http://www.positivemoney.org.uk/

Ever wondered why we're all in so much debt? This 3 minute video explains the root of the problem and what we need to do to end the debt crisis...

Positive Money believes that we are in a crisis because so few of us, including policy makers, economists, journalists and ordinary people, truly understand how our monetary system works. This is a dangerous situation to be in when money drives almost all activity on the planet.

Unless we make significant changes to the way our banking and monetary system works, we will see further financial crises, rising debt and poverty, worsening inequality and faster environmental breakdown over the next few years.

The key flaw in our current banking system is that almost all money is now created by private banks as debt. In the words of Martin Wolf, writing in the Financial Times, “the essence of the contemporary monetary system is the creation of money, out of nothing, by private banks’ often foolish lending”1.

The fact that banks are able to create money - the numbers in your bank account - whenever they make new loans means that they have a profit-driven incentive to create far more money than the economy needs, pushing the cost of housing out of reach of most ordinary people.

Positive Money is a not-for-profit research and campaigning organisation formed in May 2010 to raise awareness of the deep flaws in our current monetary system. We believe therse fundamental flaws are at the root of - or a major contributor to - problems like poverty, excessive debt, growing inequality and the environmental breakdown. We work to identify the links between the current banking and monetary system and the serious social, economic and ecological problems that face the UK and the world today.

We rely on a team of skilled and dedicated volunteers, coordinated by two and a half full-time staff, and operate from a small (and cheap!) office in London.
Our Areas of Work
1. Research

We research the connections between the modern banking and monetary system and the social, economic and ecological problems that face the world today, such as poverty, debt, inequality, environmental breakdown and economic instability;
2. Education

We run educational campaigns and work with other groups to educate the general public on the problems in the banking system. We also work with other charities, organisations and policy makers to help them understand how the modern banking and monetary system affects the issues that they are working to address.

We also work to redress the imbalance of power that exists with regards to the banking sector. We aim to ensure that politicians are given accurate information about the real impacts that the banking sector has on our society and economy, as a way of countering the biased information given by lobbyists for the large banks.
3. Finding Solutions

We research, develop and promote measures or reforms that would address any socially harmful consequences of the modern banking and monetary system.