Stephen Mitford Goodson is a descendant of Roger Bertram, Lord Mitford, who took part in the revolt against King John the Landless (1215), which resulted in the Magna Carta of the English nobility. Stephen Mitford Goodson served as a director of the South African Reserve Bank from 2003 to 2012. He was previously a financial adviser in Pringle Bay. The role of lenders in history was once aptly described by many keen observers as the "hidden hand". It is the power to create, borrow and accumulate interest on "loan", and then re-lend that interest for further interest, in perpetuity, that creates widespread debt throughout the world, from individuals and families to entire nations. The ability to exploit the fraudulent credit system has long been known, and throughout human history, lenders - the same types that Jesus cast out of the temple - have convinced governments that banking was best left in private hands. Many wars, revolutions, depressions, recessions and other social upheavals were directly related to the determination of these creditors to maintain and expand their power and profits. When any state, person or idea threatened their scam, they often responded with wars and revolutions. The cultural and material progress of a civilization is often related to the extent to which it is free from the influence of debt, and degradation occurs when moneylenders are allowed to regain power. Thus, Goodson shows that both World Wars, the Napoleonic Wars, the American Revolution, and the Rise and Fall of Julius Caesar, the overthrow of Gaddafi in Libya and the revolution against Tsar Nicholas, like many other events in history, were determined by the action of this “hidden hand”. This is the key to understanding the past, present and future.