodes to run cleanly and efficiently. It is the low CURRENT that is vital to creating small Nano particles. The low power 9v, 12v or 15v power supplies give substandard results because they have no effective current limitation. They usually regulate at around 1000 milliamps, (1 Amp!) a massive 20 TIMES higher than this unit, FAR too high, and will create large Nano particles, no good at fighting bacteria. Complete, easy to understand instructions are included.

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Includes:

1x Ionic silver generator 27 volt DC (batteries included)

2x (4inch) lengths of 999.9% pure silver rods made from beaten Canadian Maple Leafs which are 10x more pure than other silver bullion.

2x Canadian Silver Maple Leafs for use to make the ionic silver water, which are 10x more pure than other silver bullion.

Full instructions on how to make ionic silver.

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Next we make our own para cord belts with secret compartment, hidden compass, blood chit, blood money silver bullion. For emergencies. It can be unraveled to use as cordage for shelter or other emergencies.

Handmade Paracord survival belts and bag straps one size fits all. Price 0.15 BTC Black with standard buckle. Paracord: Type 3 commercial, 7 inner strand 550lb cord. Manufactured by a U.S.government contractor. Made of nylon, a lightweight, extremely strong, and durable material. You have 80-130 feet (or longer if strip down thinner) of cord at your disposal. Paracord is extremely versatile. It can be an asset in life threatening situations, or a useful tool in non-threatening ones. Snares, tourniquets, shelters, tie lines, rappelling, or stripped down to smaller threads for sewing, stitching, or fishing wire. You never know when it will come in handy, but you'll always be prepared.

Get strapped with a belt that will outlast all of your others, while providing you with constant access to a valuable material that prepares you for worst case scenarios.

Bag strap exactly the same as belt but with two steel rings and clips. Or marine shackle as a buckle optional extras also include in secret compartment: compass and blood chit with your nationality inside the weaving. Full instructions how a reward will be given for safely getting you home. Also available SAS blood money silver maple leafs or sovereigns or other monetary precious metal of your choice included in the secret compartment.

A Blood chit is a notice that is carried by the military, usually special forces, that displays messages aimed at the civilians that ask them to help them in case they are in need. It says 'If you will assist me you will be rewarded' in many different languages. This could save your life if you are found somewhere hostile and someone finds it and takes you to your nearest embassy.

Blood money has often been hidden inside belts. The SAS always carry blood money hidden inside their belts. Our paracord belts each contain two 9999 Silver maple leafs in a secret compartment. Monetary precious metal is an international recognised money all around the world.

Also available paracord braclet with simple survival kit included in the weaving. Included is fire lighter, fishing kit, snares and wire saw. Price 0.05 BTC

Special offer buy belt and bracelet for 0.2 BTC and get bag stap for free. This special offer includes 2x 1 ozT maple leafs blood money, blood chit of your choice and compass in the secret compartment.

Bitcoin payments to 1DnLfbmgvaMqrLRqZz1m7uyGREmTzBDsqJ

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Free Ebook

Welcome to the free Ebook Simple Balanced Self Reliance

The Family Urban Survival Guide of the 21st Century

Dave Author.

simplebalancedselfreliance@yahoo.com

First Edition 2007 Revised edition 2014

All Rights Reserved

Simple Balanced Self Reliance

This is the free preview copy. Please email me to download and read the full version of the current copy of my work in progress Ebook. It will open on your computer or device in .doc format or PDF file or any format you want. Thank you.

Until further notice anyone may download much of the book as it is for free. You have permission to forward, print, copy, give away, etc. this free version to anyone who you feel may benefit from it. It has always been my intent, when the book was finished and appeared in hard copy (E copy as well), to put free versions of the book in the hands of as many police, fire, first responders, school administrators and so forth as possible. This will not be an inexpensive proposition. A few people have been nice enough to volunteer a contribution. Much of this book is free or very low cost for now. BUT ONLY if you wish to (totally optional) donate to this fund I am building please email simplebalancedselfreliance@yahoo.com. Also, if you want to read the finished book with all the missing chapters and with all the full color pictures and charts then you just have to donate the current price of a silver Maple Leaf in your chosen currency fiat or crypto then I will send you a 1 troy ounce silver maple leaf to your chosen address. You will then receive the full color completed book in its entirety with all the bonus chapters not just the free chapters, you will also then qualify for a lifetime subscription to my newsletter. BTW - if you are an experienced published author I could use help in certain sections of the book. I'd really appreciate the help.

Please note to repeat this is the free version/partial version of the finished book. This a non profit making project for education purposes only. The chapters are not necessarily finished or in order and not complete. If you would like to read the finished book in its entirety, it will cost you the price of a 1 ounce silver maple leaf at the present time you are buying it, but then you will receive a 1 Oz silver maple leaf along with the entire book including all the controversial bonus chapters which are truly amazing not just the free chapters, please email me.

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Foreword by Gary Yantis. Bestselling author of Infinite Dangers and Fukushima Secrets Revealed.

This book is the sum parts of all of Dave's extensive experiences, condensed into a book that is both simple to read and simple to apply. I have known Dave for decades now and have had the honor to have been part of his information sharing group. That means that the suggestions here have been proven to work. At times our group has had some serious struggles on our hands and at times we have learned as much how not to do something as we have about how to do it - but that is what Selfreliance is all about. Improvise. Adapt. Overcome. Ultimately, whether a person can lead a simple, balanced self reliant life or not will come down to spirit. - And on that front this book has been written by the best.

Gary Yantis. Consultant, Author, Speaker, Investor.

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Contents.

Foreword by Gary Yantis.

Preface: Why simple balanced self reliance and not just self reliance?

Introduction: Why Any increase in the amount of money over the poverty level will not increase your happiness?

Prelude to Chapter 1: Why the need to live in a simple balanced self reliant way?

Chapter 1 Monetary History Ancient times.

Chapter 2 Monetary History Modern times.

Chapter 3 The worlds whitest metal is where all the action is not the yellow metal.

Chapter 4. The silver lining.

Chapter 5 Digitally Trading monetary precious metals/crypto currencies

Chapter 6 The coming perfect economic storm.

Chapter 7. Preparation.

Chapter 8 BIOFUEL

Chapter 9 Bugging out

Chapter 10 Communications

Chapter 11 Self defense.

Chapter 12 Health and fitness.

Chapter 13 Eating.

Chapter 14 Food For Free.

Chapter 15 Insurance, saving and investing.

Chapter 16 Predictions

Chapter 17 Self reliant life.

Chapter 18 Preparedness

Conclusion, Summary, Postscript

Bonus preview of SBSR 2

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About the Author.

Dr Author is an internationally known master herbalist and nutritionist. He is the author of several books, including the Simple Balanced Self Reliance series. Dr Author lives a low cost, but contented life with his wife and children in London. They enjoy wild food from foraging, hunting and trapping. They also often eat their own caught fish, shellfish and sea vegetables.

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Preface/prologue

Why simple balanced self reliance and not just self reliance? Because this book is about how to live a simple balanced happy life. Being 100% self sufficient/self reliant off the grid may sound romantic and idyllic but it's not balanced. If you can buy flash-frozen (which suspends their "aging" and nutrient losses) fruit and veg very cheap to supplement what you grow or forage yourself that's balanced. If you can fit solar panels to sell electricity back to the grid when the sun is shinning that's great. But it's very useful to be able to use electricity from the grid when the sun is not shining, compared with 100% living off grid. Water bills can be expensive and currency doesn't grow on trees. But water does fall from the sky for free. To install a fully fledged rain water harvesting system can take years to pay back. But to have a storage tank and have your gutter/downpipe feed into it can greatly reduce your water meter readings when you use this instead of relying 100% on buying from the water company.

Finally to have a multifuel wood burner stove like the portable one shown here or WVO lamps (read about later) to heat your home (and provide light with the lamps) and use for cooking AS WELL as using central heating and conventional cooking methods gives you wonderful versatility. So not relying on either the 100% self reliant way or relying completely on utilities (as most people in the developed world do) always being cheaply available. This is simple balanced self reliance.

To sum up, the ideal life of living in a smallholding 100% off grid growing your own food and raising livestock not relying on anyone else or anything else is true self reliance and it might sound great, but it is not all its cracked up to be. Why make things hard on yourself unnecessarily.

