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Austrian School

2013-04-13T23:20:47Z

NeverSayDie: Undo revision 22848 by Karmaisking (talk) Undo libel, saying Prof. Rothbard had trouble to get his PhD. This is libel.

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The '''Austrian School of Economics''' is a [[Schools of economic thought|school of economic thought]] that derives its name from its [[Austrian]] founders and early supporters, including [[Carl Menger]], [[Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk]] and [[Ludwig von Mises]].

Other significant [[Austrian]] writers and economists include [[Murray Rothbard]], Nobel Laureate [[Friedrich Hayek]] and journalist [[Henry Hazlitt]]. Current research is produced by, among many others, scholars from the [[Mises Institute|Ludwig von Mises Institute]], and "Austrian" economists can now come from any part of the world. They are identified with the School through their shared views on the nature of economic science and its proper methodology.

The school emphasizes the spontaneous organizing power of the price mechanism and holds that the complexity of subjective human choices makes mathematical modeling of the evolving market practically impossible and therefore its scholars eschew what they consider "naïve" and pointless mathematical modeling of the economy, considering much of mainstream economics a form of economic charlatanism.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/3582 Keynesians Can't Predict], [[L. Albert Hahn]], ''The Freeman'', October 6, 1952</ref><ref>[http://www.garynorth.com/public/10768.cfm Tenured Austrian Economists]</ref> Its proponents tend to advocate the strong protection of private property rights and the strict enforcement of voluntary contractual agreements between economic agents, but otherwise advocate a laissez-faire approach to the economy and hold that the smallest imposition of coercive force (especially government-imposed force) on commercial transactions is the most effective way to secure long-run economic stability and well-being.

In particular, they voice serious concerns about the distorting and damaging effects of government involvement in commerce, arguing that few government regulations in this area are necessary or desirable and often trigger a "ratchet effect" as problems associated with existing regulations are often blamed on the free market, thereby justifying further damaging, coercive incursions into the market. They are particularly critical of long-standing governmental incursions into the area of private money production, advocating instead the immediate abolition of all coercive [[legal tender]] laws and the return to full reserve - or free - banking, where the financial system is decentralized and not dominated or controlled by coercive [[monopoly]] government or a monopoly [[central bank]].

==History==
While the Austrian School of Economics has connections as far back as the 15th century, it began with notable 19th century economists of Austrian origin. It is recognized to have emerged after the publication in 1871 of a trilogy of works (by [[William Stanley Jevons|Jevons]], [[Léon Walras|Walras]], and [[Carl Menger|Menger]]) which introduced the idea of the [[subjective theory of value]] and began what has been called “the [[marginal revolution]]” in economic thought.<ref>{{Citation | title = School of Thought: The Austrian School of Economics | publisher = [[Online Library of Liberty]] | url = http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Fcollection=8&Itemid=29&s=1 | accessdate = 2011-05-19}}</ref>

Other early theorists of the Austrian School were [[Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk]], [[Ludwig von Mises]], [[Friedrich Hayek]], and [[Friedrich von Wieser]]. Austrian economists no longer need be from Austria, and the term describes a particular school of economic thought rather than the nationality of its practitioners.

===Pre-Austrian Economists===
With noted contributions of earlier thinkers, like [[Nicole Oresme]], the Austrian school traces its roots to the followers of St. Thomas Aquinas, writing and teaching at the [[School of Salamanca|University of Salamanca]] in Spain.

These Late scholastics established the first modern economic theories and argued, in current terms, for free [[trade]] and property rights. Over the course of several generations, they discovered and explained the laws of [[supply]] and [[demand]], the cause of [[inflation]], the operation of foreign exchange rates, and the subjective nature of economic [[value]]. They were advocates of property rights and the freedom to contract and trade. "Austrians share the scholastic belief that there is no such thing as an economic science dealing with autonomous variables. Economic problems are aspects of larger social phenomena; and it is most expedient to deal with them as such, rather than to analyze them in some twisted separation."<ref name="Hulsmann_scholastics">Jörg Guido Hülsmann. [http://www.mises.org/books/moneyproduction.pdf "Ethics of Money Production"], online version, Introduction p. 12, referenced 2009-05-10.</ref>

The first general treatise on economics, [http://socserv2.socsci.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/cantillon/index.html Essay on the Nature of Commerce], was written in 1730 by [[Richard Cantillon]], a man schooled in the scholastic tradition. Born in Ireland, he emigrated to France. He saw economics as an independent area of investigation, and explained the formation of [[price]]s using the "thought experiment." He understood the market as an entrepreneurial process, and held to an Austrian theory of money creation: that it enters the economy in a step-by-step fashion, disrupting prices along the way.

Cantillon was followed by [[Anne Robert Jacques Turgot]], the pro-market French aristocrat and finance minister under the ''ancien regime'', one of the [[Physiocrats]]. His economic writings were few but profound. His paper "Value and Money" spelled out the origins of money, and the nature of economic choice: that it reflects the subjective rankings of an individual's preferences. Turgot solved the famous [[Paradox of value|diamond-water paradox]] that baffled later classical economists, articulated the law of diminishing returns, and criticized usury laws (a sticking point with the Late Scholastics). He favored a classical liberal approach to economic policy, recommending a repeal of all special privileges granted to government-connected industries.

Turgot was the intellectual father of a long line of great French economists of the eighteenth and nineteenth century, most prominently [[Jean-Baptiste Say]] and [[Frédéric Bastiat|Claude Frédéric Bastiat]]. Say was the first economist to think deeply about economic method. He realized that economics is not about the amassing of data, but rather about the verbal elucidation of universal facts (for example, wants are unlimited, means are scarce) and their logical implications.

Say discovered the productivity theory of resource pricing, the role of [[capital]] in the division of labor, and "[[Say's Law]]": there can never be sustained "overproduction" or "underconsumption" on the free market if prices are allowed to adjust. He was a defender of laissez-faire and the [[industrial revolution]], as was Bastiat. As a free-market journalist, Bastiat also argued that nonmaterial services are subject to the same economic laws as material [[good]]s. In one of his many economic allegories, Bastiat spelled out the "[[Parable of the broken window|broken-window fallacy]]" later popularized by [[Henry Hazlitt]].

Despite the theoretical sophistication of this developing pre-Austrian tradition, the [[Classical economics|British school]] of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries won the day, mostly for political reasons. This British tradition (based on the objective-cost and labor-productivity theory of value) ultimately led to the rise of the Marxist doctrine of capitalist exploitation.

===The First Austrians===
The dominant British tradition received its first serious challenge in many years when [[Carl Menger]]'s ''[[Principles of Economics]]'' was published in 1871. Menger, the founder of the Austrian School proper, resurrected the Scholastic-French approach to economics, and put it on firmer ground.

Together with the contemporaneous writings of [[Leon Walras]] and [[Stanley Jevons]], Menger spelled out the subjective basis of [[Value|economic value]], and fully explained, for the first time, the theory of [[Utility|marginal utility]] (the greater the number of units of a [[good]] that an individual possesses, the less he will value any given unit). In addition, Menger showed how money originates in a free market when the most marketable [[commodity]] is desired, not for consumption, but for use in trading for other goods.

Menger's book was a pillar of the "[[marginalist revolution]]" in the history of economic science. When Mises said it "made an economist" out of him, he was not only referring to Menger's theory of money and prices, but also his approach to the discipline itself. Like his predecessors in the tradition, Menger was a classical liberal and methodological individualist, viewing economics as the science of individual choice. His Investigations, which came out twelve years later, battled the [[Wikipedia:Historical school of economics|German Historical School]], which rejected theory and saw economics as the accumulation of data in service of the state. They took great exception to his defense of "theory" and gave the work of Menger and his followers the derogatory name "Austrian school" because of their faculty positions at the University of Vienna. The term stuck.<ref name="School">[http://mises.org/about/3467#Austrian_Economics "FAQ: What is Austrian Economics"], ''[[Mises Institute]]'', referenced 2009-04-27.</ref>

As professor of economics at the University of Vienna, and then tutor to the young but ill-fated [[Wikipedia:Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria|Crown Prince Rudol]]f of the House of Habsburg, Menger restored economics as the science of human action based on deductive [[logic]], and prepared the way for later theorists to counter the influence of socialist thought. Indeed, his student [[Friederich von Wieser]] strongly influenced Friedrich von Hayek's later writings. Menger's work remains an excellent introduction to the economic way of thinking.

Menger's admirer and follower at the University of Innsbruck, [[Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk]], took Menger's exposition, reformulated it, and applied it to a host of new problems involving [[value]], [[price]], [[capital]], and interest. His ''[[History and Critique of Interest Theories]]'', appearing in 1884, is a sweeping account of fallacies in the history of thought and a firm defense of the idea that the interest rate is not an artificial construct but an inherent part of the market. It reflects the universal fact of "[[time preference]]," the tendency of people to prefer satisfaction of wants sooner rather than later (a theory later expanded and defended by [[Frank Fetter]]<ref name="Fetter">Jeffrey Herbener. [http://mises.org/about/3231 "Frank A. Fetter (1863-1949): A Forgotten Giant"], ''[[Mises Institute]]'', referenced 2009-04-28.</ref>).

Böhm-Bawerk's ''[[Positive Theory of Capital]]'' demonstrated that the normal rate of business profit is the interest rate. Capitalists [[Saving|save]] money, pay laborers, and wait until the final product is sold to receive profit. In addition, he demonstrated that [[capital]] is not homogeneous but an intricate and diverse structure that has a time dimension. A growing economy is not just a consequence of increased capital investment, but also of longer and longer processes of production.

Böhm-Bawerk engaged in a prolonged battle with the [[Marxian Economics|Marxists]] over the exploitation theory of capital, and refuted the socialist doctrine of capital and wages long before the communists came to power in Russia. Böhm-Bawerk also conducted a seminar that would later become the model for Mises's own Vienna seminar.

Böhm-Bawerk favored policies that deferred to the ever-present reality of economic law. He regarded interventionism as an attack on market economic forces that cannot succeed in the long run. In the last years of the Habsburg monarchy, he three times served as finance minister, fighting for balanced budgets, sound money and the [[gold standard]], free trade, and the repeal of export subsidies and other monopoly privileges.

===Mises and Hayek===
It was Böhm-Bawerk's research and writing that solidified the status of the Austrian School as a unified way of looking at economic problems, and set the stage for the School to make huge inroads in the English-speaking world. But one area where Böhm-Bawerk had not elaborated on the analysis of Menger was [[money]], the institutional intersection of the "micro" and "macro" approach. The young [[Ludwig von Mises]]<ref name="Mises">Murray N. Rothbard. [http://mises.org/about/3248 "Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)"], ''[[Mises Institute]]'', referenced 2009-04-26.</ref>, economic advisor to the Austrian Chamber of Commerce, took on the challenge.

