The House passed the National Defense Authorization Acton Tuesday evening after stripping the draft amendment from the legislation. It would have required women ages 18 to 25 to register for the Selective Service, as men do under current law.
Part I: Theory and History
Chapter 1: The Theory and Brief History of Money and Banking
The ultimate purpose of this book is to give the reader a solid grasp of how money works in today’s world. Yet before diving into the particulars of central banks, repo markets, and LIBOR—all topics that will be covered in future chapters—we should first provide a general framework giving the basic theory or “economic logic” of money and banking.
Understanding Money Mechanics
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Bill McKivor (of The Copper Corner) for his permission to reproduce photos of privately-minted coins and tokens, as well as his generous time in advising me on the topic. George Selgin introduced me to Mr. McKivor and provided guidance on the mechanics of the US gold standard. Joe Salerno also provided numerous recommendations of readings on the gold standard’s theory and history. Finally, I would like to thank Scott Sumner for helpful feedback on an initial draft of my critique of Market Monetarism.
Introduction
The purpose of this short book is to provide the intelligent layperson a concise yet comprehensive overview of the theory, history, and practice of money and banking, with a focus on the United States. Although the author (Murphy) considers himself an Austrian school economist, most of the material in this book is a neutral presentation of historical facts and an objective description of the mechanics of money creation in today’s world.
For nearly a century, the state and its various allies have propagandized generations of college kids into believing that falling prices are a detriment to society. This would seem a difficult task given the absurdity of the claim, but this convenient lie has justified decades of theft from the poor to the very elites who subscribe to it. As such, it is easy to see the appeal.
As Upton Sinclair said, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”
The conflict in Ukraine looks like it might be about to unfreeze.
I have always had a bad attitude toward official secrets regardless of who is keeping them. That prejudice and John Kenneth Galbraith are to blame for an unauthorized withdrawal I made from the World Bank.