This book is all about making things easier, but most of all simpler in the long run. A more level headed, moderate approach to self reliance. A realistic approach that is within reach of most people no matter where you live. The first part of the book is about wealth then later about health and happiness.

In March 2011 Japan was struck by Earthquakes one magnitude 9.1 and 15M Tsunami's causing the worst nuclear crisis ever. Having lived and worked in Tokyo and my wife's family still living there talking to them everyday makes you wonder. How would most of us cope if all the supermarkets were empty after panic buying and you have no idea when new food will be available? How would we be if electricity can not be relied upon with blackouts, and gas is also turned off just when you want to do some cooking and heat your home. How would we manage if the fuel stations ran out so you cant use your car any more and there is no other public or any other transport available? Most of all what would you do if there was no clean water available? Even if you turned on the tap and it worked, what would you do if you were not sure if it was safe to drink or wash with? All this happened to North East Japan at a cold time of year with snow and harsh weather conditions.

The suggestions in this book could alleviate the worries with all these challenges. To have food and water stored will help but also to be able to provide food and water if your stores are lost or taken, in a simple balanced self reliant way. Real solutions to real problems.

Marketing types know that if someone can describe the problem better than you, you will assume they have the solutions. Since the start of this latest global financial crisis bookshops are full of books describing the problems that are causing the GFC.

When you read or hear others who are awake to the GFC, listen to their solutions, not their descriptions of the problem. Almost anyone can describe the problem, but few offer real, positive, empowering solutions. This book doesn't just concentrate on the problems the main focus of this publication is helpful suggestions and solutions to the coming perfect economic storm.

Every bookshop also has a large shelf or section with books designed to help you have more money. This is not the solution. This book is different, this book is designed to help the reader understand the truth about money. The truth about what is money and what is currency. Most of all the truth that additional money does not equate to additional happiness. Any amount of money over the poverty level does not increase happiness, it just increases choices and options and we already live in a world of choice and option overload. This brings anxiety and stress and the opposite of happiness. Hence the name of this publication the theme is to live a simple balanced more self reliant life. Balance, in all things.

For example the vast majority of those in the developed world aspire to own their own home. But recent research suggests that home ownership and happiness do not necessarily correlate. Material things from beautiful homes to fancy pens turn out to provide less happiness and more anxiety and worry about losing such things.

So rather than suggest you strive to get more money this book has as a goal to help you live a more simple balanced self reliant life. Which will in turn relieve anxiety that comes with modern life, and will also bring a certain level of contentment and happiness.

A point I want to clear up at this early stage is I do not believe things will ever go Mad Max or other similar apocalypse situation. This is not a doomsday prepers book. Many times people like me try to be discredited by making fun of thinking we believe things will get so bad like in The Road by Cormack Mcarthy. This is an attempt to discredit us as doom and gloom propaganda artists, so do not listen to us. I am not one of those.

I do not believe things will get that bad at all and do not try to scare people. I do however think harder times are down the road, due to the perfect economic storm the next chapters talk about. Unemployment will keep going up, wages will keep going down in real terms meaning they will buy less and less as cost of living keeps going up. As governments get deeper into this perfect economic storm they will have to cut back with Austerity measures everywhere. I predict not apocalypse but there will be more riots and civil unrest around the world as the global financial crisis worsens and life gets harder for everyone. I do not claim to know what it will be like for sure but the facts this book presents show that the worst of this global crisis is not behind us but in front of us. What I am saying is the things we have seen in recent times are just a small speed bump on the way to the main event which is fast approaching.

This is nothing to fear if you are prepared for it and as you will see in the next few chapters its just history repeating. Once you are educated you do not need to fear this perfect economic storm, you can be like me an apocalptimist a term invented by Chris Duane.

Decades ago there was a feeling that scientific advancement would be able to feed the world, find clean renewable energy sources and benefit mankind. The facts show that what has happened is the opposite. Science has damaged the earth with genetically modified crops now spreading beyond control and nuclear and fossil fuel severely damaging the Earth and the natural habitat of both humans and all the other creatures God created. My hope is that those reading this will want to be more informed and then take steps in one way or another to live a more simple balanced self reliant life now and the suggestions in this book can help you do just that.

But the most important reason to be self reliant in a simple balanced way the way this book suggests and not 100% self reliant the way other books recommend is because the Bible says to not rely on your own understanding but instead we should rely on God. What this means is too look to what the Bible says not our own thoughts or man's thoughts ahead of Gods. Does relying on God mean we can sit back and expect God to look after all our needs without doing anything? No! God does expect us to make a sincere effort ourselves. This book shows ways of doing just that. My hope is that at least some of the book will resonate with you if not all of it.

Even if we never experience a disaster or crisis of any kind, the self reliant balanced suggestions in this book will help you live a greener lifestyle and benefit you now, as well as leaving you better prepared for the infinite dangers this world presents.

Simple balanced introduction

It has been said that any increase in the amount of money over the poverty level will not increase your happiness. It just increases your choices and we already have choice overload which brings anxiety and stress. Its worth meditating on that simple statement because if you as I do, firmly believe it 100%, then it has profound implications on your life.

I was quite surprised to find in a recent report that my wife and I basically live just above what the report said was the modern poverty line in terms of income. We have both been full time unpaid volunteering since we were teenagers and are still regularly involved with volunteer work even with our children on top of both of us working full time while the kids are in school. We purposely choose to live very simply but in a balanced way. I've never felt poor, quite the opposite in fact, but I just don't seem to need to spend or want for much. I loath waste and tend to think carefully about whatever I spend, but that doesn't mean that I deny myself. I just don't feel the need to have every latest gadget that arrives in the shops. In fact I get pleasure out of waiting for the latest gadget I want to bottom in price before I buy it. When the new smartphone or whatever is released you can find the old ones a few generations ago can be bought very good value 2nd hand. It was the same gadget that everyone was saying was so great a few years ago, just the same as they are saying about this new one now.

Much of our approach to life was learnt from our parents and even more so from our grandparents who remember the hard times during the 2nd world war. They were not rich but I never heard them complain about being poor. They were comfortable, warm and well fed from grandfather's garden. He used to teach me how to pick off caterpillars and slugs then take out the weeds when I was a very young boy.

When I was a bit older my other grandparents inherited a large amount of money from my great grandparents. They could now go out and buy almost whatever they wanted for the first time in their lives. They went into town with all this new currency for the first time and what did they come back with? My Nan bought a new toothbrush and Granddad bought a new pen. There was nothing else they wanted or needed. They gave the rest to charity* because the rest of the family didn't need it either. True story. That is being master over money not letting it master you.

* This charity is nearly always the first in with aid with any disaster in the world and nearly always the last out after rebuilding work.

A very wise man called Dr Vogel wrote some fascinating books similar to this one, and he made a very important point very well. He suggested getting pleasure out of life whatever you are doing and where ever you are. He recommended enjoying things for free. One example was going for walks in beautiful parks and gardens that are not yours. Its far better he would say to enjoy public parks and chat to others there than to have a huge garden all to yourself and have to upkeep it yourself. Or even better woodland area, if you can find the nearest one to where you live.

Above all the suggestions in this book are practical. Everything I recommend is either something we do or have done or have friends that do, not theory. Things that make sense financially and which make a reasonable trade off between your time and currency. They make sense ecologically as well. Simple balanced self reliant living is also environmentally low impact living.

I talk later about reducing your financial footprint as well as your ecological one, this has also been described as going Galt or reducing your currency unit income to the point where there is nothing for anyone to take, living a very simple life the correct description is reducing your financial footprint. It sounds a bit like reducing your carbon footprint while producing actual results. This is so powerful especially as the pressure from the world wants you to earn and spend more this attitude is so against consumerism and the advertising world. But it really frees your mind and relieves pressure and stress.

Real solutions that reduce our impact on the environment may be positively boring, but they work and people can and will use them. Most of the suggestions in this book are anything but boring as you will soon see. Be prepared to be shocked.

So I hope this book will help you to enjoy a better quality of life by spending less currency and help the planet because you are living a greener lifestyle.

