Money and Banking

Presented as part of the Mises Institute’s Brown Bag Seminar series on November 20, 1996 in Auburn, Alabama.

Delivered before the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, New York City, February 3, 1944.

The text of a speech given by University of California at Los Angeles professor of economics Benjamin M.

Chapter 13 in The Ethics of Money Production. From Part 2, “Inflation,” pages 175-191. Narrated by Floy Lilley.

"This plan would also set a dangerous precedent for American industry in general."

If you follow the Austrian recipe of allowing liquidation of bankrupt firms and debt, allowing prices to fall without monetary inflation, not propping up employment or subsidizing unemployment, and not discouraging hoarding, you will end up with the quickest possible recovery and minimize the magnitude of economic pain.

Government controlled fiat money is and will always be, by construction, fraudulent money.

The German hyperinflation was the result of a policy that considered the financing of government debt by an accelerating increase in the money stoc

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan tried to exonerate himself from the housing boom and bust. Even though more and more analysts are realizing that Greenspan’s low interest rates fueled the bubble, the ex-maestro himself uses statistics to defend his record.

Since the heart of credit is real savings, it is obvious that no government schemes, such as cleansing banks' balance sheets, can increase fully backed credit.