Money and Banks

Keynesian economics is the economics of debt-addicted, lower-class spendthrifts: modern governments.

As flaws in the system of fractional-reserve free banking began to appear, private central bank-like institutions known as clearinghouses sprang up, and they helped pave the way for the Fed.

Like taxation, government spending diverts resources from real wealth-generating ventures. Borrowed funds for continued spending must also be repaid, so current spending translates to future taxation.

Among the fallacies Mises debunked in his first book were those of the chartalists - the predecessors of Modern Monetary Theory.

Regardless of expectations, tampering with the economy by means of monetary policies will always undermine the foundations of the real economy.

One of the easiest ways of asserting control over the private sector is to manage the money supply with a central bank. Naturally, Marx was rather fond of the idea.

Italy’s problems are yet to descend into a Greek-style crisis, but that is the direction of travel. And Italy is far more serious than Greece because of its sheer size.

Japan's Shinzo Abe has turned to Europe in hopes of stabilizing Japan's fiscal and and monetary situation. But Europe is a shaky foundation on which to build anything.

"The main thing is that the government should no longer be in a position to increase the quantity of money in circulation and the amount of checkbook money not fully — that is, 100 percent — covered by deposits paid in by the public."

It is easy to blame weakening global markets on Trump, but it would be dangerous to believe that's the real cause of the slowdown.