Dave Author

Prelude to Chapter 1

Why the need to live in a simple balanced self reliant way in the first place?

For more than 4000 years a pattern has continually repeated in which governments debase and dilute their currency supply until a point where the common psyche of the populace and the collective mass mind of the people begin to feel that something isn't right.

You probably feel that way right now.

As the debasement progresses, the population senses something is wrong. They sense the loss of purchasing power of their currency. Then something miraculous happens. Through the free market system, the will of the public causes gold and silver to automatically revalue. In doing so, monetary precious metals do an accounting for all the currency that was created since the last revaluation. This has happened over and over again. If anyone tries to argue it will no longer continue to happen then they are ignorant of historical cycles.

It's automatic, it's natural; gold and silver have always done this. People the world over have an innate sense of the rarity of gold and silver. When paper currency becomes too abundant, and thus lose value, man always turns back to monetary precious metals. When the masses come rushing back, the value (purchasing power) of gold and silver increases exponentially.

During these events there is always an enormous uncertainty, and it always ends badly. It ends badly for the governments issuing the currencies that died, and it especially ends badly for those who were not prepared for the crisis. If you choose to be prepared for this incoming crisis, then you must at first educate yourself, and second take action.

This book is about both education and taking action. In the following pages you will find both historical perspective and practical advice about how to be prepared for what I believe to be the perfect economic storm converging on the entire world.

At first you may be surprised by the amount of history I have laid out. But I assure you there is good reason for it. For it is only by understanding the past that we can understand the present.

This book will equip you with all you need ride out the coming perfect economic storm, and will equip you with skills and a mind set and the knowledge you need to take your future into your own hands by leading a simple balanced self reliant life. Enjoy.

Chapter 1

Monetary history Ancient times.

Just the facts about what is money exactly?

Before a medium of exchange was invented, people traded, using a barter system. They exchanged goods and services of equal value. There was no unit of account in the exchange, the medium of exchange was just exchange.

But bartering could be inconvenient. For the system to work, each party had to desire the goods that the other was offering. This is called a coincidence of wants. In addition, traders had to carry or care for cumbersome trade items like animals or bags of grain.

Incidentally barter can still work well on an occasional individual basis. I happen to be good with electronic gadget's and phones/small computers. But not very good at fixing cars now they all seem to be computer controlled. So I swapped an hour unlocking and improving then setting up a garage owner friends new smartphone with a new operating system. He spent an hour servicing my car. Nothing formal, nothing in writing just a favour for a favour. Of course governments do not like barter because there is no tax to pay.

My wife is a highly qualified experienced beautician. But there are many beauty treatments that can't be done to yourself. For example eyelash extensions, she tried doing hers herself but you really need to close your eyes. So now she regularly meets up with other beauticians and has an exchange of services. No currency needed, no tax to pay. She spends an hour or so treating them and they then do her nails or hair or something. Everyone saves money and you are paying less tax than if you charged for your services then went and paid for another service.

But its surprising how many skills you and your friends have. If someone works in one field and can get you something for free that you normally have to pay for, can you provide something for free in return? Swapping skills or even goods you've made rather than fiat currency cash is efficient so long as both parties feel they have had value. You just have to get over the coincidence of wants, this can be done through good reasonable negotiation.

So what really is Money?

Today, we're accustomed to thinking of small paper rectangles or digits on our on line banking account as the definition of money, and we think of the governments of the world as the only source of money. To honestly discuss sound money, we need to realise where our current money customs came from.

At first, it was every man for himself. You ate or wore what you could pick or catch. Barter as we said was the first advance. If you had some extra meat, and your neighbour had an extra fur, you might make a direct exchange. If food, water, clothing, and simple tools are the only goods on the market, barter is fine - you can always find someone who has what you want and wants what you have.

But as soon as there's basic manufacturing and prosperity begins increasing, barter becomes inadequate. Say you're a hunter and you want a bed, but the only bedmaker in town is a vegetarian. What do you do then? You would have to figure out what the bedmaker wanted (maybe tofu), and then find someone who had tofu and wanted meat. If you couldn't find that person, you would have to find a fourth person (someone who wanted meat, and had the hats that the tofu maker wanted), or try to convince the vegetarian bedmaker to take the meat and trade it for something else. Meat, however, spoils, and so the bedmaker would have to unload it pretty quickly. So, unable to get your hands on anything the bedmaker wants to consume, you trade your meat for some salt and approach the bedmaker.

"Look, I know you don't want salt, but think of all the people who do. They use it to preserve their meat and flavour their soup. And this stuff is non-perishable, so you can hold it quite a long time. And if, when the tofu dealer comes through town, he doesn't want salt, you can explain to him what I've explained to you - he can use it to buy something he wants." If you and the bedmaker agree, you've just created currency. Organically, more people in your community begin taking salt for payment, even if they have no intention to use it, because they know others will accept it.

But - and this is important - the value of salt currency is not entirely dependent on other people accepting it as payment. If, for some reason, folks stopped taking salt as payment, you could use it as, well, salt. In the same way silver today is has over 10,000 applications as, well, silver, as well as a monetary precious metal. The value of paper currency today is entirely dependant on people accepting it as payment.

Salt was a pretty good currency, especially before refrigeration, because it was widely demanded, divisible down to the grain, very portable, easy to weigh, and could easily be tested for counterfeit by tasting it. Salt was used as a medium of exchange in ancient Egypt and through all dominant world powers many times right up to the Romans who used salt for currency as a medium of exchange.

But just because salt served as a medium of exchange didn't mean there would be no other form of currency in circulation. Tobacco leaves might be widely accepted as payment. Salt will not last generations passing on generational wealth and it is not that durable, if it got wet you could lose your entire life savings. Imagine your life savings were kept in salt in what you thought was a safe place then there was a flood? Which is why people prefer to save up over time gold and silver which are money in and of themselves. But to really answer the question what is money you first need to understand the difference between money and currency. The official definitions of currency and money are:

Currency must be a medium of exchange so we have to be able to buy and sell things with it. It has to be a unit of account, so one gram or unit is equal to one gram or unit. It has to be portable so not to large or heavy. It has to be divisible which means you can make change. Durable which means it has to last and not dissolve in water or evaporate or degrade in near extreme temperatures. And then something called fungible. Fungible means that each unit is interchangeable so the unit in your pocket buys the same as the unit in my pocket.

Money has to be all these things plus it has to be a store of value over long periods of time. So if you only remember one thing today remember that lots of things have been currency but only two things have ever been money. Nothing else meets ALL of these requirements and is a long term store of value only gold and silver are money in and of themselves. Currency doesn't have to meet all these requirements, but to be money it has to meet all of them especially a long term store of value. There are many things that are a long term store of value (like land for instance) but they do not meet the other requirements land is not portable. Diamonds some say are a good long term store of value and very portable but not fungible because no two grams or units of diamonds are worth exactly the same. But diamonds are used as currency a lot mostly for the sale of arms. Another reason I do not like diamonds as a long term store of value because they are not nearly as rare as people have been led to believe. I go into rarity of different physical stores of value later in the book.

Salt and tobacco as we have said meet most of the requirements of currency but are not durable even if they arguably do hold their value over long periods of time like money does, gold and silver. Things like this do hold their value over long periods of time but what good is this if they are not durable. Just because the value of something lasts the thing itself may not. Even modern digital currencies like Bit coin may well meet all or many of the requirements of currency but can not be a long term store of value because it is dependent on many things like electricity and Internet being reliable and not being hacked or messed with. Bit coins can not have any intrinsic value in themselves because they do not exist, they are virtual currencies. They come and go. Bit coins may be limited in quantity but they are not limited in competing digital competitors so the number of bit coin lookalikes could be infinite. Bit coins and suchlike are only a medium of exchange they don't have any use in themselves other than a virtual currency, so can not be a long term store of value. They can not be money in and of themselves like for example gold and silver coins because Bit coins and other virtual currencies are digital and not tangible they are not backed by anything just like fiat currencies from governments.