The result of Mises's research was ''[[The Theory of Money and Credit]]'', published in 1912. He spelled out how the theory of [[Utility|marginal utility]] applies to [[money]], and laid out his "regression theorem," showing that money not only originates in the market, but must always do so. Drawing on the [[British Currency School|British Currency School]], [[Knut Wicksell]]'s theory of [[interest rate]]s, and Böhm-Bawerk's theory of the structure of production, Mises presented the broad outline of the [[Austrian Business Cycle Theory|Austrian theory of the business cycle]]. A year later, Mises was appointed to the faculty of the University of Vienna, and Böhm-Bawerk's seminar spent a full two semesters debating Mises's book.

Mises's career was interrupted for four years by [[World War I]]. He spent three of those years as an artillery officer, and one as a staff officer in economic intelligence. 1919, at war's end, he published ''[[Nation, State, and Economy]]'', arguing on behalf of the economic and cultural freedoms of minorities in the now-shattered empire, and spelling out a theory of the economics of war. Meanwhile, Mises's monetary theory received attention in the U.S. through the work of [[Benjamin Anderson|Benjamin M. Anderson, Jr.]]<ref name="Anderson">Mark Thornton. [http://mises.org/about/3226 "Benjamin Anderson (1886-1949)"], ''[[Mises Institute]]'', referenced 2009-04-26.</ref>, an economist at [[Chase National Bank]]. (Mises's book was panned by [[John Maynard Keynes]], who later admitted he could not read German.{{Fact|reason=It would be cool to quote this somewhere.}})

In the political chaos after the war, the main theoretician of the now-socialist Austrian government was Marxist [[Otto Bauer]]. Knowing Bauer from the Böhm-Bawerk seminar, Mises explained economics to him night after night, eventually convincing him to back away from Bolshevik-style policies.{{fact|reason=It would be great to have a resource on this.}} The Austrian socialists never forgave Mises for this, waging war against him in academic politics and successfully preventing him from getting a paid professorship at the university.

Undeterred, Mises turned to the problem of socialism itself, writing a blockbuster essay in 1921, which he turned into the book ''[[Socialism (book)|Socialism]]'' over the next two years. Socialism permits no private property or exchange in [[capital goods]], and thus no way for resources to find their most highly valued use. Socialism, Mises predicted, would result in utter chaos and the end of civilization.

Mises challenged the socialists to explain, in economic terms, precisely how their system would work, a task which the socialists had hitherto avoided. The debate between the Austrians and the socialists continued for the next decade and beyond, and, until the collapse of world socialism in 1989, academics had long thought that the debate was resolved in favor of the socialists.

Meanwhile, Mises's arguments on behalf of the free market attracted a group of converts from the socialist cause, including [[Friedrich Hayek|Hayek]], [[Wilhelm Roepke]]<ref name="Roepke">Shawn Ritenour. [http://mises.org/about/3241 "Wilhelm Röpke (1899-1966): Humane Economist"], ''[[Mises Institute]]'', referenced 2009-04-27.</ref> , and [[Wikipedia:Lionel Robbins|Lionel Robbins]]. Mises began holding a private seminar in his offices at the Chamber of Commerce that was attended by [[Wikipedia:Fritz Machlup|Fritz Machlup]]<ref name="Machlup">Mark Thornton. [http://mises.org/about/3237 "Biography of Fritz Machlup (1902-1983)"], ''[[Mises Institute]]'', referenced 2009-04-27.</ref>, [[Wikipedia:Oskar Morgenstern|Oskar Morgenstern]], [[Wikipedia:Gottfried von Haberler|Gottfried von Haberler]]<ref name="Haberler">[http://mises.org/journals/aen/aen20_1_1.asp "Between Mises and Keynes An Interview with Gottfried von Haberler (1900-1995)"], ''The Austrian Economics Newsletter'' Spring 2000 Volume 20, Number 1, referenced 2009-04-27.</ref>, [[Wikipedia:Alfred Schutz|Alfred Schutz]]<ref name="Schutz">Peter Kurrild-Klitgaard. [http://mises.org/journals/qjae/pdf/qjae6_2_2.pdf "The Viennese Connection: Alfred Schutz and the Austrian School"](pdf), ''The Quarterly Journal Of Austrian Economics'' Vol.6, no.2, referenced 2009-04-27.</ref>, Richard von Strigl<ref name="Strigl">Jörg Guido Hülsmann. [http://mises.org/about/3243 "Richard von Strigl (1891-1942)"], ''[[Mises Institute]]'', referenced 2009-04-27.</ref>, [[Wikipedia:Eric Voegelin|Eric Voegelin]], [[Wikipedia:Paul Rosenstein-Rodan|Paul Rosenstein-Rodan]], and many other intellectuals from all over Europe.

Also during the 1920s and 30s, Mises was battling on two other academic fronts. He delivered the decisive blow to the [[Historical school of economics|German Historical School]] with a series of essays in defense of the deductive method in economics, which he would later call [[praxeology]] or the logic of [[action]]. He also founded the Austrian Institute for Business Cycle Research, and put his student Hayek in charge of it.

During these years, Hayek and Mises authored many studies on the [[business cycle]], warned of the danger of credit expansion, and predicted the coming currency crisis. This work was cited by the [[Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences|Nobel Memorial Prize]] committee in 1974 when Hayek received the award for economics. Working in England and America, Hayek later became a prime opponent of [[Keynesian economics]] with books on exchange rates, capital theory, and monetary reform. His popular book ''[[Road to Serfdom]]'' helped revive the classical liberal movement in America after the [[New Deal]] and [[World War II]]. And his series ''[[Law, Legislation, and Liberty]]'' ([http://books.google.com/books?id=wK49AAAAIAAJ&dq=Law,+Legislation+and+Liberty&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=YAvviNdntc&sig=ZdwmZeD_vlQzvUM5nIIs2xmqp50&hl=en#PPP1,M1 online]) elaborated on the Late Scholastic approach to law, and applied it to criticize egalitarianism and [[nostrums]] like [[social justice]].

===Outside of Austria===
In the late 1930s, after suffering from the [[Great Depression|worldwide depression]], Austria was threatened by a Nazi takeover. Hayek had already left for London in 1931 at Mises's urging, and in 1934, Mises himself moved to Geneva to teach and write at the [[Graduate Institute of International Studies|International Institute for Graduate Studies]], later emigrating to the United States. Knowing Mises as the sworn enemy of national socialism, the Nazis confiscated Mises's papers from his apartment and hid them for the duration of the war. Ironically, it was Mises's ideas, filtered through the work of Roepke and the statesmanship of [[Ludwig Erhard]], that led to Germany's postwar economic reforms and rebuilt the country. Then, in 1992, Austrian archivists discovered Mises's stolen Vienna papers in a reopened archive in Moscow.<ref name="Documents">Richard M. Ebeling. [http://www.fff.org/comment/ed0397e.asp "The Discovery of the Lost Papers of Ludwig von Mises"], ''The Future of Freedom Foundation'', March 1997, referenced 2009-04-28.</ref>

While in Geneva, Mises's wrote his masterwork, ''[[Nationalökonomie]]'', and, after coming to the United States, revised and expanded it into ''[[Human Action]]'', which appeared in 1949. His student [[Murray N. Rothbard]]<ref name="Rothbard">David Gordon. [http://mises.org/about/3249 "Murray N. Rothbard (1926-1995)"], ''[[Mises Institute]]'', referenced 2009-04-28.</ref> called it "Mises's greatest achievement and one of the finest products of the human mind in our century. It is economics made whole." It remains the economic treatise that defines the School. Even so, it was not well received in the economics profession, which had already made a decisive turn towards Keynesianism, which accepted fiat money, fractional-reserve banking and central banking, as well as the premise that government had to intervene in the economy because somehow the free market sometimes did not "work" - all principles that Mises found objectionable and wrong.

Though Mises never held the paid academic post he deserved, he gathered students around him at New York University, just as he had in Vienna. Even before Mises emigrated, journalist [[Henry Hazlitt]] had become his most prominent champion, reviewing his books in the New York Times and Newsweek, and popularizing his ideas in such classics as ''[[Economics in One Lesson]]''. Yet Hazlitt made his own contributions to the Austrian School. He wrote a line-by-line [[The Failure of the New Economics|critique]] of Keynes's ''[[The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money|General Theory]]'', defended the writings of Say, and restored him to a central place in Austrian macroeconomic theory. Hazlitt followed Mises's example of uncompromising adherence to principle, and as a result was pushed out of four high-profile positions in the journalistic world.

Mises's New York seminar continued until two years before his death in 1973. During those years, [[Murray Rothbard]], a PhD student at Columbia, attended Mises's seminars and become student of the Austrian School, moving further away from "mainstream" economics the more he studied the Austrian School.

===Murray Rothbard and the revival of the Austrian School===

William F. Buckley wrote a bitter obituary on Rothbard's death,<ref>William F. Buckley, Jr. [http://notableandquotable.blogspot.com.au/2008/04/william-f-buckleys-obituary-of-murray.html "Murray Rothbard RIP"], ''National Review'', February 6, 1995. Referenced 2013-02-24.</ref> and supporters of [[Ayn Rand]] ultimately rejected his views on the corrupting influence of big business on politics.

Rothbard wrote of the betrayal of the "true spirit" of the American conservative movement in his book, ''[[The Betrayal of the American Right]]''.

On economic matters, Rothbard's ''[[Man, Economy, and State]]'' was patterned after ''Human Action'', and in some areas--[[monopoly]] theory, [[utility]] and [[welfare]], and the theory of the state--tightened and strengthened Mises's own views. Rothbard's approach to the Austrian School followed directly in the line of Late Scholastic thought by applying economic science within a framework of a natural-rights theory of property.

What resulted was a full-fledged defense of a capitalistic and [[stateless social order]], based on [[property]] and freedom of association and contract. Rothbard extended and in a sense "completed" Mises's views on economic thought, removing inconsistencies and drawing more radical policy conclusions than Mises's early works (that were, in themselves, radical in their day and are still considered to be so even today).

Rothbard followed his economic treatise with an investigation of the [[Great Depression]], which applied [[Austrian Business Cycle Theory]] to show that the stock market crash and economic downturn was attributable to a prior [[bank]] [[Inflation|credit expansion]]. Then in a series of studies on government policy, he established the theoretical framework for examining the effects of all types of intervention in the market.

Rothbard extended and "radicalized" the Austrian School, taking Mises's insights and pushing them to their logical conclusion. Unlike Mises's view that there was a role for the State (in providing public goods and services such as law and order and basic infrastructure) it was Rothbard's view that all goods and services could be - and should be - produced by the private sector. He viewed many regulations and laws ostensibly promulgated for the "public interest" as self-interested power grabs by scheming government bureaucrats engaging in dangerously unfettered self-aggrandizement, as they were not subject to real competition. Rothbard held that there were inherent inefficiencies involved with governments providing commercial services and asserted that real competition would eliminate these efficiencies, if those services could be provided by the private sector.<ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard40.html The Great Society: A Libertarian Critique], Murray Rothbard</ref><ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard53.html The Noble Task of Revisionism], Murray Rothbard</ref><ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard37.html The Fallacy of the 'Public Sector'], Murray Rothbard</ref>

Rothbard was equally condemning of state corporatism. He criticized many instances where business elites co-opted government's monopoly power so as to influence laws and regulatory policy in a manner benefiting them at the expense of their competitive rivals.<ref>''For a New Liberty'', Chapter 3</ref> He was a seminal writer in an area that would later branch out to become public choice theory, but his work is now rarely associated with this area of study.

