Money and Banks

Kristoffer Hansen joins the show to discuss everything about interest rates, as detailed by Rothbard in Chapter 6 of Man, Economy, and State. 

Does the emergence of bitcoin invalidate the regression theorem? William Luther argues that it does, but Pickering here contends that Luther's view misinterprets the regression theorem.

The conventional view is that new money creation is no problem so long as the demand for money is increasing. The conventional view is wrong.

In a very comprehensive discussion, Bob talks with Rohan Grey, Assistant Prof. of Law at Willamette University. Rohan is an expert on the history of US fiscal and monetary legislation, as well as Modern Monetary Theory (MMT).

There are some reasons to be optimistic about the future of free market money. On the other hand, the world's governments will fight true currency competition every step of the way.

Euro governments are planning to use the banking system for widespread bailouts in the wake of the COVID-19 shutdowns. This could bring about a new financial crisis.

After the Great War, Austrian cities and towns began issuing their own money. The Germans tried something similar, but without the voluntary and decentralized aspects of the Austrian model. German disaster ensued.

It is possible to conceive of a world where fractional reserve banking is understood by both banker and depositor and involves no deception or fraud. But in that world, deposits cease to be money and become complex credit securities.

The COVID panic gave the world's regimes a new reason to claim that physical cash should be outlawed. But this is just one of many strategies now in play to end the relative privacy and freedom cash provides.

It's easy to dismiss MMT out of hand, but the impulse to create something from nothing resides deep in the human psyche.