Currency Money

medium of exchange medium of exchange

unit of account unit of account

portable portable

divisible divisible

durable durable

fungible fungible

slowly becomes worth less STORE OF VALUE over long periods

Mike Maloney brings out this point very well in his free video series. It is worth repeating, Many things have been used as currency but nothing has met all these requirements and been a lasting store of value over long periods of time (thousands of years) only gold and silver are money. The key point to remember as we go through monetary history in the next chapter is - Only gold and silver are money, EVERYTHING else that has been used as a medium of exchange is just currency.

Monetary history the very start.

Genesis 2:11-12 in the Bible is the first and earliest place anywhere, where you will find that Gold is being talked about for the first time. According to these Bible verses, in the land of Havilah, Gold is endorsed as being good. This was just after the first ever man Adam was created and just before God created the first woman Eve, around 6000 years ago. They were then commanded to have children and fill the Earth and become many. Some say the first mention of gold and it being endorsed as being good even before the first Woman was created suggests that God had in mind monetary precious metals as a monetary system for when they filled the Earth and became many. I am not so sure but it is very interesting that the Bible talks about gold being good so early on, just after the first man was created.

Now I would like to start at the very beginning of monetary history. So when do you think was the earliest ever recorded financial transaction where the unit of account and the means of exchange was recorded? And what was the first ever unit of account mentioned?

Egypt

Interestingly it is silver that is first mentioned not gold, it is in Gen 13:2 Where Abraham was leaving Egypt heavily stocked with silver and gold. This was not really a financial transaction as such but a good indication of what was being used as money. There is no clear mention of any money earlier than this time anywhere in historical records ANYWHERE. A few chapters later in 17:13, 23 mentions purchasing with money, what was being used as money here was not specifically mentioned, what do you think it was? What was being used as money at this time? The accounts say purchasing with money, so this had most definitely moved on from barter at this time over 4000 yrs ago. Chapter 20:16 tells us the answer it talks about 1000 silver pieces of money. v16 is arguably the earliest ever financial transaction in recorded history " And to Sarah he said: "Here I give you 1000 pieces of silver to your brother" This is not a clear financial transaction but the unit of account was clear, it was 1000 pieces of silver being used as money.

Then Abraham in chapter 23 first of all in v9 asks someone to sell him a piece of land for the full amount of silver, so that he may own the property. He got silver ready for a burial place for his wife. Then in v13- 16 he weighed out the required amount of silver which was 400 silver shekels to bury his beloved wife Sarah. He paid for her funeral with 400 silver shekels, and bought this field as a burial place, this was the first earliest ever clear recorded financial transaction. There are no other really clear records of financial transactions earlier than this time. This was different from Chapter 20:16 because this transaction is clear we can see what was being bought and how much it cost. We dont know how much land exactly but it was a field that had a cave and all the trees within the boundaries were part of what Abraham purchased for 400 silver shekels. A silver shekel at this time was 11.4grams or 0.367ozT. So 400 shekels was 4.56Kg or 146.8 troy ounces. This has varied a little but not much through all of history. Depending on where it was obviously and how much land was included in the transaction about 4 or 5KG of silver was what a large plot of land was valued at. This is the true value of silver at all times.

Now most of this book is based on solid facts that can be verified. Like the very first mention of money/silver in recorded history. Some of it will be my opinion based on sound reasoning which is this next bit, I am going to say that silver was most probably being used as money long before this first ever recorded example. Even though there are no clear examples of financial transactions before this first one. There are several accounts of carrying on in business, and most importantly accounts saying they were buying and selling long before Abraham's first recorded financial transaction. But the first ever record of the unit of account is later as already mentioned, when Abraham paid for his wife's funeral with silver. The account's from before did not say bartering as means of exchange it said buying and selling so there must have been a unit of account, even if it wasn't recorded. This is not proof alone of my theory that silver was being used as money but further sound reasoning to support my theory comes from Genesis 4:22 where they were mining copper and iron and other metals to make tools. Why is this so interesting? Well silver has a lower melting point than iron and some of these other metals they were refining. Also silver is many times a by-product of mining copper and iron and other metals. So there was a good chance they did have silver at these times over a 1000yrs before the first ever recorded financial transaction I mentioned, and the point I am making in this book is that silver is nearly always the money of last resort but also the money of first resort as well. Silver was often mentioned being used as money at this time, but copper has no record of being used as money until a long time, thousands of years after.

The earliest known financial artefact's are actually 4100 years old records of civil law which refer to the amount of compensation an aggrieved plaintiff is to be awarded for various offences.

The code of Ur Nammu, written between 2100 and 2050 B.C. and similar to the more familiar code of Hammurabi, which pre-dates by as much as three centuries, announces the standardisation of units of measurement, and among other things is followed by list of fines to be paid in standardised units of silver. These non Biblical lines of evidence authenticate the Genesis account which used silver as money around the same time period.

So that was the very beginning of monetary history, we are not sure the exact time but my theory is long before Abraham's first ever earliest recorded financial transaction silver was what was being used as money. But human history did not start that long before Abraham because he was born only 2 years after Noah died and Noah was born not long after the first man ever Adam, died. So we are talking about very early on right at the start of humans being on the Earth. No doubt about it silver was money when we get up to Abraham's time period, and who was the dominant world power at this time? The first ever major dominant world power on the scene was Ancient Egypt at the time when the earliest financial transaction using silver was recorded. There is much other evidence that silver was being used as money for a long time during Egypt's dominance on the Earth. For example Joseph who was Abraham's great great grandson. Joseph who was sold by his jealous brothers as a slave to Egypt just a few generations after Abraham. Joseph was sold for 20 pieces of silver, most probably these were silver shekels. A silver shekel at this time was 11.4grams or 0.367ozT so 20 shekels was 228grams or 7.34 troy ounces of silver. This has varied but through most of human history a slave for life would be valued at around 200grams of silver.

When his brothers years later came to Egypt to buy food during the famine they paid with silver. But towards the end of the reign of the Pharaoh's the monetary cycle that has repeated throughout all known history began to make its presence. The people were deceived and convinced to use something other than gold and silver as a means of exchange and a unit of account. At first the imported gold and silver pieces were used by the Egyptians as precious metal of standardised weight in ingots rather than coins. Then other things were introduced as a promise to pay with silver. To start with in the monetary cycle when some form of currency is introduced a temporary prosperity or false boom happens. To understand this false boom part of the monetary cycle, think of a business who is borrowing twice as much as they have profit every month. For as long as the bank foolishly keeps lending them funds every month they will look like they are booming but it is a false boom and can not last. This happened in ancient Egypt they became by far the wealthiest nation ever to exist on Earth up until this time, all because of expanding their currency supply and people believing it is worth the same as gold and silver. Remember anything other than money gold and silver used as a medium of exchange is just currency and currency becomes worth less over time but money holds its value over time.

The people had confidence in the currency for some time in ancient Egypt, even as the supply was expanded more and more, it is a con game. It's all about confidence. But the monetary cycle is very consistent and after the false boom which can vary in length, come the feeling that something is wrong with the expanding currency supply and then the slowly losing confidence in the currency that has replaced gold and silver. Maybe you are feeling that way about the expanding currency supply in the world right now in the 21st century.

According to wikipedia Currency evolved from two basic innovations, both of which had occurred thousands of years BC at the time of ancient Egypt. Originally money was gold and silver ingots. Then a form of receipt, representing gold and silver in storage in Ancient Egypt replaced the ingots, this was the first known currency ever.

This first stage of currency, where something other than monetary precious metals were used to represent stored value, eventually formed the basis of trade in Ancient Egypt. After gold and silver were replaced with currency though it is not known everything that functioned as a currency to facilitate exchanges, but before Egypt went over to currency it is thought that ox-hide shaped ingots of silver, functioned as the medium of exchange. Then grain, salt as already stated and other things functioned as currency. Remember anything at all other than gold and silver used as a medium of exchange is currency only gold and silver are at all times money in and of themselves.

Mike Maloney did an excellent free video series called the hidden secrets of money. I highly recommend you watch it all, its extremely educational. Where he traveled to Egypt and talked about how this monetary cycle started there, he puts it a different way to me he says in this cycle they go from quality money (gold and silver) over to quantity currency (anything else used as a medium of exchange) then back again.

