Second Chance. Robert T. Kiyosaki

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СКАЧАТЬ learned that knowledge is power. If you want to control people’s lives, limit their knowledge. That is why, throughout history, despots have burned books and exiled (and even killed) those with knowledge who threatened their power. Before the Civil War in America, it was against the law in many states to teach slaves to read and write. Knowledge is the most powerful force on earth. That is why the control of knowledge is essential to the control of power.

       The formula is:

       Information × Education = Knowledge

       Knowledge is power—and lack of knowledge is weakness.

      My poor dad was a highly educated man with a PhD, but he had almost no financial education. He had authority within the school system, but little power in the real world.

      My rich dad never finished school, but he was highly educated in the world of money. Although less formally educated than my poor dad, he had more power in the real world than my poor dad.

       Q: So those in power maintain control of that power through the school system… through what’s taught—and what isn’t taught. That’s why there is no financial education in schools?

       A: I believe that’s true. Today financial knowledge is more powerful than a gun or the whips and shackles of slavery. The lack of financial education enslaves billions of people in all parts of the world.

       Q: What has replaced the whips and shackles and guns?

       A: The monetary system.

       Q: The monetary system? Our money? How does the monetary system control people?

       A: The money system is designed to keep people poor, not to make them rich. The monetary system is designed to keep people working hard for money. Money enslaves those who are uneducated financially. Those who are financially uneducated become slaves to a paycheck.

       And our wealth is stolen through money, through the very thing most people work for all their lives. That is why the people who work the hardest for money, often called the “working poor,” continue to grow poorer, not richer, no matter how hard they work.

       Q: How is our wealth stolen via our money?

       A: There are many ways. You may already know some of them. They are:

       1. Taxes

       The value of your labor is stolen via taxes.

       2. Inflation

       Prices rise when governments print money. As prices rise, people work harder, only to pay more in taxes and inflation.

       3. Savings

       The banks steal savers’ wealth via a banking process known as the fractional reserve system. Let’s use a fractional reserve of 10, as an example. A saver puts $1 into his or her savings account. The bank is allowed to lend $10, against that $1, to borrowers. This is another form of “printing money” which is not only inflationary but reduces the purchasing power of a saver’s money. This is one of a number of reasons why rich dad often said, “Savers are losers.”

      Later in this book I will explain other ways in which your money is stolen from you. As I’ve said: The monetary system was designed to make people poorer, not richer.

       Q: Can you prove that?

       A: I will show you a graph. As the saying goes, ‘A picture is worth a thousand words.’ The graph is not proof, but it does tell a story about the growth of people needing government assistance.

      The War on Poverty

      In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson declared a war on poverty. Many believe we won that war. Others do not. The chart below shows the numbers of people who use “food stamps,” today called SNAP: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Although many believe we won the war on poverty, the increasing reliance on food stamps tells a different story.

      The chart of individuals receiving food stamps shows that, in 1975, approximately 17 million people received food stamps. By 2013, the number had increased to approximately 47 million people and continues to increase.

       Q: If the number of poor people is increasing, where are they coming from?

       A: The middle class. Many of today’s poor were doing well as middle-class Americans a few years ago.

      The War on the Middle Class

      The chart above shows what’s happening to the middle class.

      A few years ago, TV journalist Lou Dobbs wrote a book on this middle class decline, The War on the Middle Class: How the Government, Big Business, and Special Interest Groups Are Waging War on the American Dream and How to Fight Back. His point: If the middle class is in decline, the United States is in decline, since the middle class is the engine of the U.S. economy.

      During the 2012 Presidential campaign, both candidates Barack Obama and Mitt Romney promised to save the middle class. An inquiring mind might ask, “Why does the middle class need saving?” As most of us know, if the government is promising to save you, you have already lost.

      Inflation Steals Wealth

      The monetary system steals our wealth through inflation. The chart below explains why the poor and middle class are struggling, regardless of how hard they work.

       Q: How does the monetary system cause inflation?

       A: The primary cause of inflation is the printing of money. When money is printed—by banks or governments—two things happen: inflation kicks in and taxes goes up. When prices and taxes go up, people struggle financially.

       Q: How do people survive when prices go up?

       A: When prices go up, people use their credit cards to survive. Many are forced to cut expenses… like healthier food or dental care. Many become slaves to debt. And many more become little more than indentured servants, or slaves to their paychecks.

      Debt Slaves

      As middle-class income declined, and taxes and prices went up, many turned to their credit cards to survive, becoming slaves to debt.

      The chart below tells that story.

      Today, taxes, debt, and inflation are the iron shackles that bind modern-day slaves.

      Two Types of Rich

       Q: How are the rich getting richer, if the poor and middle class are growing poorer?

       A: There are two types of rich people. One type of rich is the truly rich. They are getting richer. The other type of rich is getting poorer. The chart on the next page tells that story.

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