Running Out of Money?

    “You can never be too rich or too thin” (or something like that) said, uh, somebody or other . . . maybe — it’s attributed to a bunch of people few members of the public today ever heard of.  Leaving aside the “too thin” bit as a bit beyond our competence, we’ll focus on whether you can be “too rich.”  Quick answer: yes, you can be too rich, especially if no one else has any money . . . money here defined as “all things transferred in commerce.”  (That’s in Black’s Law Dictionary, at least the edition we have.)

Who Will Own America?

Back at the dawn of the 20^th century, Judge Peter Stengar Grosscup (one of Theodore Roosevelt’s “Trust Busters”) published a series of articles on the importance of ordinary Americans becoming owners of the commercial, industrial, and agricultural productive wealth.  One of these articles was titled “Who Shall Own America?”, published in the December 1905 issue of The American Magazine.

Why Economists Reject Binary Economics, V: “Perceived Policy Risks and Inflation Concerns”

The four previous postings on this subject — why so-called mainstream economists reject Binary Economics — we have looked at 1) Lack of Empirical and Econometric Support, 2) Heterodox and Non-Conventional Framework, 3) Criticism of Core Concepts, Particularly “Productiveness”, and 4) Negative Reception by Prominent Economists.  This last, the “negative reception” by prominent economists, is possibly the weakest reason given.

The Issue is Power

 Everyone needs power.  It’s essential if you want to take control of your own life and become virtuous, as Aristotle pointed out.  The problem is how to get it legitimately and how to use it to control your own life and not others.

Going for the Gold

At first glance, it seems a trifle odd.  At second glance, it gets a bit surreal.  At third glance . . . well, judge for yourself.  The same people that came up with the idea of creating a strategic reserve of cryptocurrency (which makes you wonder if they know what a strategic reserve actually is) are now obsessed with the idea of auditing the gold in Fort Knox.

Scrooge and the Virtue of Being Rich, Part III

Continuing our Scrooge Saga, in last week’s posting we asked the eternal question, “How did being wealthy become a virtue?”  The quick answer is that people’s understanding of money changed.  The longer and more involved answer is that people’s understanding of money, credit, banking, and finance changed . . . or, briefly, people’s understanding of money changed . . .

Scrooge and the Virtue of Being Rich, Part I

In A Christmas Carol — as if you couldn’t tell from the title of this posting — the Ghost of Christmas Past forces Ebenezer Scrooge to watch as his younger self accepts Belle’s (his fiancée) release from their engagement.  As she gives him her decision (and, presumably, returns the ring, although Dickens didn’t mention that particular bit of jewelry — pronounced “jewel-ry,” not “jew-lery,” by the way), we gain important clues as to Scrooge’s motive for pursuing wealth . . . which is, of course, why Dickens included the scene:

What is the Federal Reserve For, Exactly?

George Will’s November 30, 2024, column asked the question as to what, exactly, is the purpose of the Federal Reserve System.  This is a reasonable concern, especially given the way governments throughout the world have been using their central banks to spend money like drunken sailors on leave.  Unfortunately, although Will pontificated for 750 words or so, it was evident that, while he clearly intended the title of his column to be rhetorical, he himself has no realistic idea of the role or function of a central bank, much less any bank other than a bank of deposit.

The Rich are Different . . . Now

It is probably apocryphal, but Ernest Hemmingway allegedly replied to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s statement that “the rich are different” — “Yes, they have more money.”  Mmmmm . . . that was true at one time, but no longer.  Once upon a time, all the rich had was more and better of what everyone else had.  Nowadays what the rich have is not more money, but access to money and credit to become the owners of productive technology which is closed to those of us without similar access.

Central Banking, III: The Role of a Central Bank

Despite all the conspiracy theories floating around, central banking is essential in a modern technologically and economically advanced economy.  Allowing government to fill the role of a central bank is a serious mistake on so many levels that we won’t get into it.  We’ll focus instead on the mechanics.  So, what is a central bank all about?

Central Banking, II: Commercial Bank Problems

In the previous posting on this subject, we noted that a single commercial bank is always riskier than several commercial banks acting together as part of a system.  There is also the problem that, however sound an individual bank may be and stable its issues with respect to their value over time, the banknotes of one bank will never have the same value as the banknotes of another bank which is independent of the first bank.

Central Banking, I: Commercial Banks for Commercial Banks

Conspiracy theory to the contrary, central banks are not a plot by the bankers to conquer the world by controlling access to money and credit.  Government got into central banking by an accident of history.  King William III of England needed money and demanded a bribe in the form of the specie reserves of the newly organized Bank of England in exchange for “government stock” (i.e., government debt) for the bank to obtain a charter.

Declaring War on Debt

According to the Bureau of Fiscal Service, America’s public — and completely non-productive — debt and liabilities now stands at $42.9 trillion and rising.  At the same time, America’s net worth in private sector agricultural, industrial, and commercial wealth is estimated at $123.8 trillion, while the federal government owns $5.2 trillion in assets.

The Financial Revolution

Today’s blog posting is adapted from the book, Economic Personalism, which you can get free from the CESJ website, or from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Few people — at least those of us who are not wealthy — would argue that there is something seriously wrong with the money system in the world today.  Most people, however, either dismiss matters as “the way things are (and whatcha gonna do ’bout it?)” or assume it’s due to some conspiracy or other.

De-Dollarization Diplomacy

Economists and their political stooges . . . or maybe that’s politicians and their economic stooges (it’s so hard to keep that straight these days in a Keynesian plutocracy) profess to be terrified and worried and even a trifle concerned about the possibility of the U.S. Dollar losing its place as the primary global reserve currency.

Some Thoughts on Hyperinflation

Over on Medium, we’ve been working on a series of articles on the dangers of reparations and inflation as they related to the rise of Adolf Hitler.  Unfortunately, as is the case with many things about the Just Third Way, people see a word used in an unexpected or unfamiliar way and immediately assume they Know All About It . . . especially when they know little or nothing.  They bring their own baggage to the discussion and nothing on Earth is going to shake them loose from their preconceptions, especially not empirical evidence, or logical consistency.

Human Rights v. Property Rights

Some time ago we took part in a conference during which a participant made the statement that he was for human rights, not property rights.  This, while it garnered a large measure of applause, didn’t make any sense.  It was a little like saying he was all for meals but was against eating.  The startling fact that surprises so many people, especially today, is that property is a human right; only human beings are natural persons, and therefore only human beings have rights.

America’s Kryptonite

Saturday, March 25, 2023, saw an astonishingly stupid article appeared in the Washington Post.  “The Dollar is Our Superpower, and Russia and China are Threatening It.” by Fareed Zakaria (p. A18), while no doubt well-intentioned, reinforced some very bad, even extraordinarily dangerous ideas about money.  These have not only the potential to destroy every economy in the world, including that of the United States, they have gone a long way toward doing it.

The Panic of 1907

The recent bank failures have once again raised questions not only about the safety of the financial system, but its role in the economy.  What goes on in the world’s financial centers seems to have no connection to people’s daily lives and the need to secure food, clothing, shelter, and the other essentials of life.  What happens on Wall Street, stays on Wall Street . . . except when it seeps out to the real economy and destroys lives.

What is a “Bank”?

Banking for most people is a little like pornography.  There is something not quite right about it, but a lot of people seem to like it and can’t seem to function without it, and they can’t define it, but they know it when they see it.