This is the same monetary cycle that has repeated through history and continues to repeat in our time. Some argue that the cycle will no longer repeat but that has been said many times in the past just before money does an accounting for the expanding currency supply as the cycle does indeed repeat over and over again. I am convinced the cycle will repeat again in our lifetimes early in the 21st century. My prediction is it will repeat in about the first quarter of this century, so I am looking towards the year 2025 at the latest for the cycle to have completely repeated. But it could be well before this year and I go into more depth my reasons later in the book.

It is a fact that this monetary cycle has been around for thousands of years and it is key to understanding what is happening in the world right now. It's basically the same process every single time that the cycle repeats, because human nature hasn't changed. So we're always going to get governments going over to currency from money then trying to inflate away the currency out of greed and in order to stay in power so they can keep spending when they run out of funds. And we're always going to see people who actually figure it out early and act accordingly. You can be one of the early smart ones who change your currency for money before the masses rush to change their currency for real money. So we're in the same cycle and now in the late-stage of the currency abuse again although most people, if they don't feel it right now, they know something's wrong but they don't completely put all the pieces together yet. But eventually they will and then we'll go to the next stage which is the end of the con game, confidence is lost in currency and everybody wants to change their currency for real monetary precious metals. This has happened so many times through history it is the exact same cycle we are going through today in the early 21st century.

Many Egyptologist's and historians speculate that this first time the cycle started, several other things were used as currency at this time which replaced the money - gold and silver ingots as means of exchange.

This, one of the first known cases of using something other than gold and silver, ended badly for the once great Egyptian world power, and led to the rise of the next great power on the scene Ancient Assyria. The monetary cycle repeated as it always has and gold and silver revalued to account for all the currency that had been added to the supply. The currency also revalued to its true value of almost nothing. Assyria who took over from Egypt as the dominant world power went back to using newly revalued gold and silver, thus monetary precious metals did their first accounting and revalued to account for all the currency that had been added to supply. You could say one of the first hyper inflation's. The currency goes to its true value of almost nothing and gold and silver value to their true value.

Consider these words recorded at Revelation 17:10: There are seven kings: five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet arrived, but when he does arrive he must remain a short while. When the apostle John penned these words, he was being held in exile by the Romans. The five fallen kings, or world powers, were Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece. Rome was the world power at the time of writing and the Anglo-American world power was the seventh that was prophesied to remain a short while.

We have looked at Egypt the first of the 7, now lets look at the other 6 world powers of Bible prophecy from a monetary history point of view. Next after Egypt came Assyria.

Assiria

Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire that was the second great dominant world power in recorded history after Egypt. In its heyday, Nineveh may have been the largest city in the world. The Bible refers to it many times as a great city. It was a vast metropolitan region that evidently included several other cities. So a good question would be what was the means of exchange and if there was one, what was the unit of account being used?

Assyriologist Archibald Henry Sayce says they used gold and silver ingots but then other things were introduced as currency to replace monetary precious metals. He describes the mighty empire after it went from money over to currency this was the second time the monetary cycle repeated, he says it "experienced a huge economic boom." It was what I call a false economic boom due to expanding currency supplies and people believing they are worth the same as gold and silver. Archibald says "Nineveh was a mighty city with magnificent places and temples, broad streets, and massive walls."

How they went over to currency is unclear, but it is certain they started off using money gold and silver after the Egyptian currency system expanded so much that it brought down that Empire. When the next great Empire Assyria first started issuing currency maybe people said no way, look what happened to Egypt when they went from money over to currency we want to keep using gold and silver as money! But the Assyrian Empire was most famous for its cruelty. If they said from now you will use our currency for exchanges and not gold and silver then if you ran a business back then you would do as you were told. If you ever visit the British Museum and have a look at the Assyrian section you will see the extent of their cruelty. One relief from Sennacherib's palace depicts a torturer wrenching the tongue out of a prisoner who had been pinned to the ground. People who did not do what they were told were skinned or burned alive or reserved for a worse fate.

So when businesses were told to use this new government issued currency that is what people did out of fear. Price inflation is the result of expanding currency supplies but governments have in times past tried price controls. Assyriologist Archibald Henry Sayce describes how the Assyrian leaders tried to curb inflation of their currency units with price controls even as they expanded the supply. So those with the power to create and issue currency become very wealthy but as they issue more and more currency there are more units chasing the same amount of goods and services, prices want to go up but it is illegal to put up prices and business owners were frightened of breaking the law no matter how stupid the laws were. The initial boom from going over to currency and expanding the supplies exponentially is doomed to failure. In the end no matter how frightened business owners are they can not afford to keep selling their goods for the low prices forced on them to try to curb inflation, they will either go underground and create a black market selling goods for fair value in relation to the expanded currency supply or go out of business or try and run away, maybe run their business far away and accept gold and silver as payment even though it would be breaking the law. Whatever else may happen expanding currency supplies exponentially always ends badly. Manipulations never last forever. Price controls never work. Forcing people to use your currency never works, the free market always wins in the end. This was what brought an end to the Assyrian empire the 2nd dominant world power in history.

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Today some say the petro-dollar is backed by the Anglo American world power's military. Same thing happens every time this monetary cycle repeats. Similar to the other dominant world powers like the Assyrian world power using fear to try to force people to use their currency alone as a means of exchange as they expand the supplies and spend it on what they like. But the free market always wins in the end.

The current dominant world power Anglo America is trying to force the continued use of the petro-dollar for world trade, but the world is slowly repudiating it. Saddam tried selling oil for gold they went in and killed him, then Gaddafi tried the same thing and the same thing happened. Now Iran is turning its back on the petro-dollar and selling oil for gold, the Anglo American world power is looking for every way possible to go to war but the rest of the world will not stand by and let it happen so easily as last times.

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So a quick review, after Egypt the monetary cycle going from money to currency and back again started. Then Gold and silver started off again as the dominant forms of means of exchange in the world dominated by Assyria, which were used as common denominators of value. Then barley, salt again and other forms of currency even shells however, slowly replaced money. Other things were also made into currency and spent on whatever they liked by the currency creators.

Thus the monetary cycle started to repeat and the people started using currency (anything other than gold and silver) as a means of exchange. This once again to start with brought great prosperity to ancient Assyria, for as long as confidence is in the currency, but as we now know it was what I call a false boom because it is a con game. Eventually confidence is slowly lost as the currency supply is expanded more and more, until the general feeling is something is wrong. Eventually again the free market and the will of the public bid up the price of forgotten gold and silver to meet the currency supply as the con game comes to an end and confidence is lost in the expanding supplies of currency. Even if its on the black market and no mater how frightened the populace is, gold and silver are used underground if its illegal to use gold and silver as it has been many times in history and could be again in the future. This cycle still happens its natural. The cruel Assyrians could not stop the natural monetary cycle from repeating with price controls and other manipulations, no matter how much fear they instilled. Whenever this happens it always ends badly for the nation who issued the currency. This once again proved true for ancient Assyria.

Babylon

It was around this time just after Assyria's decline as the dominant world power due to the monetary cycle repeating that the Bible gives an incredible account of some of these world powers In the second year of the kingship of Nebuchadnezzar, wrote the prophet Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams; and his spirit began to feel agitated, and his very sleep was made to be something beyond him. (Daniel 2:1) The dreamer was Nebuchadnezzar, the king of the Babylonian Empire. He had effectively become world ruler with the decline of the Assyrian empire. The following day Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar: There exists a God in the heavens who is a Revealer of secrets, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what is to occur in the final part of the days. Daniel was ready to reveal not only the future of the Babylonian Empire but an outline of world events from Nebuchadnezzars day to our time and beyond.Daniel 2:24-30.

(The prophetic dream has been well written about, but I am looking at it ONLY from a world monetary history point of view. If you want to learn more about the more important aspects of the prophecy I suggest the Daniel's Prophecy book published by JW.org.)

Nebuchadnezzar listened intently as Daniel explained: You, O king, happened to be beholding, and, look! a certain immense image. That image, which was large and the brightness of which was extraordinary, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was dreadful. As regards that image, its head was of good gold, its breasts and its arms were of silver, its belly and its thighs were of copper, its legs were of iron." Daniel next declared: This is the dream, and its interpretation.Daniel 2:36. You, O king, the king of kings, you yourself are the head of gold. (Daniel 2:37, 38) The successive world powers represented by the metallic parts of the image could now exercise world domination. Lets look at them one at a time and what led to their demise as world powers.