He argued that [[taxation]] represents coercive theft on a grand scale, and "a compulsory [[monopoly]] of force" prohibiting the more efficient voluntary procurement of defense and judicial services from competing suppliers.<ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard24.html Tax Day], Murray Rothbard</ref> He also considered [[central bank]]ing and [[fractional reserve banking]] under a monopoly [[fiat money]] system a form of state-sponsored, legalized financial [[embezzlement|fraud]], antithetical to [[Libertarianism|libertarian]] principles and ethics.<ref>Rothbard, Murray. [http://www.mises.org/Books/mysteryofbanking.pdf ''The Mystery of Banking''] Ludwig von Mises Institute. 2008. p. 111</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-2737288_ITM |title=Has fractional-reserve banking really passed the market test? (Controversy). |date=January 2003 |format= |work= Independent Review|accessdate=}}</ref><ref>[http://www.fff.org/freedom/0999c.asp The Case for the 100% Gold Dollar], Murray Rothbard</ref><ref>See also Murray Rothbard articles: [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard191.html Private Coinage]; [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard190.html Repudiate the National Debt]; and [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard181.html Taking Money Back]</ref>

It was Rothbard who firmly established the Austrian School and classical liberal doctrine in the U.S., especially with ''[[Conceived in Liberty]]'' (volumes [http://mises.org/books/conceived1.pdf I], [http://mises.org/books/conceived2.pdf II], [http://mises.org/books/conceived3.pdf III], [http://mises.org/books/conceived4.pdf IV]), his four-volume history of colonial America and the secession from Britain. The reunion of natural-rights theory and the Austrian School came in his philosophical work, ''[[The Ethics of Liberty]]'' ([http://www.mises.org/rothbard/ethics/ethics.asp text]), all while he was writing a series of scholarly economic pieces gathered in the two-volume ''Logic of Action'', published in Edward Elgar's ''Economists of the Century'' series.

The founding of the [[Mises Institute|Ludwig von Mises Institute]] in 1982, with the aid of Margit von Mises as well as Hayek and Hazlitt, provided a range of new opportunities for both Rothbard and the Austrian School. Through a steady stream of academic conferences, instructional seminars, books, monographs, newsletters, studies, and even films, they carried the Austrian School forward into the post-socialist age.

The Austrian School enters a new millennium with many new advocates, including economists such as prominent Spanish economist [[Jesus Huerta de Soto]], German economist [[Jörg Guido Hülsmann]] and American economists [[William Anderson]], [[Robert Murphy]] and [[Walter Block]], writers such as [[Thomas Woods]], [[Lew Rockwell]], and [[Charles Goyette]], and media commentators and public figures such as [[Peter Schiff]] and [[Ron Paul]]. Some commentators have described this as a recent renaissance of [[classical liberal]] scholarship and thought.<ref>[http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/255968/who-ron-paul-interview Ron Paul Interview], National Review Online</ref>

==Methodology==
Austrian School economists advocate strict adherence to [[methodological individualism]] – analyzing human [[action]] from the perspective of individual agents.<ref name="Mises_Individualism">Ludwig von Mises [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap2sec4.asp "The Principle of Methodological Individualism"], ''[[Human Action]]'' online edition, [[Mises Institute]]. Referenced 2009-04-24}.</ref> Proponents of this method, [[praxeology]], argue that the only means of arriving at a valid economic theory is to derive it logically from basic principles of human action. Proponents of this method hold that it allows for the discovery of fundamental economic laws valid for all human action. Alongside praxeology, the school has traditionally advocated an interpretive approach to history to address specific historical events.

Austrian economists reject empirical [[Econometrics|statistical methods]] as tools applicable to economics, saying that while it is appropriate in the natural sciences where causal factors can be isolated in laboratory conditions, the actions of human beings are far too complex for this "numerical" treatment as passive non-adaptive subjects. Instead one should isolate the logical processes of human action. Mises called this discipline "[[praxeology]]" – a term he adapted from [[Alfred Espinas]] (but which had been in use by others).<ref>Ludwig von Mises, Nationalökonomie (Geneva: Union, 1940), p. 3; Human Action (Auburn, Ala.: Mises Institute, [1949] 1998), p. 3.</ref>

Mises also argued against the use of empirically derived probability modelling in economics, which became prevalent in finance and other areas of economics in the late 20th century.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mises.org/books/ufofes/ |title=The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science by Ludwig von Mises |publisher=Mises.org |date= |accessdate=2012-08-13}}</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/4128/ The Correct Theory of Probability], Murray Rothbard</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/4979 Why the definition of probability matters], Mark Crowelli</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5352/ What Mises can teach the Quants], Daniel Sanchez</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/media/7496/The-Enduring-Allure-of-Objective-Probability The Enduring Allure of Objective Probability] Robert Mulligan presentation</ref> Instead, the Austrian praxeological method is based on the heavy use of [[deductive reasoning|deductive arguments]] from undeniable, self-evident [[axioms]] or from irrefutable facts about human existence.<ref name="HansHermannHoppe">Hans-Hermann Hoppe, Economic Science and the Austrian Method (Auburn, Ala.: Mises Institute, [1995] 2007), p. 63.</ref> According to Austrians, deductive economic [[thought experiment]], if performed correctly, can yield conclusions that follow irrefutably from the underlying assumptions and could not be discovered by empirical observation or statistical inference.

The Austrian praxeological method is based on the heavy use of logical [[deductive reasoning|deduction]] from what they assert to be undeniable, self-evident [[axioms]] or irrefutable facts about human existence. The primary axiom from which Austrian economists deduce further certain conclusions is the action axiom, which holds that humans take conscious action toward chosen goals.<ref>Hans-Hermann Hoppe, Economic Science and the Austrian Method (Auburn, Ala.: Mises Institute, [1995] 2007), p. 63.</ref>

Austrian school theorists, like [[Ludwig von Mises]], insist that praxeology must be [[positive economics|value-free]]—that the method does not answer the question "should this policy be implemented?", but rather "if this policy is implemented, will it have [[Law of unintended consequences|the effects you intend]]"? However, Austrian economists often make policy recommendations that call for the elimination of government regulations and their policy prescriptions often overlap with [[libertarian]] or [[Anarcho-capitalism|anarcho-capitalist]] solutions. These recommendations are similar to, but further reaching than the [[minarchism|minarchist]] ideas of [[Chicago school of economics|Chicago School]] economists, and frequently address issues that other schools ignore, such as [[monetary reform]].<ref>{{cite book | last = Skousen | first = Mark | title = Vienna & Chicago, Friends or Foes? | publisher = Capital Press/Regnery Pub | location = Washington | year = 2005 | isbn = 0-89526-029-8 }}</ref>

Consistent with this deductive approach, Mises argued against the use of complex mathematical modelling and empirically-derived probabilities in economic models.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mises.org/books/ufofes/ |title=The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science by Ludwig von Mises |publisher=Mises.org |date= |accessdate=2012-08-13}}</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/4128/ The Correct Theory of Probability], Murray Rothbard</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/4979 Why the definition of probability matters], Mark Crowelli</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5352/ What Mises can teach the Quants], Daniel Sanchez</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/media/7496/The-Enduring-Allure-of-Objective-Probability The Enduring Allure of Objective Probability] Robert Mulligan presentation</ref> Instead, his praxeological method is based on [[deductive reasoning|deductive arguments]] from what are considered undeniable, self-evident [[axioms]], or irrefutable facts, about human existence. According to Mises, deductive economic [[thought experiment]], if performed correctly, can yield conclusions that follow irrefutably from the underlying assumptions and could not be discovered by empirical observation or statistical inference.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mises.org/books/ufofes/ |title=The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science by Ludwig von Mises |publisher=Mises.org |date= |accessdate=2012-08-13}}</ref>

Austrian economists view [[entrepreneurship]] as the driving force in [[economic development]], see [[private property]] as essential to the efficient use of resources, and usually (if not always) see [[government]] interference in market processes as counterproductive.

As with neoclassical economists, Austrian economists reject [[classical economics|classical]] cost of production theories, most famously the [[labor theory of value]]. Instead, they explain value by reference to the [[Subjective theory of value|subjective preferences of individuals]]. This psychological aspect to Menger's economics has been attributed to the school's birth in turn of the century [[Vienna]]. [[Supply and demand]] are explained by aggregating over the decisions of individuals, following the precepts of [[methodological individualism]], which asserts that only individuals and not collectives make decisions, and [[marginalist]] arguments, which compare the costs and benefits for incremental changes.

[[Frank van Dun]] outlines the basic difference between the methods:
: The central dogma of [[positivism]] in fields such as “law” and “economics” is that every order is artificial. There are no [[natural order]]s, or, if there are, they are not suitable objects of scientific investigation. Consequently, persons can be admitted as objects of study only if they are disguised as artificial persons. In economics, positivism typically involves the personification of “theoretical constructs” (for example, utility functions) constrained by the rules of a model or a simulation. It fits the profile of a technology of want-satisfaction that characterises modern neo-classical and mainstream economics, but obviously is useless for the anarchocapitalists’ program of research into the conditions of order and disorder of the real human world.<ref>Frank van Dun. [http://www2.units.it/etica/2003_2/index.html ''Natural Law: A Logical Analysis'']. Etica & Politica, 2003.2. Dipartimento di Filosofia, Lingue e Letterature, Università di Trieste.</ref>

===Criticism of mainstream practices===
Austrians consider their methodology to be superior to mainstream economists' attempts to mimic the "hard' sciences through what Austrians consider to be a "naive" [[empiricism]]. This "naive" attempt by the mainstream academic community to mimic the hard sciences through econometrics has had questionable results. German economist, banker and Keynesian critic, L. Albert Hahn, noted the following in October 1952:<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/3582 Keynesians Can't Predict], L. Albert Hahn, ''The Freeman'', October 6, 1952</ref>

{{quote|It is seldom realized that belief in the possibility of "scientific" business forecasts, and the forecasting mania of our time, are comparatively new phenomena. Until about 1930 serious economists were not so bold — or so naive — as to pretend to be able to calculate the coming of booms and depressions in advance. It would not have fitted into their general view on the working of a free economy. They considered the economic future as basically dependent on unpredictable price-cost relationships and on the equally unpredictable psychological reactions of entrepreneurs. Predictions of future business conditions would have seemed to them mere charlatanry, just as predictions, say, regarding the resolutions of Congress two years from now... The basic error of the whole approach lies in the fact that the causative link between objective data and the decision of the members of the community are treated as mechanical. But men are still men and not automatons... Insufficiently educated in the history of economic thought, they [Anglo-American economists] do not realize that Keynesianism — down to the most technical details, like the concept of the foreign exchange multiplier — is mercantilism or, more precisely, John Lawism pure and simple... Reading, quoting, praising, and promoting each other, and only each other, will not liberate these economists from their voluntary isolationism. They will remain in their dream world. They will continue to predict the unpredictable.}}

