The Idea of Alternative Currencies Is Going Mainstream
The movement for alternative money is the result of the history of government monetary mismanagement.
The movement for alternative money is the result of the history of government monetary mismanagement.
Not only does fractional-reserve banking gives rise to monetary inflation it is also responsible for monetary deflation. Money created out of "thin air" can disappear as rapidly as it was created.
The destruction of capital, economic and otherwise, is contrary to every human impulse.
Neither loose monetary policy, nor big-spending fiscal policy can grow an economy. All that these policies can do is to redistribute a given pool of real savings from wealth generators toward non-wealth generating activities.
The eurozone economy is slowing down. The solution isn't more fiscal and monetary stimuli.
The US dollar continues to enjoy the confidence of markets, governments, and central banks. But faith in the US dollar is weakening, and many are trying to help the process along.
Since real savings enable the production of capital goods, obviously real savings are at the heart of the economic growth that raises people's living standards.
In the blurry world of conflicting economic indicators and forecasts and policy surprises, activist policymakers at the Fed do not know exactly what the “right” monetary policy is today. Neither do their activist critics.
People do not save and accumulate capital because there is interest. Interest is neither the impetus to saving nor the reward or the compensation granted for abstaining from immediate consumption. It is the ratio in the mutual valuation of present goods as against future goods.
Real GDP does not measure the real strength of an economy, but reflects monetary turnover. Thus, the more money is pumped, the stronger the economy appears to be.