tl;dr

I must admit, I haven't read the entire thread, so I don't know if the following is new information.

I have watched all of Paul Grignons Money as Debt series and stumbled upon a video that could explain Ripple in detail. If BitCoins are to be the "perpetuals" within the Ripple system, I take my hat off to everyone involved for providing the world with a better monetary system. Watch the following video to understand what Ripple is most likely trying to build on the back of BitCoins:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkXclJr1Z4U