Saturday, July 26, 2014

Quote of the Day: How Democracy Made Central Banking Possible

Prior to democracy, loans were undertaken by monarchs, who were personally responsible for their loans. As Meir Kohn of the economics department at Dartmouth University writes:
The debt of a territorial government was essentially the personal debt of the prince: if he died, his successor had no obligation to honor it; if he defaulted, there was no recourse against him in his own courts.
Sometimes princes paid their loans, and sometimes they didn’t. For example, the Peruzzi were a leading Florentine banking house in the 14th century. At one point, they lent Edward III of England 400,000 gold florins, which, for a variety of reasons, was never repaid. This led to the collapse of the Peruzzi Bank in 1343.

Deals were quickly made when a prince died, of course, but the bankers had a weak position. They had to negotiate the balances and promise to make more loans in the future.

On top of that, many rulers simply refused to pay loans they had taken. Probably the most prolific deadbeat was King Philip II of Spain. He refused to pay back his loans at least a dozen times.

Because of this, banks were seriously limited. They developed techniques of dealing with sovereign defaults, but central banking as we know it was more or less impossible. Bankers didn’t dare make the kinds of loans they do now.

Democracy, however, solved that problem for them. Under democracy, loans are not debited to an individual, but to the nation as a whole. All the citizens, and their children, become responsible for repaying the loan.

From the institution of democracy onward, loaning money to a government gave the banker a claim against the taxes of the people… a claim that never expires.

This was a clever trick: The person who signs for the loan ends up bearing almost no responsibility, and gets to spend all the money. At the same time, millions of people who never approved the debt—who probably had no way of even knowing about it—are left holding the bag… and passing on the obligation to their children.
(italics original)

This is from Free Man’s Perspective author Paul Rosenberg at the Casey Research

I would add that when persons X and Y votes to spend on person Z’s money, then such free lunch politics would extrapolate to more redistributive spending than what taxpayers (or the Z’s) can afford. Central banks, thus, basically assumes the indispensable role of bridge financers to the inadequacy of resources forcibly extracted from the public through taxes due to populist 'democratic' politics.

At the same time, the banking sector plays the fundamental function of intermediaries--as collection agents (as crucible for the public’s savings and or as tax collectors) and also as distribution agents (government debt sold to public)--of political institutions which central banks supervise and whose existence have even been guaranteed.

1 comment:

  1. John Berbatis1:04 PM

    A viable solution to the Central Banks and the Bank of International Settlements.
    "It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning."
    Henry Ford
    U.S. Federal Reserve Bank charter ends Dec. 23, 2013.
    The international financiers will employ any means possible to maintain control of the issuance of money and credit be it fair or foul. The world will soon learn how ruthless and conniving their methods are, they are even willing to foment and finance wars to achieve their aims. More than half of all material wealth on earth is now controlled by one well-established European banking family, and by doing nothing they will eventually own the lot.
    A viable solution to the current global financial morass is an international cashless currency of equal value worldwide based on the Trade Weighted Index would eliminate the need for the Bank of International Settlements. I suggest, that an online and global banking structure controlled by each nations' judiciary would stabilize the global economy while promoting integrity, fairness, efficacy and good practices. This concept also has the advantage of issuing trading accounts only to legitimate enterprises. Imagine... no more weapons and munitions production, no more theft of physical money as well as the purging of the black economy, narcotics trade, racketeering or any other corrupt social influence, etc.
    Let good triumph over these evil international financiers who continually demean and destabilize our lives. Concerned people should now utilize this window of opportunity to make a change for a better future.
    "Give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes the laws." [Mayer Amschel Bauer] (1744 -1812), Godfather of the Rothschild Banking Cartel of Europe.
    "We shall have World Government, whether or not we like it. The only question is whether World Government will be achieved by conquest or consent." James Paul Warburg - In an address to the U.S. Senate, July 17th, 1950
    The 2007 study by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology found that 20% of all international trade is controlled by 147 corporations who share Boards of Director members. It is as if the New World Order were a One World Corporation. Included in those 147 companies are banks like the Rothchilds and HSBC and J P Morgan. Also included are the big oil companies. They support regional government like the European Union and the North American Free Trade Area. They also support treaties that allow corporations to go into rigged courts to over turn our national laws ranging from consumer safety to environmental standards.
    EVERY TIME WE DO SOMETHING, YOU TELL ME AMERICANS WILL DO THIS AND WILL DO THAT. I WANT TO TELL YOU SOMETHING VERY CLEAR: DON'T WORRY ABOUT AMERICAN PRESSURE ON ISRAEL; WE, THE JEWISH PEOPLE, CONTROL AMERICA. AND THE AMERICANS KNOW IT." -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, October 3, 2001 (IAP News)

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