Mainstream economists mostly ignore the Austrian assertion that prediction in economics is inherently impossible and continue to focus on mathematical modelling of the economy derived from simplified assumptions about human behaviour and preferences.<ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig11/rosen-e1.1.1.html What is the Current State of Economic Science?], Erwin Rosen</ref> However, in the past some mainstream economists and central bankers held similar views to those of the Austrians, eschewing econometric analysis and disparaging attempts to control statistical data that were not amenable to central control and direction (or prediction).<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5146/Over-to-You-H-Parker-Willis Over To You H. Parker Willis], James Grant</ref> For example, H. Parker Willis co-authored the 1936 text ''The Theory and Practice of Central Banking'' and wrote the following:

{{quote|Central banks will do wisely to lay aside their inexpert ventures in half-baked monetary theory, meretricious statistical measures of trade, and hasty grinding of the axes of speculative interests with their suggestion that by so doing they are achieving some sort of vague 'stabilization' that will, in the long run, be for the greater good.}}

In their rejection of mainstream practices, Austrians have long argued that mainstream economic models have a very poor record of prediction, citing the [[Global Financial Crisis]] as one of many examples of the utter uselessness of theoretical economic modelling - and risk analysis - just when it is needed most.<ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig11/rosen-e1.1.1.html What is the Current State of Economic Science?], Erwin Rosen</ref><ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/thornton/thornton38.html You Heard It Here First], Mark Thornton, LRC</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/media/4019 Business Cycles and Prediction, Mark Thornton]</ref> However, some Austrian adherents have themselves been labeled as "Chicken Littles" for continually making predictions of "catastrophic" financial crises.<ref>[http://www.goldensextant.com/SavingtheSystem.html Saving the System], Robert K. Landis</ref><ref>{{cite news
|last=Brodie
|first=Lee
|title=Is This Market Heading For A Serious Correction?
|date=2009-08-17
|work=CNBC
|url=http://www.cnbc.com/id/32441070/Is_This_Market_Heading_For_A_Serious_Correction }}
</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPxYg6mgGpE Inflation is There], Peter Schiff</ref>

==Contributions==
Some significant general contributions of Austrian economists are listed below:
* The Regression Thereom of Money, wherein Mises hypothesized that the creation of money is a time-dependent process where market participants, by spontaneously engaging in barter and trading goods, quickly reach a market-based consensus regarding what should be commonly accepted as a medium of exchange in that market. An item becomes "money" based primarily on participants' subjective values - their past experience of ''other'' traders accepting this "good" as money - and their expectation that it will be accepted by others in future. If people stop trusting that others will accept this item in future, this item can lose its tradeability - or "moneyness" - suddenly and immediately.
* A fundamental rejection of mathematical methods in economics, seeing the function of economics as investigating the essences rather than the specific quantities of economic phenomena. This was seen as an evolutionary, or "genetic-causal", approach against the alleged "unreality" and internal stresses inherent in the "static" approach of [[economic equilibrium|equilibrium]] and [[perfect competition]], which are the foundations of mainstream Neoclassical economics (see also [[praxeology]]). This methodology is also driven by the belief that [[econometrics]] is inherently misleading in that it creates a fallacious "precision" in economics where there is none.
* [[Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk]]'s critique of [[Karl Marx|Marx]], which centered on the untenability of the [[labor theory of value]] in the light of the [[transformation problem]]. There was also the connected argument that capitalists do not exploit workers; they ''accommodate'' workers by providing them with income well in advance of the revenue from the output they helped to produce.
* Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk's demonstration that the law of marginal utility, as formulated by [[Carl Menger|Menger]] necessarily implies the classical law of costs and hence the vast majority of the conclusions of the British [[classical economists]]. This discovery was later fully developed and its implications traced by a student of [[Ludwig von Mises|von Mises]], [[George Reisman]], in his book, ''Capitalism''.
* An emphasis on [[opportunity cost]] and reservation demand in defining [[marginal theory of value|value]], and a refusal to consider supply as an otherwise independent cause of value.<ref>"Values are not seen (as they are in Marshallian economics) as ''jointly'' determined by subjective (utility) and objective (physical cost) considerations. Rather, values are seen as determined ''solely'' by the actions of consumers... Cost is seen (by Menger, and especially by Wieser...) merely as prospective utility deliberately sacrificed (in order to command more highly preferred utility)." Israel M. Kirzner, "The Austrian School of Economics", ''The New Palgrave: Dictionary of Economics'' (1987)</ref> (The British economist [[Philip Wicksteed]] adopted this perspective.)
* The Mises-Hayek [[business cycle]] theory, which is asserted as explaining depression as a reaction to an intertemporal production structure fostered by [[monetary policy]] setting [[interest rate]]s inconsistent with individual time preferences.
* Mises and Hayek's view of prices as permitting agents to make use of [[dispersed knowledge|dispersed tacit knowledge]].
* The [[time preference theory of interest]], which explains interest rates through [[intertemporal choice]] - the different time preferences of the borrower or lender - rather than as a price paid for a [[factor of production]].
* The [[economic calculation debate]] between Austrian and [[Marxist]] economists, with the Austrians claiming that Marxism is flawed because prices could not be set to recognize opportunity costs of factors of production, and so [[socialism]] could not make rational decisions.
* [[Friedrich Hayek]] was one of the few economists who gave warning of a major economic crisis before [[Wall Street Crash of 1929|the great crash]] of 1929.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Making of Modern Economics |last=Skousen |first=Mark |authorlink=Mark Skousen |year=2001 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |isbn=0-7656-0479-5 |page=284 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/1974/press.html |title=The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 1974 |accessdate=2008-10-12 |publisher=[[Nobel Foundation]] |date=1974-10-09 }}</ref> In February 1929, Hayek warned that a coming financial crisis was an unavoidable consequence of reckless monetary expansion.<ref>{{cite book |title= Keynes and Hayek |last= Steele |first=G. R. |year=2001 |publisher= Routledge |isbn= 0-415-25138-9 |page=9 }}</ref>
* Stressing uncertainty in the making of economic decisions, rather than relying on "[[Homo economicus]]" or the rational man who was fully informed of all circumstances impinging on his decisions. The fact that perfect knowledge never exists, means that all economic activity implies risk.
* Seeing the entrepreneurs' role as collecting and evaluating information and acting on risks.
* An emphasis on the forward-looking nature of choice, seeing time as the root of uncertainty within economics (see also [[time preference]]).

==Notable theories==
===Economic calculation problem===
{{Main|Economic calculation problem}}
The economic calculation problem was first proposed by Ludwig von Mises in 1920 and later expounded by Friedrich Hayek.<ref name="Mises">{{cite book |title=Economic calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth |accessdate=2008-09-08 |last=Von Mises |first=Ludwig |authorlink=Ludwig von Mises |year=1990|format=pdf |publisher=[[Ludwig von Mises Institute]] |url=http://mises.org/pdf/econcalc.pdf |isbn=0945466072 }}</ref><ref>F. A. Hayek, (1935), "The Nature and History of the Problem" and "The Present State of the Debate," om in F. A. Hayek, ed. ''Collectivist Economic Planning'', pp. 1–40, 201–243.</ref> The problem referred to is that of how to distribute resources efficiently in an economy. The capitalist or free market solution is to produce and distribute goods and services according to the [[price mechanism]]; Mises and Hayek argued that this is the only viable solution, as the [[price mechanism]] co-ordinates supply and investment decisions most efficiently, favoring the production of desired goods and services and eliminating those goods and services that are not wanted by reducing their prices and thereby rationing the resources given to "unwanted" or inefficient producers. Without the "feedback" information being provided by market prices, centrally planned [[socialism]] lacks a method to efficiently allocate resources over an extended period of time in any market where the [[price mechanism]] is effective (an example where the [[price mechanism]] may not work is in the relatively confined area of [[public goods|public]] and [[common good (economics)|common goods]]). This thereom implies that a [[socialist]] [[planned economy]] could never be sustainable in the long term for the vast bulk of the economy, as huge shortages of desired goods and large surpluses of unwanted goods would continually occur in the economy, resulting in misallocations and dislocations that would eventually cause chaos throughout the economic system. The debate over whether socialism was a viable economic system raged in the 1920s and 1930s, and that specific period of the debate has come to be known by historians of economic thought as ''The Socialist Calculation Debate.''<ref name="School">[http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/essays/paretian/social.htm The socialist calculation debate]</ref>
[[Ludwig von Mises]] argued in a famous 1920 article "[[Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth]]" that the pricing systems in socialist economies were necessarily deficient because if government owned the [[means of production]], then no prices could be obtained for [[capital goods]] as they were merely internal transfers of goods in a socialist system and not "objects of exchange," unlike final goods. Therefore, they were unpriced and hence the system would be necessarily inefficient since the central planners would not know how to allocate the available resources efficiently.<ref name="School" /> This led him to declare "…that rational economic activity is impossible in a socialist commonwealth."<ref name="Mises" />

===Inflation===
{{Main|Inflation}}
The Austrian School has consistently argued that a "traditionalist" approach to inflation yields the most accurate understanding of the causes (and the cure) for [[inflation]]. Austrian economists maintain that inflation is ''by definition'' always and everywhere simply an increase in the [[money supply]] (i.e. units of currency or means of exchange), which in turn leads to a higher nominal price level for assets (such as housing) and other goods and services in demand, as the real value of each monetary unit is eroded, loses purchasing power and thus buys fewer goods and services.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5407/Is-Higher-Inflation-Inevitable Is Higher Inflation Inevitable?], Thorsten Polleit</ref>

Given that all major economies currently have a [[central bank]] supporting the private [[bank]]ing system, money can be supplied into these economies by way of private bank-created credit (or [[debt]]).<ref>[http://mises.org/media/4014 The Economics of Legal Tender Laws], [[Jorg Guido Hulsmann]] (includes detailed commentary on [[central banking]], [[inflation]] and [[fractional reserve banking|FRB]])</ref> Austrian School economists therefore regard the private bankers and the state-sponsored [[central bank]] as the main cause of [[inflation]] in an economy where the bulk of the money supply is created through debt, because they regard the central bank as the institution charged with supporting the banking system and supplying cash to the banking system when needed by the banks.<ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north803.html Why Deflation Is not Inevitable (Sadly)], Gary North</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article25964.html QE is Nothing New], Mike Hewitt</ref>

The Austrian School also views the "contemporary" definition of [[inflation]] as inherently misleading in that it draws attention only to the ''effect'' of inflation (rising prices) and does not address the "true" phenomenon of [[inflation]], which they believe simply involves the debasement of the means of exchange. They argue that this semantic difference is important in defining inflation and finding a cure for inflation.<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article25964.html QE is Nothing New], Mike Hewitt</ref> Austrian School economists maintain the most effective cure is the strict maintenance of a stable money supply.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mises.org/story/908 |title=Defining Inflation |accessdate=2008-09-20 |last=Shostak, Ph.D |first=Frank |date=2002-03-02 |publisher=Mises Institute }}</ref> [[Ludwig von Mises]], the seminal scholar of the Austrian School, asserts that:

