PART I: THE MONETARY SYSTEM

Some interesting questions are asked at the beginning of the film. Why do 1% of the worlds population own 40% of the worlds wealth? Why are 50% of the worlds population still living on less than $2 per day? And why do over 30,000 children die every day from poverty and preventable disease? These are all striking questions, especially when you take into consideration that we have the resources at our disposal to make sure that every single person in the world is cared for, in every possible sense, and that technology has been advanced for some time to enable us to do so. So why are there still poverty-stricken countries?

The film puts forward the Fractional-reserve Banking as the answer to that question. It says that the way we have allowed our economies to be run is actually quite absurd in reality. This is how they say it works for the US: When new dollar's get printed by the Federal Reserve, they buy US Treasury Bonds from the government to complete the deal. Then, when those dollar's reach normal banks, it becomes multiplied by 9, due to the set-up of the Fractional-reserve system, and then loaned out. The government must then pay those bonds back, with interest, but this is where the flaw is. Only the primary amount of dollars was printed, so there are no dollars to pay the interest. So. then the government must go loan (again through bonds) to pay the interest, therefore continually accruing more and more debt. And this, they say, is why the US economy is currently getting worse and worse.

They also say that inflation is actually caused too by this process of creating money out of thin air. As there's more cash around, it devalues the rest, hence the inflation. They make the point that since the Federal Reserve was born, in 1913, the dollar has devalued by a massive 96%, and that nobody has thought of questioning this process up to now, we all just seem to go along with it. They say it has enslaved the populations of the world with eternal debt, making us go out working for these very same corporations, to pay back these debts. It seems we are enslaved in this notion of having to work. And, this is why we accept that kids die every day from poverty around the world. We just say "thats the way it is", and we accept it.

PART II: ECONOMIC HITMEN

The second part of the film features a run down of some of the operations the US has taken to get rid of foreign heads of state in the past. Leaders who refuse to play along with their corporatist vision, and who refuse to allow their countries to become enslaved, and raped of resources, for a paltry price. The film explains that the first thing that's usually done by the States is to send in the "Economic Hitman" to bribe the leader. If this works they will develop long-term conditions (so-called trade deals) to support the US obtaining the countries resources for very cheap prices, and open up their markets to the US, in return for loans from the IMF (International Monetary Fund) or the World Bank, to help "develop" the country. There would be major infrastructure projects taken out with this cash, and the US corporations will get the contracts. But, sadly, the interest on these loans will cripple the country, and force it into a never-ending cycle of subservience to the US. And the film says none of the money from the original World Bank/IMF loan generally goes to feeding the people, towards healthcare for them, or creating jobs for them. So they are generally saddled with a dictator, and massive national debt.

This part of the film is essentially a lengthy interview with John Perkins, who gives us all that information in the form of stories about his own past missions, and missions of others. You see, Perkins used to be an economic hitman for the CIA, and speaks of various US ventures into Iran, Guatemala, Ecuador, Panama, Venezuela and of course, Iraq. He tells us stories of how a couple of South American leaders were assassinated after trying to re-patriate their countries resources to its people, and also points out the 2002 Venezuela Coup as being the exception to the cause. Nobody expected Chavez to be alive, and still in control of the country after that, but he got out of it somehow because the people realised what was going on, and protested. Perkins also touches on the recent plunder of Iraq too, but the saddest part of this section of the film, is when we are told that the US population don't even know that they are living off the proceeds of a "clandestine empire".

PART III: THE VENUS PROJECT

The second half of the film is all about the solution to the problem. The Venus Project is a proposal made up by Jacque Fresco, and he is interviewed about it throughout Part III. The Zeitgeist people have put this forward as their favoured solution, and it seems the Venus Project is affiliated with the newly formed Zeitgeist Movement. They say they hope to start trying to bring about change by action. It's clear now to see that "Zeitgeist - The Movie" was only the beginning of a mission for Peter Joseph (Zeitgeist producer), and his meeting with Fresco is a meeting of ideas. Fresco goes into some detail of how the Venus Project would work, but a basic version is; the world would change from a monetary-based system, to a resource-based system. Technology would do a lot of work for us, and because there is no money, people's aspirations will be towards personal & humankind development, aswell as developing the technologies that would aid us all. It's ambitious, but when you take it in, its as close to a utopia as there could be. But a millon miles away from where we are now sadly.

PART IV: COLLECTIVE IGNORANCE

Part IV of the film strives to explain why we have allowed this system to prevail. It says its due to our lack of understanding for 2 basic laws that make us human's tick. These being our "Emergent" and "Symbiotic" natures. Our emergent nature shows us that we are constantly emerging with new ideas and technologies. For example, the Roman's wouldn't be able to comprehend the technology in the world today, it would be beyond them. But as human's, we got here! We emerged to where we are now. Our natural symbiotic nature shows us that we can all co-habit the planet with different groups people & beliefs. Which is a decent point. Throughout history it's not the people that have made the wars, its generally the politician's, royals, businessmen or religious leaders. The film tells us our fear of change, through what rules and information our institutions dish out to us, paralyzes us with outdated systems and beliefs. These institutions include religion, banks, government, and much more. They say we are afraid of change, and are therefore being held back quite easily. And this suits the people in power. The film ends with a list of ways to get involved in the "Zeitgeist Movement", and ways to help change the system.

Review by BlatantWorld.com
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