A very interesting conference took place on 17th April 2013 in Philadelphia, USA.  Big senior figures in the economic, monetary, and financial worlds, including Adair Turner, Laurence Kotlikoff, Michael Kumhof and Jeffrey Sachs were discussing fundamental solutions to current global monetary and banking problems. This was probably the first conference ever where the top academics were seriously discussing ending fractional reserve banking. Now you can watch the recording of their presentations, highly recommended:   If the video doesn’t play on your browser, please click here.  Michael … Continue reading →

With less than two weeks to go until the Transforming Finance conference we want to know what YOU think needs to change, to make finance work in the long term interests of people and planet.       Find the latest line up of speakers Transforming Finance: fresh thinking on democracy, finance and debt Friday 10th May 2013, 8:30 – 17:30 Chartered Accountants’ Hall, Moorgate Place, London.  The tickets are still available here.   This one day event, supported by an alliance … Continue reading →

How many times do you hear that the government is massively in debt, and that there are only two options – either (a) increase taxes, or (b) cut government spending? This story, which is repeated endlessly by policitians, economists and journalists is a fiction. And Andrew Jackson and Ben Dyson’s excellent book explains why. The real problem is that governments have handed the power to create the nation’s money supply to the commercial banking system. And those banks are responsible for … Continue reading →

Under the existing system, if a bank fails due to bad investments, a third party (the taxpayer) will reimburse the savers who have money invested with that bank. This scheme is called deposit insurance, or the ‘Financial Services Compensation Scheme’ in the UK. In the USA a similar scheme is run by the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation). Deposit insurance removes the incentive for a bank’s creditors (i.e. savers and investors) to monitor the bank’s behaviour. Currently the saver stands … Continue reading →

George Selgin is a professor of Economics at the University of Georgia, and is a leading proponent of free banking. Free banking involves very little bank regulation, plus commercial banks can issue their own dollar bills, pound notes, etc. Free banking is a form of fractional reserve banking in that a “free bank” will inevitably exploit the profit that comes from fractional reserve. I have plenty of respect for Selgin: he has an encyclopedic knowledge of the history of banking. … Continue reading →