<blockquote>
Inflation, as this term was always used everywhere and especially in this country, means increasing the quantity of money and bank notes in circulation and the quantity of bank deposits subject to check. But people today use the term `inflation' to refer to the phenomenon that is an inevitable consequence of inflation, that is the tendency of all prices and wage rates to rise. The result of this deplorable confusion is that there is no term left to signify the cause of this rise in prices and wages. There is no longer any word available to signify the phenomenon that has been, up to now, called inflation. . . . As you cannot talk about something that has no name, you cannot fight it. Those who pretend to fight inflation are in fact only fighting what is the inevitable consequence of inflation, rising prices. Their ventures are doomed to failure because they do not attack the root of the evil. They try to keep prices low while firmly committed to a policy of increasing the quantity of money that must necessarily make them soar. As long as this terminological confusion is not entirely wiped out, there cannot be any question of stopping inflation.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Ludwig |last=von Mises |chapter=Economic Freedom and Interventionism |editor1-first=Bettina B. |editor1-last=Greaves |title=Economics of Mobilization |publisher=The Commercial and Financial Chronicle |location=Sulphur Springs, West Virginia |pages= |year=1980 |isbn= |chapterurl=http://mises.org/efandi/ch20.asp |ref=harv}}</ref>
</blockquote>

Austrian economists tend to measure the inflation by calculating the growth of what they call 'the true money supply', i.e. how many new units of money that are available for immediate use in exchange, that have been created over time.<ref>Ludwig von Mises Institute, "[http://mises.org/content/nofed/chart.aspx?series=TMS True Money Supply]"</ref><ref>Joseph T. Salerno, (1987), Austrian Economic Newsletter, "[http://www.mises.org/journals/aen/aen6_4_1.pdf The "True" Money Supply: A Measure of the Medium of Exchange in the U.S. Economy]"</ref><ref>Frank Shostak, (2000), "[http://www.mises.org/journals/qjae/pdf/qjae3_4_3.pdf The Mystery of the Money Supply Definition]"</ref>

Austrian School economists claim that the state uses subtle forms of inflation as one of the three means by which it can fund its activities, the other two being taxing and borrowing.<ref>[[Lew Rockwell]], interview on "[http://mises.org:88/Now NOW with Bill Moyers]"</ref> Because of the disruptive and dislocating effects of inflation, many Austrian School economists support the abolition of the [[central bank]]s and the [[fractional-reserve banking]] system, and advocate instead a return to money based on the [[gold standard]], or less frequently, [[free banking]].<ref>Ludwig von Mises Institute, "[http://mises.org/books/goldstandard.pdf The Gold Standard]"</ref><ref>Ron Paul, "[http://mises.org/books/caseforgold.pdf The Case for Gold]"</ref> Money could only be created by finding and putting into circulation more gold under a [[gold standard]]. In the absence of a return to commodity money, many Austrian analysts predict catastrophe for the economy. For example, Austrian commentator Robert K. Landis has written the following:<ref>[http://www.goldensextant.com/SavingtheSystem.html Saving The System], Robert K. Landis</ref>

<blockquote> No, the die is cast: we shall have the catastrophe. Our fiat monetary system got a reprieve in the 1980's, not a deliverance. All that has happened since, with the fantastic mispricing of credit the Greenspan Fed has engineered, and the massive global malinvestment this has engendered, is that the dimensions of the unraveling have become more dire.

Mises called this one too:

"Certainly, the banks would be able to postpone the collapse; but nevertheless, as has been shown, the moment must eventually come when no further extension of the circulation of fiduciary media is possible. Then the catastrophe occurs, and its consequences are the worse and the reaction against the bull tendency of the market the stronger, the longer the period during which the rate of interest on loans has been below the natural rate of interest and the greater the extent to which roundabout processes of production that are not justified by the state of the capital market have been adopted."

With respect to the form the denouement will take, much has been written within the gold community on the subject of whether we face hyperinflation or deflationary depression as the prelude to monetary collapse. Both sides of the debate appear to accept the premise that whatever may transpire will bear a linear relationship to what now exists. The disagreement centers on the direction the line will go. But today's markets are fully linked by derivatives and technology, and they are patrolled by wolf packs of large, leveraged speculators not noted for their patient outlook. So it seems likely that the terminal monetary crisis will unfold on virtually an instantaneous and discontinuous basis, once the fog of statistical deceit and false market cues begins to lift and a clear trend either way becomes evident. We are not likely to enjoy the luxury of observing either a deflation or an inflation unfold in the fullness of time, but rather, just as Mises foretold, a final and total catastrophe of our fiat monetary system. All we can hope is that once the curtain falls on the current system, the wisdom in the gold bugs' submissions to the Gold Commission will finally find a receptive audience.</blockquote>

Advocates argue that the abolition of legal tender laws and the spontaneous return to a gold or silver monetary system would effectively constrain unsustainable and volatile [[fractional-reserve banking]] practices, ensuring that [[money supply]] growth ("[[inflation]]") would never spiral out of control.<ref>Murray Rothbard, "[http://mises.org/rothbard/100percent.pdf The Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar]"</ref><ref>Ludwig von Mises Institute, "[http://mises.org/story/2870 Money, Banking and the Federal Reserve]"</ref>

In relation to the current [[central bank]]-managed [[fractional reserve banking|fractional reserve]] [[fiat currency]] [[debt-based monetary system|system]], Austrian economist [[Murray Rothbard]] stated the following:<ref>Rothbard, Murray. [http://www.mises.org/Books/mysteryofbanking.pdf ''The Mystery of Banking''], p. 261</ref>

{{quote|Given this dismal monetary and banking situation, given a 39:1 pyramiding of checkable deposits and currency on top of gold, given a Fed unchecked and out of control, given a world of fiat moneys, how can we possibly return to a sound noninflationary market money? The objectives, after the discussion in this work, should be clear: (a) to return to a gold standard, a commodity standard unhampered by government intervention; (b) to abolish the Federal Reserve System and return to a system of free and competitive banking; (c) to separate the government from money; and (d) either to enforce 100 percent reserve banking on the commercial banks, or at least to arrive at a system where any bank, at the slightest hint of nonpayment of its demand liabilities, is forced quickly into bankruptcy and liquidation. While the outlawing of fractional reserve as fraud would be preferable if it could be enforced, the problems of enforcement, especially where banks can continually innovate in forms of credit, make free banking an attractive alternative.}}

[[Ludwig von Mises]] asserted that, in addition to reducing the serverity of business cycles and eliminating inflation, civil liberties would be better protected through a return to the gold standard:

<blockquote>
It is impossible to grasp the meaning of the idea of [[sound money]] if one does not realize that it was devised as an instrument for the protection of civil liberties against despotic inroads on the part of governments. Ideologically it belongs in the same class with political constitutions and bills of rights. The demand for constitutional guarantees and for bills of rights was a reaction against arbitrary rule and the nonobservance of old customs by kings.<ref>{{cite book |last=von Mises |first=Ludwig |authorlink=Ludwig von Mises |coauthors= |title=The Theory of Money and Credit |publisher=Liberty Fund, Inc. |date=1981-07-01 |location= |pages=Chapter 21 |url=http://mises.org/story/2276 |doi= |id= |isbn=0-913966-71-1 |nopp=true }}</ref>
</blockquote>

===Business cycles===
{{Main|Austrian Business Cycle Theory}}
The Austrian School is one of the few schools of economic thought that considers different forms of money to be "non-neutral" - meaning that changes in the money supply can have real economic effects, disrupting the price mechanism and causing "ripple" effects throughout the economy. Mainstream theories generally consider money to be "neutral" (in other words, they consider that changes in the money supply do not have significant effects on the real economy). According to Austrian School economist [[Joseph Salerno]], what most distinctly sets the Austrian school apart from [[neoclassical economics]] is the [[Austrian Business Cycle Theory]]:<ref>{{Cite journal
| last = Salerno
| first = Joseph
| author-link = Joseph Salerno
| title = Why We're Winning: An Interview with Joseph T. Salerno
| journal = The Austrian Economics Newsletter
| volume = 16
| issue = 3
| pages =
| date =
| origyear =
| year = 1996
| month =
| url = http://mises.org/journals/aen/aen16_3_1.asp
| archiveurl =
| archivedate =
| doi =
| id =
| ref = harv }}
</ref>
{{quote|The Austrian theory embodies all the distinctive Austrian traits: the theory of heterogeneous capital, the structure of production, the passage of time, sequential analysis of monetary interventionism, the market origins and function of the interest rate, and more. And it tells a compelling story about an area of history neoclassicals think of as their turf. The model of applying this theory remains [[Murray Rothbard|Rothbard]]'s ''[[America's Great Depression]]''.}}

Austrian School economists focus on the changes in the money supply and the associated credit cycle as the primary cause of most business cycles. Austrian economists assert that the pernicious monetary effects of [[fractional reserve banking]] are the predominant cause of most business cycles, as the inflating effects of the practice result in lower interest rates than would prevail in a stable money system, thereby causing excessive credit creation, speculative "[[economic bubble|bubbles]]" and "artificially" low savings.<ref>Thorsten Polleit, [http://mises.org/story/2810 Manipulating the Interest Rate: a Recipe for Disaster], 13 December 2007</ref>

According to the Austrian School business cycle theory, the business cycle unfolds in the following way:

Fractional reserve banking continually causes inflation through the "artificial" lowering of interest rates (compared to what they would be in a stable money environment).<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5407/Is-Higher-Inflation-Inevitable Is Higher Inflation Inevitable?], Thorsten Polleit</ref> This can occur indefinitely with the aid and assistance of the central bank. Low interest rates encourage fresh borrowing and new credit creation, thereby increasing the short term profitability of the banking system. But this expansion of credit also causes an expansion of the [[money supply|supply of money]], through the [[money creation]] process in a [[fractional reserve banking]] system and misallocates resources, skewing production to "unwanted" capital goods industries and encouraging Ponzi-like speculation. This artificial increase in money and credit inevitably leads to an unsustainable "credit-fuelled boom" during which the "artificially stimulated" borrowing seeks out diminishing investment opportunities and causes widespread [[malinvestment]]s, where capital resources are misallocated into areas that would not attract investment if the money supply remained stable.

