Part 3/12:
In a credit-based economy, money is created through lending with interest, which inherently requires exponential debt growth. This creates a dissonance since the natural tendency of free markets suggests cost reduction, abundance, and falling prices, yet through credit manipulation, the system is forced into continual expansion. Booth argues that humanity has never experienced a truly free global market—every historical reference point is influenced or controlled by centralized power that ensures the system’s perpetuity.
Cognitive Dissonance and Technological Acceleration
This clash between natural deflation and credit-infused expansion leads to cognitive dissonance—an internal discomfort that arises when two true statements oppose each other: