The Secret of Oz, directed by Bill Still is a documentary that has won Best Documentary from the Beloit International Film Festival, and recognition from the Nevada Silver Screen Award, Louisville International Festival of Film, and IndieFest. Featured in this film are numerous economists and historians to tell the tale of how we got to our current economic situation and how to get out of it.

The primary point of the film is that throughout time the worlds most successful economies have been built on government issued money. The reason these economies have failed has almost always been either a move to gold based currency or a reliance on private central banks. A gold based economy has the obvious defect of being subject to those with the gold. These economies become susceptible to manipulation by the withdrawing of gold from circulation. The consequences are always bad for working people and the middle class.

Powerful nations have also seen their economies destroyed by the overreach of Private Central Banks. These banks loan money to governments at interest and the compounding of this interest is eventually what becomes unsustainable. This Debt Based Money System leads to vast riches for the private banks and poverty for the rest of the population. The historians in the film cite several examples of this in our history. They also recount the battles of Presidents Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln against the banker cartels to free the country from this private bank monopoly. Also featured are the warnings of James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and William Jennings Bryan against the corrosive effects of allowing private banks to charge interest to the people for every dollar issued.

The solution comes down to government assuming its rightful place as the regulator of the money supply. Currently, the U.S. Mint produces the coin portion of our money supply but the private Federal Reserve controls the rest of our currency. This interest charged the American people could be avoided if the Treasury Department became the direct issuer of U.S. currency. According to the historians when this nation has removed the interest related debt load imposed by private banks and the government took direct control of the currency economic expansion has generally followed. This is especially true when steps are taken to avoid counterfeiters from wreaking havoc on the economy.

A current example of this is the State Bank of North Dakota. This bank handles the banking services of North Dakota and is actually running surpluses and returning these to the people of North Dakota. Quite an accomplishment in these times.

I found this film very interesting and will further explore this subject, it definitely tickled my brain. To learn more check out www.secretofoz.com or view this DVD at your earliest convenience