[[Murray Rothbard]] used the concept of malinvesment and the distorting effects of bank-induced credit creation to study the [[Great Depression]] is his [[historical revisionism|revisionist]] work, ''[[America's Great Depression]]'':<ref>[[Murray Rothbard]], [http://mises.org/rothbard/agd/chapter1.asp#cluster_of_error|''America's Great Depression'', 2005, 5th Edition, Ludwig von Mises Institute, Chapter 1, ''The Cluster of Error''].</ref>

{{quote|A credit expansion may appear to render submarginal capital profitable once more, but this too will be malinvestment, and the now greater error will be exposed when this boom is over. Thus, credit expansion generates the business cycle regardless of the existence of unemployed factors. Credit expansion in the midst of unemployment will create more distortions and malinvestments, delay recovery from the preceding boom, and make a more grueling recovery necessary in the future. While it is true that the unemployed factors are not now diverted from more valuable uses as employed factors would be (since they were speculatively idle or malinvested instead of employed), the other complementary factors will be diverted into working with them, and these factors will be malinvested and wasted. Moreover, all the other distorting effects of credit expansion will still follow, and a depression will be necessary to correct the new distortion.}}

Austrian School economists argue that a correction or "[[credit crunch]]" – commonly called a "[[recession]]" or "bust" – occurs when credit creation cannot be sustained. They claim that the [[money supply]] suddenly and sharply contracts when markets finally "clear", causing resources to be reallocated back toward more efficient uses.

Economist [[Steve H. Hanke]] identifies the [[Great Recession|financial crisis of 2007–2010]] as the direct outcome of the Federal Reserve Bank's interest rate policies as is predicted by Austrian school economic theory.<ref>{{Cite web |url= http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10100 |title=The Fed's Modus Operandi: Panic | Cato Institute: Commentary |first=Steve H. |last=Hanke |work=cato.org |accessdate=17 July 2010 }}</ref> Some analysts such as Jerry Tempelman have also argued that the predictive and explanatory power of ABCT in relation to the recent [[Global Financial Crisis]] has reaffirmed its status and, perhaps, cast into question the utility of mainstream theories and critiques.<ref>[http://mises.org/journals/qjae/pdf/qjae13_1_1.pdf ABCT and the GFC: Confessions of a Mainstream Economist] by Jerry Tempelman</ref>

===Monetary Reform===
{{Main|Debt-based monetary system}}
The Austrian School is currently the only major school of economic thought that advocates radical monetary reform and actively debates the efficacy of fundamental banking reform.<ref>See for example these [[Murray Rothbard]] articles: [http://www.mises.org/money.asp What Has Government Done to Our Money?], [http://www.mises.org/story/1829 The Case for the 100% Gold Dollar]; [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/cartelization.pdf The Fed as Cartel], [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard191.html Private Coinage], [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard190.html Repudiate the National Debt]; [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard181.html Taking Money Back], [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard163.html Anatomy of the Bank Run], [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard128.html Money and the Individual]</ref>

All other schools of economic thought (including Keynesian, monetarist and neo-classical) implicitly accept the current monopoly fiat money and central bank-dominated financial system as optimal - or at least as not actively destructive of the economy.<ref>[http://mises.org/story/3108 Sound Money], [[Lew Rockwell]]</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/story/1971 Our Money Madness], [[Lew Rockwell]]</ref> This is based on the mainstream idea of "money neutrality" - the idea that inflation does not have real economic effects over the long term and does not significantly distort real resource allocation.<ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/wenzel/wenzel87.1.html Senior Fed Economist Calls Ron Paul a Pinhead], Robert Wenzel</ref>

Austrian scholars, on the other hand, uniformly see coercive legal tender laws (which inevitably force people to use the national fiat currency as money) and the current fractional-reserve financial system as an extremely dysfunctional and disruptive influence on the economy.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5407/Is-Higher-Inflation-Inevitable Is Higher Inflation Inevitable?], Thorsten Polleit</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/story/3108 Sound Money], [[Lew Rockwell]]</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/story/1971 Our Money Madness], [[Lew Rockwell]]</ref> Through the centralized control of interest rates, through the arbitrary diversion of scarce resources to repeatedly bail out the "too big to fail" banks, through the manipulation of financial markets via the buying of government bonds (so called "quantitative easing"), Austrian scholars see coercive legal tender laws, central banking and the current financial system generally as a source of continual disruption in the price discovery mechanism, misleading investors and market participants and ultimately causing continual and ongoing misallocations in scarce resource distribution, resulting in massive [[malinvestment]]s and wrenching and disruptive business cycles.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5407/Is-Higher-Inflation-Inevitable Is Higher Inflation Inevitable?], Thorsten Polleit</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/4880 The Faults of Fractional-Reserve Banking], Thorsten Polleit</ref>

However, Austrian scholars are divided on the optimal solution to this urgent problem.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/4898 ''Free Banking''], review by John P. Cochran</ref>

Some Austrian scholars advocate "free banking", where banks are permitted to engage in fractional-reserve banking activities provided they comply with the laws against fraud and are not supported in any way against the possibility of bank runs and are forced into bankruptcy should they not be able to pay their debts as and when they fall due.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/4898 ''Free Banking''], review by John P. Cochran</ref>

Advocates of this system of banking include Lawrence White, Steven Horwitz, George Selgin, and Kevin Dowd, amongst others.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/4898 ''Free Banking''], review by John P. Cochran</ref> F.A. Hayek also advocated the de-nationalization of money production and implicitly supported a free banking financial system in some of his works on monetary reform.<ref>[http://www.mises.org/store/Free-Market-Monetary-System-A-P553.aspx?AFID=14 ''Free Market Money System''] by [[F.A. Hayek]]</ref>

Other Austrian scholars advocate "full-reserve banking", considering fractional-reserve banking to be inherently unethical, disruptive and dysfunctional, akin to embezzlement.<ref>See for example these [[Murray Rothbard]] articles: [http://www.mises.org/money.asp What Has Government Done to Our Money?], [http://www.mises.org/story/1829 The Case for the 100% Gold Dollar]; [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/cartelization.pdf The Fed as Cartel], [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard191.html Private Coinage], [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard190.html Repudiate the National Debt]; [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard181.html Taking Money Back], [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard163.html Anatomy of the Bank Run], [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard128.html Money and the Individual]</ref> [[Full reserve banking]] would require banks to retain in reserve all deposits that are legally available for immediate withdrawal, and permit lending only from longer-term deposits.

Advocates of this system of banking include [[Murray Rothbard]],<ref name="The Mystery of Banking">[http://www.mises.org/Books/mysteryofbanking.pdf ''The Mystery of Banking''], Murray Rothbard</ref><ref name="The Case for a 100% Gold Dollar">[http://mises.org/story/1829 The Case for a 100% Gold Dollar], Murray Rothbard</ref> [[Jesus Huerta de Soto]],<ref>[http://www.mises.org/books/desoto.pdf ''Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles''], Jesus Huerta de Soto, First English edition (2006), pp. 98-114</ref> and [[Jörg Guido Hülsmann]],<ref>[http://mises.org/media/4014 The Economics of Legal Tender Laws], [[Jorg Guido Hulsmann]] (includes detailed commentary on [[central banking]], [[inflation]] and [[fractional reserve banking|FRB]])</ref><ref name=FBFB>[http://mises.org/journals/rae/pdf/RAE9_1_1.pdf Free Banking and the Free Bankers], Jörg Guido Hülsmann, Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics (Vol. 9, No. 1)</ref><ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/lewrockwell-show/2011/01/04/181-hyperinflation-ahead/ Interview with Jörg Guido Hülsmann], The Lew Rockwell Show</ref> amongst others.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/4880 The Faults of Fractional-Reserve Banking], Thorsten Polleit</ref>

==Criticism of the Austrian School==
Critics argue that modern Austrian economics generally lacks scientific rigor,<ref name="white1">{{Cite journal |title=The research program of Austrian economics |publisher=Emerald Group Publishing Limited |first=Lawrence H. |last=White |journal=Advances in Austrian Economics |year=2008 |pages=20 |url=http://www.emeraldinsight.com/books.htm?chapterid=1775479&show=pdf}}</ref> which forms the basis of the most prominent criticism of the school. Austrian theories are not formulated in formal mathematical form,<ref>{{cite web |first=Deborah L. |last=Walker |title=Austrian Economics |publisher=Library of Economics and Liberty |url=http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc1/AustrianEconomics.html |accessdate=2010-01-23 }}</ref> but by using mainly verbal logic and self-evident axioms. Mainstream economists believe that this makes Austrian theories too imprecisely defined to be clearly used to explain or predict real world events. Economist [[Bryan Caplan]] noted that, "what prevents Austrian economists from getting more publications in mainstream journals is that their papers rarely use [[mathematics]] or [[econometrics]]."

There are also criticisms of specific Austrian theories. For example, Nobel laureate [[Milton Friedman]], after examining the history of business cycles in the US, concluded that "The Hayek-Mises explanation of the business cycle is contradicted by the evidence. It is, I believe, false."<ref name="Friedman1969">{{cite book|last=Friedman |first=Milton |title=The Optimal Quantity of Money and Other Essays |publisher=Aldine |location=Chicago |pages=261–284 |chapter=The Monetary Studies of the National Bureau, 44th Annual Report}}</ref><ref name="Friedman93">{{cite journal|last=Friedman|first=Milton|title=The 'Plucking Model' of Business Fluctuations Revisited|journal=Economic Inquiry|pages=171–177|url=http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1465-7295.1993.tb00874.x/abstract}}</ref><ref name="Friedman_ABCT_false">{{cite book|last=Friedman |first=Milton |title=The Optimal Quantity of Money and Other Essays |publisher=Aldine |location=Chicago |pages=261–284 |chapter=The Monetary Studies of the National Bureau, 44th Annual Report | quote=The Hayek-Mises explanation of the business cycle is contradicted by the evidence. It is, I believe, false. }}</ref> In addition to Milton Friedman's criticism, noted liberal [[Neo-Keynesian Economics|neo-Keynesian]] economist [[Paul Krugman]] has criticized the theory.<ref name="Krugman">{{cite web|url=http://www.slate.com/id/9593 |title=The Hangover Theory |last=Krugman |first=Paul |date=1998-12-04 |publisher=Slate |accessdate=2008-06-20}}</ref>

[[Jeffrey Sachs]] has argued that high tax rates and a "mixed" economy (with some "socialist" elements such as high levels of social welfare transfer payments) appears to have generated higher growth rates in the second half of the 20 century - which appears to run counter to the Austrians' assertion that strong deference to private property rights (and therefore low tax rates) are essential for a properly functioning free market economy. Sachs asserts that poverty rates are lower, median income is higher, the government budget has larger surpluses, and the trade balance is stronger (although unemployment tends to be higher).<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Social Welfare State, Beyond Ideology |last=Sachs|first=Jeffrey |date=October 2006 |journal=Scientific American |url=http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-social-welfare-state |accessdate=2008-06-20|ref=harv }}</ref> In response to Sachs' article, [[William Easterly]] states that Hayek, writing in 1944, correctly recognized the dangers of large-scale state economic planning. He also questions the validity of comparing poverty levels in the Nordic countries and the United States, when the former have been moving away from social planning toward a more market-based economy, and the latter has historically taken in impoverished immigrants.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116355956112023480.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries|title=Dismal Science|accessdate=2008-09-07|author=[[William Easterly]]
|date=2006-11-15|publisher=[[The Wall Street Journal]]}}</ref>

