WHATEVER the original intent behind the creation of banks we need to accept that the primary function of the international banking cartel is to make money for its shareholders and executives.

Scandal after scandal prove this beyond doubt and the absence of enforced change to the basic business model confirms that it as an entity has become more powerful than democratically elected governments. One would have hoped that the process of nationalisation of a country's central bank as is the case of our own Bank of England (BoE) and all EU central banks would redress this imbalance of power but they do not challenge the system and side with it rather than the people. They are part of the problem not the solution. Democracy cannot exist when foreign financial institutions can dictate government policy and when a nationalised central bank is complicit.

Our attention is presently being focused on Greece ("Last-ditch bid for Greek deal on bailout fails", The Herald, Juk 1), who, just like Iceland, are not playing ball with the cartel, but what about the UK itself? Greece cannot conjure euros out of thin air as the European Central Bank is doing and the BoE and the US Federal Reserve did with their currencies. It has to borrow from one part of the cartel to repay another.

Had the Bank of England not bought almost £400billion of UK government debt by means of quantitative easing our economy would have collapsed. At some future date we as taxpayers will be expected to raise that £400billion then, rather than use it for projects that would benefit the country, will be forced to buy back debt effectively from ourselves which the Bank of England bought from financial institutions with money it did not have and created out of thin air. The "real money" created by the sweat of our labour is destined to be burnt ;meanwhile the £400billion that the BoE created out of nothing by sleight of hand is out there in the hands of the international banking system. This legerdemain was done to protect the notional value of sterling and a banking system which itself is a house of cards built on fractional lending of currencies that have no security and no value other than what currency traders decide it is worth.

Greece is being victimised by a system that is protecting itself without care as to the suffering it causes. The sad truth is that we as a nation are also suffering, the weakest in our own society disproportionately so, from policies not too dissimilar to those proposed for Greece we just don't have the wit to recognise it. Yet.

If and when we start to repay the debt we owe to the BoE and it in turn converts that real money back into thin air by burning it as it is supposed to do will we stand back and watch the fire? Would the BoE challenge the IMF by cancelling the debt? It could if it wanted to; after all we own it. Or do we?

David J Crawford,

Flat 3/3, 131 Shuna Street,

Glasgow.