Lets go back to the start again by way of review before money was invented people traded using a barter system. They exchanged goods and services of equal value. Traders using barter eventually saw the need for a more convenient commodity that could be used to buy and sell goods. The solution was to use precious metals such as gold and silver coins and ingots to buy goods and services.

For example as already said the earliest recorded example was right at the start of the Bible when Abraham bought a burial site for his beloved wife Sarah he weighed out the required amount of silver.-Genesis 23:14-16

Silver was almost certainly money long before this first recorded example. The first coins rather than ingots were likely minted in Lydia (modern-day Turkey) sometime even 1000's of years before Christ. So before silver coins it was small silver ingots that were used as money for thousands of years before this. Metal workers in various countries were soon mass producing silver coins and bars people throughout the lands mentioned in the Bible began using them.

As well as traders another group who handled money were the bankers, of each dominant world power. They devised saving systems, made loans, and paid out interest to those who invested in the bank. Jesus referred to these bankers in an illustration about slaves who were given various amounts of money with which to do business.-Matthew 25:26,27

As silver coins and ingots were supposedly (so said the bankers) heavy and cumbersome these bankers soon devised ways of holding onto peoples silver money and issuing currency in place. Lots of things have been used as currency throughout history like shells, sticks and of course paper but only gold and silver are money.

Apparently by Nimrods time, the basis for such a system was largely in place. The Collins Atlas of World History explains that from the third millennium onwards Mesopotamia [Babylon] developed powerful corporations of businessmen. They stocked goods, speculated, used various types of goods as currency, and used ingots, especially of silver, carved into particular weights and sizes and sometimes bearing authentication marks.

The main money used was silver bullion known as a Shekel 11.4g of silver. This was 12hrs 1days wage. For bigger purchases they used the Mina which was 50 Shekels 570g of silver. Or for very big purchases the Talent = 30 KG silver was 60minas about 19 years wages. For smaller purchases the Gerah which was a tiny 0.57g of silver. Or 10 Gerahs about 5.7g of silver was called a Bekah and 2 Bekahs were a Shekel. There was also a Pim which was 7.8grams of silver. But these values have differed from time to time over the millenniums. A couple of thousands years later the world was still valuing things in silver Minas and Talents but the amount of silver needed was less. Silver goes up in value through history (with the exception of the last hundred years or so). By the time of Greek and Roman money you only needed 340g or 10.9 Troy ounces to pay for something costing a mina when it used to be 570g or 18.35Tozof silver. A talent which was 60 Mina was now only 20KG not the previous 30KG. It was still about 19yrs wages but it took 10KG less silver because the silver was worth more. So average wages were less silver per day. For the first few thousand years of history a shekel was an average days wage 11.4g of silver but silver slowly increased in value over thousands of years by the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries average days wages all around the world were just under 3grams or a 10th of a ozT which was the average days wage through history.

Here is the interesting bit according to some historians they in time (ancient Babylon) started issuing written cheques or receipts for stored silver (carved on plates or written on animal skins the first ever 'paper currency') with same personal details as cheques today (Amount, quantity, date, name etc). The Encyclopedia Americana says that the ancient inhabitants of Shinarthe original name for what was later called Babyloniacarried on a surprisingly complex system of lending, borrowing, holding money on deposit, and providing letters of credit, on animal skins. Or in simple terms confusing the people about what is money and currency and getting them to think currency was as good money. Then those with the power to write on animal skins "this is worth one ounce of silver" could literally create as much wealth as they wanted. As long the people were fooled into believing it was worth one oz of silver then they could spend as many animal skins as they could create, i.e far more than there were ounces of silver in existence. Again it is a con game. It is all about confidence every time the monetary cycle repeats.

Commercial activities in Nimrods day are not directly referred to in the Bible. Yet, expressions found in its first book, such as to buy, to sell, and carry on business, indicate that at least a few hundred years later, commercial activities were commonplace.See Genesis 25:31; 34:10, 21; 39:1; 41:56, 57.

So we are up to Babylon the 3rd dominant world power after Egypt and Assyria.

It is true that for a prolonged period of time, cuneiform texts are silent with respect to commercial activities in Babylonian society. Admitting that this is difficult to explain, the book Ancient Mesopotamia nevertheless concludes that one cannot assume that trade relations ceased through that millennium, especially since they are known to have flourished greatly in the subsequent period. This work suggests that at that time trade may have rested mainly in Aramaic hands and that papyrus and leather (animal skins the first EVER forms of paper currency) were used as writing materials as well as using as a form of currency. Maybe one of the first EVER forms of paper currency made from animal skins. Amazing that today the world is accustomed to using paper as currency. These first ever examples of paper currency have not been preserved through the ages like the cuneiform tablets that can be seen in the British museum.

All we know is that the once mighty Babylon was sacked in 539 B.C.E. If any of these animal skins had been preserved through the ages I wonder if there would have been evidence that because animal skins were increasing in quantity at such a rate more than the banks held real money gold and silver, the people began losing confidence in them. The con game always comes to an end. Babylon experienced the knock out blow of currency (anything used as a medium of exchange that is not gold or silver) and the once again easily won battle between currency and real money gold and silver repeated.

So the head of gold in the dream image represented not just Nebuchadnezzar but the entire Babylonian line of rulership. Gold was fitting to represent the Babylonian dominant world power as they started of using gold as well as silver money until they could not fund the very costly war and the cycle repeated so they got the people to have confidence in and use paper currency which they expanded the supply to pay for the war.

Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar: After you there will rise another kingdom. (Daniel 2:39) A kingdom symbolised by the images breasts and arms of silver would succeed Nebuchadnezzars dynasty. Some 200 years earlier, Isaiah had fore told this kingdom, even giving the name of its victorious kingCyrus. (Isaiah 13:1-17; 21:2-9; 44:2445:7, 13) This was the Medo-Persian Empire.

Some 60 years after interpreting the dream, Daniel witnessed the end of Nebuchadnezzars dynasty, as they had their own version of what the world is going through at the time of writing, their own little Babylonian financial crisis due to expanded currency supplies. Many historians agree things were not going well for Babylon at this time, they were at war and it was proving very costly for them. (Sound familiar?) They expanded the currency supply to continue funding the war. Daniel was present on the night of October 5/6, 539 B.C.E., when the writing was on the wall for Babylon. The Medo-Persian army diverted the protective waters around Babylon so they could surprise attack at night. Cyrus took seemingly impregnable Babylon and executed King Belshazzar. With the death of Belshazzar, the golden head of the dream imagethe Babylonian Empireceased to exist. The monetary cycle going from money over to currency always ends badly.

Medo-Persia

Following Babylon, Medo-Persia became the dominant world power of Bible history. So after Babylon the next dominant world power was Medo-Persia, as represented by the silver chest and arms of the dream image. There is ample proof that the monetary cycle repeated once again they went back to using silver as money. They went back to using the terms shekel and minah which were once again the basis of the monetary system based on silver once again. Indeed the Bible chose silver to represent them in the dream image, many Bible scholars say this was due to the new silver monetary system that replaced the Babylonian currency system that had just collapsed ending that world power. I have been researching for a while when and how they next went from using real money to issuing and using currency but historians do not always agree on this. I can see its the same monetary cycle repeating as normal. However what we do know is that when the next world power that had been prophesied in the Bible - Greece's new leader Alexander the Great became the next dominant world power by force formed an international new monetary system after the monetary cycle repeated the next time, 2300 years ago when he conquered the Medo-Persian empire and imposed his own monetary system, based on gold and silver once again. This indicates that before the fall of the then world power Medo-Persia, the world was using currency not money as a global financial system. But as I said there is ample proof that they started off using silver as money not currency. Indeed the Bible chose to use silver to depict the Medo-Persian world power because they started off once again using silver as a monetary system.

So how could Alexander the great go back to silver money, if they were already using gold and silver? The answer is the monetary cycle repeated as normal so they (Medo-Persia) had gone over to currency and expanded the supply to the point where people lost faith in it. As always it ended badly for them.