==Seminal works==
* ''[[Principles of Economics]]'' (1871) by [[Carl Menger]]
* ''[[Capital and Interest]]'' (1884–1921) by [[Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk]]
* ''[[Human Action]]'' (1940–1949) by [[Ludwig von Mises]]
* ''[[Economics in One Lesson]]'' (1946) by [[Henry Hazlitt]]
* ''[[Individualism and Economic Order]]'' (1948) by [[Friedrich Hayek]]
* ''[[Man, Economy, and State]]'' (1962) by [[Murray Rothbard|Murray N. Rothbard]]
* ''[[Competition and Entrepreneurship]]'' (1973) by [[Israel Kirzner|Israel M. Kirzner]]

==See also==
* ''[[The Austrian School of Economics]]''
* ''[[An Introduction to Economic Reasoning‎]]''
* ''[[An Introduction to Austrian Economics]]''
* ''[[The Historical Setting of the Austrian School of Economics]]''
* ''[[Austrian Economics: An Anthology]]''
* ''[[Economic Science and the Austrian Method]]''

==References==
{{Reflist|3}}

==Links==
{{store|http://mises.org/store/Home-Study-Course-in-Austrian-Economics-P211.aspx|Home Study Course in Austrian Economics|https://mises.org/store/The-Framework-P10468.aspx|The Framework}}
{{Academy|http://academy.mises.org/courses/ae1/|Austrian Economics 1: Praxeology through Price Theory|http://academy.mises.org/courses/production/|Production and the Market Process|http://academy.mises.org/courses/money-monopoly-market-intervention/|Money, Monopoly, and Market Intervention|http://academy.mises.org/courses/microeconomics/|Austrian Microeconomics}}
===Writings===
* What is economics (Austrian perspective)
** [http://mises.org/daily/987 "What is Economics? Why Study It?"] by [[Gene Callahan]] (excerpt from ''[[Economics for Real People]]'')
** [http://mises.org/daily/6118 "What Is Economics?"] by [[Percy L. Greaves, Jr.]] (excerpt from ''[[Understanding the Dollar Crisis]]'')
** [http://mises.org/daily/1294 "Why Study Economics?"] by Stephen Carson, April 2003
** {{md|2025|What Is A Priori Science, and Why Does Economics Qualify As One?|Gene Callahan|February 2006}}
** {{mb|8056|The Real Problem With Non-Austrian Economics|Stefan Karlsson|April 2008}}

* Austrian School tenets & methodology
** [http://mises.org/etexts/austrian.asp What is Austrian Economics?] from the [[Mises Institute]] (republished in Mises About [http://mises.org/about/3223 here])
** [http://mises.org/resources/1200 "Why Austrian Economics Matters"] by [[Lew Rockwell]]
** [http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/AustrianSchoolofEconomics.html Austrian School of Economics] from The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics
** [http://homepage.newschool.edu/het//schools/austrian.htm The Austrian School] from the History of Economic Thought page
** [http://mises.org/daily/5091 "The Austrian School in Brief"] by Schulak and Unterköfler (excerpt from ''[[The Austrian School of Economics]]'')
** {{md|1665|To Be an Austrian: A Primer|Sean Corrigan|November 2004}}
** [http://mises.org/daily/3561 Understanding "Austrian" Economics] by [[Henry Hazlitt]], February 1981
** [http://mises.org/daily/4390 A Primer on Austrian Economics] by Jonathan M. Finegold Catalan, June 2010
** [http://www.cobdencentre.org/literature/primer/ Austrian economics primer] list of resources by [[Cobden Centre]]
** [http://www.tomwoods.com/blog/austrian-economics-is-unscientific/ Austrian Economics Is ‘Unscientific’] by [[Tom Woods]], November 2011
** [http://www.tomwoods.com/blog/austrian-economists-called-unscientific/ Austrian Economists Called ‘Unscientific’] [[Jeffrey M. Herbener]] interview by Tom Woods, August 2012
** [http://mises.org/daily/3512 "Mises Introduces the Austrian School"] (Excerpt from [[Memoirs (Mises)|Memoirs]])
** "Ludwig von Mises and the Austrian School of Economics" ([http://mises.org/journals/rae/pdf/rae5_2_2.pdf PDF]) by Jeffrey M. Herbener, 1991
** [http://mises.org/resources/1004 "Hermeneutics vs. Austrian Economics"] by [[David Gordon]], 1986
** [http://blog.mises.org/15965/adventures-in-austrian-economics/ "Adventures in Economics"] Interview with [[Richard M. Ebeling]], March 2011
** [http://mises.org/resources/204/ "The Austrian School and the Theory of Value"] by [[Friedrich Wieser]], 1891
** [http://mises.org/resources/976/ "Austrian School of Economics at the University of Vienna"] lecture by Ludwig von Mises, May 1962
** [http://mises.org/daily/2200 "The Philosophical Origins of Austrian Economics"] by David Gordon, 1994
** [http://ontology.buffalo.edu/smith/articles/menger.html "Aristotle, Menger, Mises: An Essay in the Metaphysics of Economics"] by Barry Smith, 1990
** [http://lewrockwell.com/block/block221.html Is Austrian Economics a Cult?] by Walter Block, April 2013

* Collections
** [http://mises.org/literature.aspx?action=subject&Id=1 Overview of the Austrian School of Economics] literature collection at [[Mises.org]]
** [http://mises.org/literature.aspx?action=subject&Id=116 Austrian core] literature collection at Mises.org
** [http://mises.org/literature.aspx?Id=3&action=subject Methodological Foundations] literature collection at Mises.org
** [http://mises.org/literature.aspx?action=subject&Id=127 Austrian Methodology for the Social Sciences] literature collection at Mises.org
** [http://www.fee.org/category/intro-to-austrian-economics/ Intro to Austrian Economics Category] article collection at [[Foundation for Economic Education|FEE.org]]

* {{wplink}}

===Recommendations===
* [http://mises.org/store/For-Beginners-C9.aspx "For Beginners"] - Mises Store reading list
* [http://www.garynorth.com/public/3112.cfm "Ten Steps to Understand Austrian Economic Theory"] - [[Gary North]] recommended reading list (in order of difficulty)
* [http://blog.mises.org/8831/how-do-i-get-started-with-austrian-economics/ "How Do I Get Started with Austrian Economics?"] by [[Thomas E. Woods]], October 2008
* [http://austrianomics.com "Learn Austrian Economics"] - Tom Woods' recommended reading list
** {{mb|19148|Learn Austrian Economics|Justin Ptak|November 2011}}
*"[http://www.cobdencentre.org/2010/06/review-how-an-economy-grows-and-why-it-crashes/ And Then There Were Three]" by Andy Duncan, June 2010

===Media and interactive===
{{See also|Where to study Austrian Economics}}
* [http://academy.mises.org/ Mises Academy]
* [http://mises.org/classroom/default.asp The Mises Classroom] - study in Austrian economics and libertarian theory ([http://mises.org/resources/2022/ MP3 downloads])([http://mises.org/HSCAE/lessonplan.pdf PDF Lesson Plan & Study Guide])
** [http://mises.org/freemarket_detail.aspx?control=562 "Why Home Study?"] by [[Robert P. Murphy]] (republished as Mises Daily [http://mises.org/daily/1901 here])
* [http://mises.org/media.aspx?action=category&ID=89 Introduction to Austrian Economic Analysis] lecture series with [[Joseph T. Salerno]]
* [http://mises.org/media/category/176The-Austrian-School-of-Economics-An-Introduction The Austrian School of Economics: An Introduction] lecture series
* [http://vforvoluntary.com/austrian-economics Austrian economics lectures] (selected lectures, including "Introduction to Austrian Economics" by [[Jörg Guido Hülsmann]] and [[Hans-Hermann Hoppe]])([http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=1AD95D0593508BD8 YouTube])
* [http://mises.org/media/5618/media.aspx?action=author&ID=1619 "Why Does Economics Matter?"] lecture by [[Mark Thornton]], November 2010
* [http://mises.org/media/4288/The-Core-of-What-Economics-Teaches "The Core of What Economics Teaches"] lecture by [[Bob Murphy]], November 2009
* [http://mises.org/media/6143/The-Core-of-What-Economics-Teaches "The Core of What Economics Teaches"] lecture by [[Mark Thornton]], April 2011
* [http://mises.org/media/5722/Why-Should-We-Care-About-Economic-Theory "Why Should We Care About Economic Theory?"] lecture by [[Lew Rockwell]], January 2011
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e_8H7E3cTo Austrian Economics versus Mainstream Economics] with Mark Thornton, June 2011
* [http://mises.org/quiz.aspx Are You an Austrian?] quiz at Mises.org

[[Category:Austrian School of Economics|*]]

User talk:Karmaisking

2013-04-11T13:45:28Z

NeverSayDie: /* Banking Article */ new section

'''Welcome!'''

Hello, Karmaisking, and welcome to the [[MisesWiki:About|Mises Wiki]]! Thanks for signing up – we're glad to have you, and look forward to seeing your contributions.

Please sign your messages on discussion pages using four tildes (<nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>); this will automatically insert your username and the date. If you need help, just let me know. --[[User:Forgottenman|Forgottenman]] ([[User talk:Forgottenman|talk]]) 20:02, 16 November 2010 (CST)
:Could you please provide the source of what you copied to [[Libertarianism]] so that we can document it for copyright purposes? Thanks! --[[User:Forgottenman|Forgottenman]] ([[User talk:Forgottenman|talk]]) 20:02, 16 November 2010 (CST)

::Hey. It's taken from a very old version (2008) of the Wiki article. The first para is basically me. The rest is a collection of Wiki stuff and me. Hopefully it will evolve quickly to have its own indept presence and the left-wing domination over at Wiki will mean Wiki will evolve the other way. Let's see how it plays out, but I doubt Wiki will have a problem on the copyright issue - certainly not after a few months. Some pictures would be good, but I didn't have the time to import them so will leave that for others to address.

::You may not know, but there's been a shocking multi-year fight over at Wiki over Libertarianism, Austrian School, and lots of other artices. Often the best versions are around 2007-2008 before "The Change" - which is a period where the admins took a turn to the left and academics started infecting the running of Wiki and killing off accurate but controversial versions of various topics. If you mined Wiki around 2008 for lots of Austrian topics it's likely (1) you would get excellent material and (2) you wouldn't be at major risk of any copyright issues in the sense that they've been deleted and vary substantially from the current versions. Moreover as these versions evolve, they will become more independent and on each iteration the risk of copyright problems gets less and less with the contribution of more original material from us. So it's a marginal issue.

