Do You Know Stealing? [A Book Review]

By Drew Martin:

I’ve recently had the privilege of reading the fantastic new book by M. Shane Coley, Know Stealing. The title’s clever play on words provides more than an intriguing clue as to the book’s contents, but gives rise to a seemingly obvious yet neglected truth: Without the knowledge and understanding to identify theft when it occurs, we are powerless to stop it. Coley begins the book with the most widely used form of theft in history: deception. Specifically, the early chapters discuss the deceptive origins of what we commonly refer to as money. The average RevoluTimes reader is likely somewhat familiar with the differences between fiat money and “honest” money backed by a commodity. What you may not be familiar with however, is the argument that the very term “money” is not a thing at all, but a system. Coley contends that the bills of credit and coins we use in our daily transactions are not money in reality but money tokens, and part of a larger system designed for legal plunder. Writes Coley:

“Being a money token is like being a car tire. A tire is not a car, but it is part of a car…A token has no meaning outside of a money system.”

Through dozens of well-documented examples, Know Stealing makes the case that what we falsely perceive to be real money is nothing but a sophisticated scheme devised to not only rob us of our productive capabilities and thus the power we hold over ourselves, but to also perpetuate the further transferring of wealth from the producers of society to the non-producers. In short, by permitting the use of costless or fiat money, we are enabling our own enslavement. Coley identifies that natural money is a medium exchange derived from the marketplace that holds intrinsic value beyond any money system imposed by the State. Coley further explains this saying:

“The easiest way to identify natural money is to ask the following question: If this thing that claims to be natural money stopped being used as money immediately without warning, would it still have other useful purposes?”

He goes on to note that natural money in the form of gold, silver, salt, butter, etc. must be produced by human labor. Whereas time and energy must be used to mine gold or silver, costless money or fiat money is simply derived from nothing, and a bill printed with any denomination costs only a few pennies to produce. In other words, there is no greater cost in the production of a one dollar bill versus a one hundred dollar bill, and yet we are told, (and forced) to accept them as vastly different measures of wealth. Founded upon a keen understanding of economics, history and particularly original Biblical translations, Shane Coley illustrates that though such systems of plunder have developed throughout man’s existence, this is only due to our own ignorance. A devout Christian, Coley demonstrates that due to multiple misinterpreted or falsely translated verses in Scripture over the centuries, we have lost sight of the warnings of “differing weights and measures” and the destruction that they cause. The author tirelessly labors to prove his argument that all of the workings of a truly free, peaceful and prosperous society have been laid out for us long ago. 

Read the rest of the article at RevoluTimes.