By now it is easy to see the pattern developing. A world power starts using money and then fools its people into thinking its currency whatever that may be is as good as money and fools the people into having confidence in the currency as they expand the supply which ends badly for them when the con game comes to an end.

The last of the kings on the throne of the Persian Empire was Darius III. His reign ended abruptly in 331 B.C.E. when he suffered a terrible defeat by Alexander the Great at Gaugamela, near ancient Nineveh. This defeat ended the Medo-Persian World Power as symbolised by the silver part of the image of Nebuchadnezzars dream. I suspect the pattern was similar after the Medo-Persian world power expanded the supplies of currency to a point where the people began to lose confidence in it and the con game came to an end which always ends badly for the world power issuing the currency that died. The power to come was superior in some ways, yet inferior in others. This becomes clear as we listen to Daniels further interpretation of Nebuchadnezzars dream.

Greece

Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that the belly and thighs of the immense image constituted another kingdom, a third one, of copper, that [would] rule over the whole earth. (Daniel 2:32, 39) This third kingdom would follow Babylonia and Medo-Persia. As copper is inferior to silver, this new world power would be inferior to Medo-Persia in some ways. However, the copperlike kingdom would rule over the whole earth, indicating that it would be more extensive than either Babylonia or Medo-Persia. What do the facts of history bear out about this world power?

After the victory at Gaugamela, Alexander the Great went on to take the Persian capitals Babylon, and others. Subduing the rest of the Persian Empire, he extended his conquests into western India. As Daniel had foretold, the copper kingdom ruled over the whole earth.

If you have studied history you will know that ancient Greece was considered one of the great civilisations of all time. So what happened why did such a great world power fall? The answer lies in the same pattern we have see time and again.

The Owls of Athens.

The owls of Athens are thick and bulky silver coins stamped with the helmeted head of Athena on one side and her owl, the symbol of wisdom, on the reverse. First minted at the end of the sixth century BC in Athens, they soon spread far outside its walls. I used to be a sailing instructor working out of Athens sailing to many of the islands in the Mediterranean. Every museum from all the surrounding islands and lands will have a history using these silver coins as money.

They were used for foreign trade and became a symbol of Athenian power during the time when the position of the dominant world power was held by Greece. The monetary cycle repeated as normal, other coins came and went but these owl silver coins remained consistent for more than three centuries. And that consistency ensured that Athenian coins were accepted and trusted throughout the Mediterranean. Only the Venetian ducat of medieval Europe silver coins, which were minted for more than half a millennium, would rival the longevity and credibility of the Owl.

The first owls were minted just as Athens was starting to go through a period of unprecedented political and economic growth. Athens prosperity depended on silver, much of which came from the silver mines of Laurium, 65 kilometres south of the city of Athens. The mines helped Athens rise to become the pre-eminent civilisation of the Mediterranean. Xenophon wrote: "the divine bounty has bestowed upon us inexhaustible mines of silver." This to me is such an interesting quote. I have visited these long since exhausted silver mines and couldn't help wondering to myself if only they had known that silver only occurs on the earths crust and it is not indeed inexhaustible. The fact that silver is not inexhaustible became clearly known around 413 BC, Athens began to find less and less silver as the mines became depleted. The real problems became evident as the new silver started to run out, in an act of desperation, the city even melted down the gold objects on the Acropolis, including eight gold statues of Nike, the Goddess of victory. In 404 BC, following a prolonged siege, Athens surrendered to the Spartans. Thucydides described the chronic shortage of silver as the principle cause of Athens defeat. The silver mines had supported the rise of this great civilisation, but their absence upon the realisation that silver is not inexhaustible, hastened its fall.

Nike had been abandoned. From her, new gold coins were made with the same weight and form with the owl and helmet. But they did not prove to be as popular. It was silver, not gold, that reigned supreme during Athens' cultural, political and economic heyday. The importance of silver was evident by the greater value given to it at this time. Historically the silver gold ratio is around 16:1 because this was around the amount of silver being mined compared to gold through most of history. But in Athens gold was valued only 12 times that of silver. Very similar to the ratio of ten to one decreed by King Croesus of Lydia. For over four and a half millenniums the GSR (gold silver ratio) fluctuated in the range of 9:1 all the way up to the high end of the ratio 16:1. Today in 2014 the ratio is 75:1. Seventy five ounces of silver are valued the same as one ounce of gold despite the fact that silver is now more rare than gold in available worldwide stockpiles.

Through history the relative values of gold and silver simply float, based on supply and demand. But this is not the case today as the silver manipulation needs to keep the price of silver down to keep the investment interest of the masses away for as long as possible.

As Franklin Sounders says "If I had a chart 45 feet long on which every foot represented 100 years of human history, the gold/silver ratio would remain under 16:1 for all but the last 15 inches. In fact, 16:1 are the highest spikes on the chart apart from the last 15 inches and for the first 40 feet the ratio oscillated under 12:1, and spent most of its time between 8:1 and 12:1. So the majority of the time over the 45 feet it was around 8:1 which is the natural ratio they are coming out of the ground today."

Over 97% of that 45 feet chart the ratio has been average under 16 ounces of silver valued for one ounce of gold which was the natural ratio that silver has been mined for every one ounce of gold. That ratio has now halved, only 8 ounces are now mined for every one ounce of gold.

Imagine that 45 foot chart on a wall. Most of the time 8:1 with a few spikes up to 16:1, averaging about 12:1 for all but the last few inches. Then right at the end few inches it shoots up to 75:1. And that only covers the last 4500 years back to the great flood of Noahs time. Almost certainly gold and silver were being used as money for more than a 1000 years before that and I would guess the ratio was similar the long term norm about 8:1.

So as we have said when Greece became the next dominant world power the monetary cycle repeated as normal and they went back to using money as money rather than currency, how long would it last this time? Well they really flourished under this new monetary system. As Mike Maloney says in his book about monetary history "Then they got involved with a war that turned out to be far longer and more costly than they thought (sound familiar?). After many years of war and most of their money spent the Greeks came up with a very clever way to continue funding the war. It was the same thing that led to the demise of every major world power we have looked at up to this time. They began to debase their money into currency to pay for the war. They discovered if you take 1000 silver coins in taxes and then mix in 50% copper you can then spend 2000 coins. Does it sound familiar? Maybe not as bad as issuing 2 animal skins for every 1 silver coin, but its very similar to what the previous world powers did."

This was now a government currency that you could buy gold and silver with, but the currency supply was no longer gold and silver in and of themselves. And as a consequence this currency became practically worthless. It's very interesting the Bible chose copper to represent Greece as the next world power when they were the first to use copper to debase their currency. Silver was very fitting for the Bible to use to represent Medo-Persia as they started off with a silver monetary system. Copper was very fitting for Greece because they were the first to debase their silver with copper.

To repeat because its so important and as far as I know I am the first to recognise this: Gold was fitting for Babylon because gold was being used along with silver as money, silver was fitting to represent Medo-Persia because silver was once again the monetary system, then the Bible chooses Copper to represent Greece which is again very fitting because they were the first to debase their silver with copper, a practice which has been repeated right up to modern times. I am the first to make these observations and that is all they are observations. The Bible using copper to represent Greece may have nothing to do with them debasing their silver coins. But it is generally agreed that the Bible using silver to represent Medo-Persia was based on the fact that they went back to using silver as money again after the Babylonian financial crisis. I am a long time student of both the Bible and monetary history which is why I am so interested in these three monetary metals copper, gold and silver. In particular the two monetary precious metals at the top of the image- gold and silver.

But obviously once the public woke up to the abuse of money and the currency debasement by mixing in 50% copper, anyone who held on to their old silver coins found they were worth a lot, lot more than the same face value 50% copper coins. Many times over the next thousands of years this has been tried debasing monetary coins, and those who held onto the old ones found they were worth a great deal more. See the next bonus chapter on urban mining to see how this can be done today. This once again ended badly, as the monetary cycle repeated as normal, within a short time of going off money and onto currency they eventually became nothing more than a province of the next great world power that had been prophesied in Daniels time......

Rome.

