Exclusive Interview With Bill Still

Bill Still interview by Benjamin James

Note: The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of RetoxMagazine.com

Bill Still - The Award Winning Filmmaker

Retox interviews Bill Still, the award winning filmmaker of The Secret of Oz with a solution for toxic debts, recession and national debt the world over. Bill previously worked as a journalist for the Los Angeles Times syndicate, wrote articles and produced a feature-length documentary predicting the 2008 credit crunch years before it happened. His economic theories are supported by the late Milton Friedman and his documentaries have won several awards.

Exclusive Interview With Bill Still

Retox: Bill, thanks for agreeing to this interview, our first question is how would you describe yourself? You have not only made award winning documentaries but crafted the Monetary Reform Act of 1996 supported by the late Milton Friedman.

Bill Still: I'm basically an old newspaper reporter. I got interested in this story in 1980 and couldn't figure it out at first, so over the years I kept on digging and finally figured it out. The major problem is there is so much disinformation on the topic – like gold should be our money, or that the government is printing money wildly – that it's nearly impossible for the average person to spend enough time on the topic to figure it out. They depend on reporters to spend the time and report honestly.

The problem is that when newspapers and the big radio and television news operations are all dependent for their ongoing operations on borrowing from banks, you can't expect them to run stories revealing that the true nature of our money system is a scam run by the big commercial banks for their profit – not for ours. So that's a very basic conflict of interest that very few news organizations can overcome.

Retox: The Secret of Oz is a wonderful and educational documentary. When where you first aware of this incredible symbolism in the Wizard of Oz about monetary reform? And without giving the secret away what part of it did you find the most surprising?

Bill Still: Actually Alex Jones mentioned it to me during an appearance on his show. It was news to me. The most amazing part was the yellow brick (gold) road symbolism that was lost when Dorothy wore "ruby" slippers in the 1939 film version. This was a change from the 1900 book version where her shoes were silver slippers, making clear the symbolism of silver versus gold money.

Retox: In the secret of Oz you show how previous American presidents fought against the establishment of an independent central bank that controls the country's money supply. Could you quickly explain to our readers why this is such a bad thing and were you surprised to find that the Fed was a private bank charging American's interest on their money?

Bill Still: Ummmm, you mean a central bank DEPENDENT on the banks instead of the government – not in ANY way to be considered as "independent". It is bad because the Fed pretends to be a government entity. They do this because that way it seems to those who can’t investigate it in depth that the government is controlling the banks, when, in fact, it is the other way around; the banks are controlling the political process of government. Political scientists have devised a name for this condition; it's called "plutocracy."

Retox: The practice of fractional reserve lending seems to be at the heart of our global economic problems. Could you tell our donors how this works, as it may not be common knowledge to many people?

Bill Still: Contrary to popular opinion, banks constrained to only lending out their deposits. They get to multiply the amount of their deposits between 10 and 100 times, depending on which country you are in. It is nothing but blatant counterfeiting – legalized theft – of the national money.

Retox: In the Secret of Oz you seem to have great admiration of President Andrew Jackson who paid off the National Debt and nationalised the money supply. Does your nomination to be a Presidential Candidate for the Libertarian Party show your secret desire to be a modern day Andrew Jackson?

Bill Still: Well, Jackson didn't really “nationalize” the money system – but he should have – and the reason he didn't was probably because the Supreme Court had not yet decided on the issue of whether issuing so-called "fiat" money was constitutional.

Libertarian Party? No, I entered that race to march directly into the heart of the politically active gold-bugs of the United States to tell them the truth. I actually got a much better reaction that I expected to.

Retox: I noticed from an episode of the Still Report that you have been speaking with Senators about potential Monetary Reform in the USA? Are you hopeful of your proposals being signed into law by President Obama?

Bill Still: Absolutely not! No truly effective law can possibly be passed out of Congress as long as the U.S. government is borrowing money because they borrow primarily from banks.

Retox: Your solution to eliminating National Debt is quite radical, has it been hard to get your views heard in the mainstream media? If so why do you think that is? Do Television companies prefer to keep people looking at reality stars like Paris Hilton rather than the real state of the economy?

Bill Still: The three major networks – I know for sure – are borrowed out to the max from JP Morgan. Morgan could shut any of them down in a single week. The big networks cannot possibly broadcast the truth about the makeup of the money system.

Retox: In The Secret of Oz you show tally sticks from the Bank of England which were once used to replace Gold. What is the strangest form of money you have come across in your work?

Bill Still: Well, it would either be tally sticks or the giant stone money wheels of Yap. See Chapter 3 of my book. The QR codes are pictures.

Retox: You wrote a Monetary Reform Act in 1996 which the great Milton Friedman has endorsed, do you think this will ever become law? What inspired you to do this?

Bill Still: I actually did not write that. My partner in "The MoneyMasters" was an attorney. He wrote it. You have to start somewhere with legislation. This was a good start.

Retox: Before the credit crunch you were one of a number of economic commentators trying to warn the public of what was happening. How frustrating was it when the crunch came?

Bill Still: Not frustrating at all. It was inevitable, just as another – and even bigger – crash is an absolute certainty. My only concern is to be in the right position to help frame the actual in-the-public-interest fix in the wake of this next crash.

Retox: In The Secret of Oz you seem to hugely admire Iceland, are they the model for every country to follow and if so, why?

Bill Still: Iceland has not implemented monetary reform. Two Parliamentarians there are proposing a good bill, but it will take another couple of years to get it to a vote. What Iceland has done that was admirable, was to take to the streets – peacefully – and force their President to veto a bad bill essentially written by the IMF and force the President to put it to a referendum – a vote of the people. It was then handily defeated by a 92-to-8% margin.

Retox: I was really interested that North Dakota and their system in the US, how are they able to avoid recession?

Bill Still: Because they truly use the financial resources of their state in the public benefit. It's just as simple as that; small changes in the way a state does its financial business can make a huge difference in the general welfare of the people.

Retox: At the start of The Secret of Oz you say that Monetary Reform is the cause to support now, what can people do in the UK? All our politicians do is talk about cutting borrowing without doing it.

Bill Still: I strongly recommend supporting the "Positive Money" group. I differ with them only in that I believe the first step must be to eliminate all government borrowing; this is a political position. I don't think you can get effective legislation passed as long as government is borrowing anything from anyone; but we agree from that point on.

Retox: In an interview you said that the US National Debt could be paid off with coin money. Have you thought of organising the whole country to have a rummage down the sofa and deliver the money to the Fed?

Bill Still: No, but it's not a bad idea.

Retox: Are you a fan of the Wizard of Oz and who is your favourite character and why?

Bill Still: Not particularly. I have never liked the movie because I sensed there was something hidden that didn't make sense. Now I know why.

Retox: Seems to me the UK is reliant on loans to keep going? How do we get away from this?

Bill Still: You just stop it. Repay the bonds as they come due with British Pounds. This, by itself, would be inflationary, so, you proportionally reduce the ability of banks to create new out of nothing – fractional reserve lending – so that the money supply remains stable. That's the purpose of any organized economy – stability.

Retox: Finally, at the end of the day we all need to relax with a Retox? What do you like to enjoy? Beer, Whiskey, Wine?

Bill Still: German white wine from the Mosel Valley.

Retox: Thanks for your time Bill!