The Secret of Oz - a documentary

The Secret of Oz
- won Best Documentary of 2010 at the Beloit International Film Festival.

About the documentary (From http://www.secretofoz.com) 
It is well known in economics academia that The Wonderful Wizard of Oz written by L. Frank Baum in 1900 is loaded with powerful symbols of monetary reform which were the core of the Populist movement and the 1896 and 1900 president bid of Democrat William Jennings Bryan.

The yellow brick road (gold standard), the emerald city of Oz (greenback money), even Dorothy’s silver slippers (changed to ruby slippers for the movie version) were the symbol of Baum’s and Bryan’s belief that adding silver coinage to gold would provide much needed money to a depression-strapped, 1890s America.

We believe Baum’s symbols represent the only solution to relieve the growing economic hardship here in America – and the rest of the world. Practically speaking, 2009 marks the 70th anniversary of the 1939 MGM release of the The Wizard of Oz movie, so interest will be very high. Even Oz websites put up by kids get millions of hits.

Who's In It?

• Joseph Farah, Founder and CEO of WorldNetDaily.
• Peter Schiff, President of Euro-Pacific Capital, the leading “bear” on Wall Street, author.
• Byron Dale, author and monetary reform expert, author of many books.
• Ellen Brown, author Web of Debt, attorney, and monetary reform expert
• James Robertson, former official in a variety of slots in the UK government, and head of the Inter-Bank Research Organization, author of many books
• Prof. Nick Tideman, VA Tech University School of Economics
• Prof. Michael Hudson, President of The Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends (ISLET), a Wall Street Financial Analyst, Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and author of Super-Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire (1972 and 2003)
• John Keyworth, Curator, Bank of England Museum
• Prof. Quentin Taylor, professor of political science at Rogers State University
• Reed Simpson, banker, asset manager

Intro
“In 1996, in a documentary called “The MoneyMasters”, we asked the question why is America going broke. It wasn’t clear then that we were, but it is today. Now the question is how can we get out of this mess. Foreclosures are everywhere, unemployment is skyrocketing – and this is only the beginning. America’s economy is on a long, slippery slope from here on. The bubble ride of debt has come to an end.

“What can government do? The sad answer is – under the current monetary system – nothing. It’s not going to get better until the root of the problem is understood and addressed. There isn’t enough stimulus money in the entire world to get us out of this hole.

“Why? Debt. The national debt is just like our consumer debt – it’s the interest that’s killing us.

“Though most people don’t realize it the government can’t just issue it’s own money anymore. It used to be that way. The King could just issue stuff called money. Abraham Lincoln did it to win the Civil War.

“No, today, in our crazy money system, the government has to borrow our money into existence and then pay interest on it. That’s why they call it the National Debt. All our money is created out of debt. Politicians who focus on reducing the National Debt as an answer probably don’t know what the National Debt really is. To reduce the National Debt would be to reduce our money – and there’s already too little of that.

“No, you have to go deeper. You have to get at the root of this problem or we’re never going to fix this. The solution isn’t new or radical. America used to do it. Politicians used to fight with big bankers over it. It’s all in our history – now sadly – in the distant past.

“But why can’t we just do it again? Why can’t we just issue our own money, debt free? That, my friends, is the answer. Talk about reform! That’s the only reform that will make a huge difference to everyone’s life – even worldwide.

“The solution is the secret that’s been hidden from us for just over 100 years – ever since the time when author L. Frank Baum wrote “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.”

The author/filmmaker
Bill Still (billstill3@aol.com) is a former newspaper editor and publisher. He has written for USA Today, The Saturday Evening Post, the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, OMNI magazine, and produced the syndicated radio program, Health News. He has written 22 books and two documentary videos, including:

1. The Hormone Headache - New ways to prevent, manage, treat, migranes and other headaches. , 222 pages, soft-backed, published by Macmillian, 1995. $20.  Over 20,000 in print.
2. The Truth About TMJ - How to Help Yourself, the leading book on the temporomandibular joint problem. 148-pages, 1994, soft-backed. $20
3. The Money Masters 203 minutes, 1996, a documentary history of the privately-owned central banking scheme and its effects on American history. $20 retail (2 VHS tapes or 1 DVD).  Over 50,000 in print.
4. On the Horns of the Beast: the Federal Reserve and the New World Order - How a group of private bankers have been given a monopoly over our money. 158 page, softback.  $20.
5. Legend of the Holy Lance - A fact-based novel about the lance that pierced the side of Jesus. 240 pages, Hardback, $27.95; softback, $20.
6. Breathing for Musicians - a 96-page manual for music students showing them common mistakes made in the teaching of wind instruments and voice. $20.
7. Why America Is Free: A History of the Founding of the American Republic 1750-1800 – A 208-page 7-grade hard-backed text on the American revolutionary period, 1998, published by the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association for The Society of the Cincinnati, Washington, D.C., $20.  Over 60,000 in print.

Watch the film on YouTube here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swkq2E8mswI