The latest report on new unemployment claims was abysmal, coming in at 4.4
million last week, some 100,000 more than surveyed economists had expected. The continuous claims came in at just under 16 million, an all-time record. Mainstream labor economists estimate that, all things considered, the actual unemployment rate now (which is only officially reported with a lag) is above 20 percent—a rate not seen since the darkest days of the Great Depression. Indeed, all of the job gains since the Great Recession have been wiped out in just a matter of weeks.

A person’s thoughts over a period of time ultimately results in a set of core beliefs—a mindset—some call it a worldview—that controls human action and gives life meaning and purpose.
Here are three articles that I want to share with you that will give you a rather complete picture of who I really am and why I conceived the Infinite Banking Concept over 30 years ago.

In this hyper-politicized season of meanness, demagoguery, and class warfare, a little positive thinking is overdue, wouldn’t you say? The remarks above from the 20th century’s guru of positive thinking, Norman Vincent Peale, are especially appropriate at a time when envy and jealousy seem to be motivating a good deal of the political nastiness.

Every year, Infinite Banking Concept (IBC) Practitioners authorized by the Nelson Nash Institute (NNI), and their guests, gather in Birmingham, AL for the Think Tank. The central fixture of each of these conferences has been the man who discovered the IBC himself amidst the tragedies of a brother’s early passing, a robbery, and a severe, unexpected medical diagnosis: R. Nelson Nash.

Gary North, Ph.D. is an
economist, social commentator, and author. His reputation is controversial — some love him, some hate him. Some both love and hate him, depending on the subject of a given North article. In this post, I’ll attempt to set love and hate aside and focus on the validity of North’s analysis in his 2009 article on whole life insurance and the Infinite Banking Concept.

Cash value life insurance policies can be very complicated, making it difficult for the newcomer to evaluate claims made about these mysterious creatures. One of the chief ambiguities concerns the distinction between the “guaranteed interest rate” and/or “credited interest rate” on a cash value policy, versus the very familiar concept of “internal rate of return” on more traditional financial products.

There is no other way to put it. Americans have been tricked! The hidden process of money creation that artificially manipulates interest rates and creates economic booms has misguided society’s views of money and credit. This has been especially noticeable in our modern view of savings. Once considered the bedrock of a household’s financial strategy, traditional savings plans lost favor with the public because they were seen as too slow and boring in an economy that was flush with money and low interest rates.

Some commentators consider fractional reserve banking as a major vehicle for the expansion in the money supply growth rate. What is the nature of this vehicle? Fractional reserve banking arises because banks legally are permitted to use money placed with them in demand deposits. Banks treat this type of money as if it was loaned to them. However, is this really the case? When John places $100 in a safe deposit box with Bank One he does not relinquish his claim over the $100.

Subscribers To The Lara-Murphy Report have come to understand that our publication is unique in the market place in the sense that it features within its pages expert coverage of financial markets, Nelson Nash’s Infinite Banking Concept (IBC), and Austrian Economics. In rendering this service our readership receives monthly in-depth articles, interviews, and current news reporting regarding these three subjects that helps them navigate a constantly changing economic environment. As always our number one goal is education.