Daniel continued his explanation of the dream image: As for the fourth kingdom [after Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece (not including Egypt and Assyria)], it will prove to be strong like iron. Forasmuch as iron is crushing and grinding everything else, so, like iron that shatters, it will crush and shatter even all these. (Daniel 2:40) In its strength and ability to crush, this world power would be like ironstronger than the empires represented by gold, silver, or copper. The Roman Empire was such a power. Rome crushed and shattered the Grecian Empire and swallowed up remnants of the Medo-Persian and Babylonian world powers.

Lets look at how the Rome empire fell.

To quote Mike Maloney again.

"Rome just as every empire in history never learnt from the mistakes of past empires. Over the many years of Roman leaders various leaders inflated the Roman currency supply by debasing the coinage and issuing more paper receipts than they held real money gold and silver. All this led to one of the worlds first known about hyper inflation's. At one time a pound of gold was worth 50,000 Denari in the year AD 301, but 50 years later it was worth 2.2 billion denari. It had risen 42,400 times in 5 decades. In modern times to compare, 50 years ago gold was $35 an ounce if it rose the same amount in the same time period it would today be worth over $1.5 million an ounce. If an average new car sold for about $2000 50 years ago which they did, the average new car today would sell for $85 million."

The Romans expanded the currency supplies so much that there was not enough gold and silver or even copper. Thus the Iron coins replaced monetary metals, iron was almost unlimited in supply so these new iron coins that were 'fiat' as in the government says you have to use them slowly replaced the monetary metals gold, silver and copper. This could be why the Bible represents Rome and indeed the next world power Anglo-America using iron. Because the idea continued through to our day, iron/steel coins going through the legs all the way down to the feet mixed with clay. Even today the majority of the coinage in the Anglo-American currency is made of iron or similar low value metals. You almost certainly have iron/steel coins in use today look in your pocket or purse. I think a lot of the old cupro-nickel coins are nickel clad steel in the UK, actually Wikipedia (take them for what you will) states only 5p and 10p are nickel plated steel from Jan 2012. 20p, 50p is still cupro-nickel. In 1992 the copper 1p and 2p coins in the UK were replaced with copper coated steel coins.

Steel is actually an iron alloy with a carbon content between .2 and 2.1 percent. Steel is a common name for many combinations of Iron. So much of modern coinage today is iron/steel. This started with the Roman empire which could be why the Bible depicts Rome then Anglo-America using iron.

Iron may be worth a little more than paper but it is still classed as currency not money. It does not hold its value over very long periods of time like money does.

I have long been studying the image in the book of Daniel so to review my theory - the head was gold because Babylon used gold as the monetary system the chest and arms were silver because medo-persia used silver as money systems then the hips were copper because Greece debased their gold and silver coins with copper then the legs were made of iron is it because Rome then Anglo-America used iron/steel coins in place of the monetary metals?

Dan chapter 2 says the feet were partly made of iron and partly made of clay. I wonder if the clay could represent the cashless society we are becoming? Could the clay mixed with iron represent unbacked digital and unbacked crypto currency? All the dominant world powers started off using Monetary PM's and then the cycle repeats but its a little different each time just as its a little different in our time now that the cycle is repeating but this time we have unbacked crypto as the cycle repeats.

Lets get back Rome and how the monetary cycle repeated as always. To look at the mentality of the Roman emperors, we can look just at the advice that the Emperor Septimius Severus gave to his two sons, Caracalla and Geta. This is supposed to be his final words to his heirs. He said, "live in harmony; enrich the troops; ignore everyone else." Now, there is a monetary policy to be marveled at!

Caracalla did not adhere to the first part of that advice; in fact, one of his first acts was to murder his brother. But as for enriching the troops, he took that so seriously to heart that his mother remonstrated with him and urged him to be more moderate and to restrain his increasing military expenditures and burdensome new taxes. He responded by saying there was no longer any revenue, just or unjust, to be found. But not to worry, "for as long as we have this," he insisted, pointing to his sword, "we shall not run short of money."

His sense of priorities was made more explicit when he remarked, "nobody should have any money but I, so that I may bestow it upon the soldiers." And he was as good as his word. He raised the pay of the soldiers by 50 percent, and to achieve this he doubled the inheritance taxes paid by Roman citizens. When this was not sufficient to meet his needs, he admitted almost every inhabitant of the empire to Roman citizenship. What had formerly been a privilege now became simply a means of expanding the tax base.

He then went further by proceeding to debase the coinage. The basic coinage of the Roman Empire to this time we're speaking now about 211 AD was the silver denarius introduced by Augustus at about 95 percent silver at the end of the 1st century BC. Which makes it more durable similar to 9.25% silver today. The denarius continued for the better part of two centuries as the basic medium of exchange in the empire.

By the time of Trajan in 117 AD, the denarius was only about 85 percent silver, down from Augustus's 95 percent. By the age of Marcus Aurelius, in 180, it was down to about 75 percent silver. In Septimius's time it had dropped to 60 percent, and Caracalla evened it off at 50/50. Same as the Greeks did who discovered debasing silver coins when you run out of silver.

But the real crisis came after Caracalla, between 258 and 275, in a period of intense civil war and foreign invasions. The emperors simply abandoned, for all practical purposes, a silver coinage. By 268 there was only 0.5 percent silver in the denarius.

Prices in this period rose in most parts of the empire by nearly 1,000 percent. The only people who were getting paid in silver were the barbarian troops hired by the emperors. The barbarians were so barbarous that they would only accept silver in payment for their services. They were smart enough not to fall for debased coinage.

But ten years later, he finally abandoned the silvered coinage, which by this time was simply a bronze coin dipped in silver rather quickly.

Now one interesting thing with all this inflation should be a great comfort to us: historians of prices in the Roman Empire have come to the conclusion that despite all of this inflation or perhaps we should say, because of all of this inflation the price of silver, in terms of its purchasing power, remained stable from the first through the fourth century. In other words, silver remained, in terms of its purchasing power, a stable value whereas all this other coinage just became increasingly worthless. Silver on average maintained it historical average norm of a tenth of a troy ounce or about 3grams valued at a 12 hour hard human labor 1 days wage.

A practical example is in Acts 19:19 which tells us something enlightening about newly converted Christians in Ephesus at the time Rome was the dominant world power: Quite a number of those who practiced magical arts brought their books together and burned them up before everybody. And they calculated their value and found them worth 50,000 pieces of silver.

The silver piece in question was the Roman denarius which was 0.1ozT of silver, the sum would have equaled the combined 12hr daily wage of 50,000 average workersa substantial amount!

Imagine today in 2014 in the west an average 12 hr days wage today is $120 then the modern day equivalent value would be $6million. Yet to show how undervalued silver is today this 50,000 tenth of a troy ounce of silver would today be able to be bought for just $100,000 ($20ozx5000oz).

Also of note is that just before Rome fell the barbarians demanded a ton of silver to not sack Rome, but the Romans would not or could not pay them, so they sacked Rome. I think it was the latter.

But they could pay them as many debased 5% silver denarius coins as they could carry. The barbarians said no way we're not falling for that, only silver. I wonder if they would have fallen for unbacked US dollars or bitcoins? I doubt it.

In the end it was currency debasement that brought down the Roman empire. Just like every empire throughout history it thought it could go from money to currency and get away with it. As you can see debasing currency is a pattern that repeats throughout history. It is a pattern that always ends badly.

To repeat a key take away point as already said and as Chris Duane brings out in his truth never told and silver bullet silver shield series of video's "When the Barbarians were at the gates of Rome they gave them the choice of paying 1 ton of silver and they would not sack Rome. As Chris says The Romans either would not or could not come up with 1 ton of silver, I think it was the latter. But they could offer a lot of currency to the barbarians which of course was almost worthless hence the barbarians sacking Rome and leading to an end to the great Roman world power.

But the iron legs of Nebuchadnezzars dream image pictured not only the Roman Empire but also its political outgrowth. Consider these words we have already looked at recorded at Revelation 17:10: There are seven kings: five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet arrived, but when he does arrive he must remain a short while. When the apostle John penned these words, he was being held in exile by the Romans, on the isle of Patmos. The five fallen kings, or world powers, were Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece. The sixththe Roman Empirewas still in power. But it also was to fall, and the seventh king would arise from one of Romes captured territories. What world