::By the way, we need lots of articles that are not necessarily "Austrian" in nature to fill out the contemporary Austrian perspective. Ponzi scheme is one good example. John Law is another. French Revolution is another. Because Austrian arguments for gold build on history, the history needs filling out. I can't do it, but if you have the time, getting a good article on the dynamics of Ponzi and Pyramid schemes would be 90% of the expalanation of the current monetary system worldwide. [[User:Karmaisking|Karmaisking]] 21:52, 16 November 2010 (CST)
:::I can only agree with the historical focus! We already have [[John Law]] and [[Inflation during the French Revolution]], so it's going in the right direction. :) [[User:Pestergaines|Pestergaines]] 04:01, 17 November 2010 (CST)

:::Okay. In general it'd be good to be cautious before copying because WP's license is more restrictive than ours, but it's not a huge difference, and especially not a big deal if you are the author of much of it anyway. When you do copy, though, please put {{tl|Wikipedia text}} at the top of the page (or where the text not written by you starts) so we're aware that that's where it came from.
:::Regarding history, I totally agree – a major goal of this project is to build articles on background subjects, because Austrian Economics is a worldview, not just a set of economic principles. You're right about Ponzi; I'll research it a bit and see if I can come up with something. --[[User:Forgottenman|Forgottenman]] ([[User talk:Forgottenman|talk]]) 07:29, 17 November 2010 (CST)

==Malinvestment==
Hallo Karmaisking, very nice job on the [[Malinvestment]] article! Cheers, [[User:Pestergaines|Pestergaines]] 11:09, 27 November 2010 (CST)
:Thx.[[User:Karmaisking|Karmaisking]] 05:52, 28 November 2010 (CST)

== Bugs in the references ==

Hi Karmaisking, I saw your note regarding references on [[Austrian School of Economics]]. I've looked into that problem and haven't been able to figure out what is causing that. I'll work up some more energy to investigate it again soon, but in the mean time it may be better to simply not use the template, or only use the template for part of the citation. --[[User:Forgottenman|Forgottenman]] ([[User talk:Forgottenman|talk]]) 09:20, 5 January 2011 (CST)

:Thanks. I won't use that format if I can avoid it. [[User:Karmaisking|Karmaisking]] 22:32, 6 January 2011 (CST)

==Criticism of fractional reserve banking - German policy==
Hallo Karmaisking, I came across the following in the '[[Criticism of fractional reserve banking|Criticism]]' article:
:"...it cannot seriously be disputed that the economics of fascism provided a degree of prosperity to the populace, and that the economic policies that were implemented during this period by these fascist governments succeeded in their stated objective of restoring economic and social order during the pre-World War II era."
I strongly toned down the statement, but it still needs revising and the resource is under heavy attack by some authors. (Not surprising given sentences like these!) See a rather intense response from [http://www.garynorth.com/public/7009.cfm Gary North] (he has much more on the many misconceptions in the whole book). I suggest to carefully review the quotes from this author and remove them as necessary. [[User:Pestergaines|Pestergaines]] 06:33, 16 February 2011 (CST)

:Totally understand. It's such a complex issue, I agree the comment needs toning down, but North's (and other's) arguments are a little circular and in any case the whole Brown/North debate is referenced in the article so it's not as though readers can't do further research and make up their minds. The article is probably the most comprehensive summary of the various criticisms - and remedies - for FRB on the internet today. WP censored this stuff so the lefties have got control of that space and have had control since 2008. I'm trying to pack a lot in as densely as I can and present as many angles on the arguments as possible, as objectively as possible. Clearly fascism is a very loaded term and we need to be cautious but the historical facts cannot (and should not) be ignored, even though it's mixed in with a lot of ugly "Nazi" history. Back to the argument: Fascist (Nazi) Germany ''did'' stage a remakable and unprecedented economic recovery (''prior'' to invading Poland and France), as Brown and others have pointed out (whether it's a reliable source or not is another question - I admit I'm using her as the source but I don't think the historical facts are in dispute). It could be argued that Germany recovered because of war preparations and military spending (Keynesian stimulus) and North says government spending inevitably ended up killing millions in war because that's what big government spending does. But he doesn't argue about the drop in unemployment and the growth figures out of Germany after the change to the German monetary system implemented by the new regime after Weimar. He just says the "growth" pushed Germany headlong into war. So I would still respectfully maintain that the setence is technically accurate, but could mislead young players to the game into thinking this means the politics and ethics of fascism "works". It didn't then (and probably never will) but that doesn't mean the '''economics''' of facsism didn't work either, which is a separate question. The point is that state controls on banking (and state-owned banks) combined with a fiat system where money was issued directly from Treasury did not blow up the German economy and in fact did "work" for a period. It produced a remarkable and very positive turnaround. And both Italy and Germany experienced extraordinary political and economic chaos and instability post-WWI under a central bank dominated financial system. If Ireland recovers from their economic crisis in two years I'll be amazed. It is remarkable that Germany was able to recover at all from Weimar hyperinflation. That achievement simply cannot be taken away from the fascist regimes of either Italy or Germany. They both staged remarkable recoveries for a few years. I think Italy had something like 15 governments between WWI and Mussolini and Italy was on the very brink of economic disaster. It was complete chaos over there post WWI, with the regime of dominant central banking combined with a break away from the gold clearing house resulting in economic crisis and crazy unemployment rates. So I suppose I was trying to provoke some revisionist thought on the '''economics''' (not the politics or morality) of Italian and German fascism, but I'm happy to go with whatever wording you think is appropriate to capture the points Brown was making - regardless of the quality of her arguments, they are arguments that need to be documented as they are pertinent to this topic. And fashions come and go with politics (I've seen many in my time) and it may be that the fascist monetary system in Germany post-Weimar will be looked on as a model after the next financial crisis. [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellen-brown/restoring-economic-sovere_b_823697.html Who knows?] And as a personal issue, I try to be as objective as humanly possible on these issues and we're all navigating a minefield here. Occasionally I'll blow my leg off, but I think it's important to start walking into the minefield because at the moment we're all walking into the minefield completely blind, with [http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fed-dictator-bernanke-needs-to-be-toppled-2011-02-15 Fed monetary dictator Ben Bernanke] leading the way to a global food crisis. I estimate that Bernanke's policies will literally kill millions next year (and tens of millions over the next decade), so it's line ball as to whether Mussolini or Bernanke will be seen by historians as the more reckless public serpent. [[User:Karmaisking|Karmaisking]] 17:12, 16 February 2011 (CST)

::I'm all for revisionist history, but I probably misunderstand here something, so let me try to focus on the important points. The politics and ethics of the Nazi regime are beyond question here, and their strong connection to economic policies cannot be denied. But for the sake of the argument, let's take on the economic policy separately.

::From [[Inflation in Nazi Germany|what little]] I've read about the subject, it seems that the economic recovery was based on plain and simple [[inflation]]. It may have been disguised in some ways, but it's the same old story all over again. And of course it "works" - for a time. Inflating the money supply is pretending that there are resources, which don't really exist, a boom ensues. (It doesn't matter which institution makes the stuff - central bank, Treasury, or private banks.) This fake economic prosperity inevitably produces a real crisis. The form may differ - in Germany, the price inflation may seemed to have been successfully suppressed, but the lack of goods was still very much felt. (Other authors point out, that Germany made the occupied nations pay for a lot of its economic woes, so if it didn't have this option the situation would be even worse.) From this I can only conclude that this episode of fascism didn't "work" - or that it "worked" only for a time, until it folded. (Although, of course, it worked for those guys on the top.) Same as any other expansion of credit.

::Now, Gary North claims, that the recovery from the Great Depression was already underway, when Hitler took over. For this I have no data, but it seems at least reasonable. You also make a good point about Italy's constantly changing government, and it equally applies to the political instability in Germany, revolutions and all. One could argue, that replacing a wildly unstable political (and economical) environment for a stable regime, ''other things being equal'', would alone bring about a certain economic recovery. Also, a large country, that has a population with renewed optimism for the future (however misguided the reasons may be), could also recover more swiftly. So there's space to doubt Brown's argument even from this angle. Some recovery may have been genuine, then there's a bubble as we know it.

::Barring the inflation itself, it is a key recognition of the Austrian School that socialism doesn't work, even if only its economic policies are considered - and that includes its derived forms, like fascism. Central planning doesn't work, as even [http://mises.org/daily/1962 Hermann Goering] had to recognize. I hope there is no disagreement between us on this. :)

::Back to the article though! It is an excellent overview of all the discussions raging about FRB. On the low end, I'd suggest to completely remove all references and quotes of this resource, as it seems rather dubious. However, you have shown that you can handle the often tricky argumentation between various sides of a debate; and the author seems to be recognized to a degree. I suggest to carefully comb through the references and alter the text appropriately. If the author says fascism works on a certain level, that's perfectly okay to state - as long as we get across our point. ;) [[User:Pestergaines|Pestergaines]] 06:13, 17 February 2011 (CST)

:::Excellent comments and I wholeheartedly agree with most of what you say. The only qualifier I would add is that I think you're a little too casual on the issue of where and how money is made. Not all inflation is the same and not all inflation has the same effect. Bank credit expansion has very different effects compared to debt-free Treasury note issuance. Some guy spending $1000 from his credit card on a flat screen TV is different from the govt spending $1000 feeding a homeless person or $1000 which contributes to building a new subway network in LA. A lot of spending by the Nazi govt initially went into R&D and infrastructure. Those high speed autobahns in Germany are courtesy of Nazi "inflation". So is the VW Beetle and the Porsche. So is the jet engine. Brown's point is that govt spending debt-free money on '''capital projects''' is not necessarily "inflationary" (in terms of price inflation) and if combined with full reserve banking or state owned (boring) high reserve banks - or even just combined with Glass Steagall type legislation - this could "work" and arguably has worked. Whether she's right or not is a completely different question. It's at least arguable and therefore deserves to be noted on the page. People can then make up their own minds. On whether her book should be expunged from the record - my respectful comment would be "no". It's sufficiently notable now to be discussed, even with the multiple issues North has with the historical accuracy of the book. Most of North's comments are fairly trivial and don't really damage her arguments, although I acknowledge some - especially the misquoting of Rothbard - are very serious and suggest either poor research or a pro-State bias. I respect North's comments and analysis but don't like his ad hominem attacks on her. If he likes ad homs he should reflect on whether his dire predictions about [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_North_(Christian_Reconstructionist) Y2K] (setting up a survivalist-type refuge expecting civilization to collapse in Y2K) brings into question his economic analysis or his own criticisms of Brown. They don't, but then that should teach him some humility and openness to "other" ideas on monetary reform, surely.

:::Finally, I don't swallow the argument that order after chaos will automatically - even with bad "inflationary" govt policies - bring about economic growth. Mao came in after nearly a century of disaster in China only to add to the misery. Stalin - arguably the same. A simple visit to these countries would have revealed they were going backwards (starving children are hard to hide). Communism was ordered madness that led to catastrophe. So let's not be too critical of the economics of fascism. It didn't immediately cause economic chaos. The historical record reveals the economic results of fascism were mixed and the whole issue was clouded by invasion and war. The question I suppose is whether the fascist economic model '''required''' conquest for it to continue. At least in the early stage it didn't. I'm a libertarian (anarcho-capitalist of the Rothbardian Hoppean Hulsmann School) and as hard-core as they come. But for me the dysfunction of the current quasi-fascist, insane, cannibalistic "trickle-up" consumption-fuelled debt-based central bank dominated economic system is actually '''worse''' - probably much worse - than Italian or German fascism post WWI. I know that's a very big statement to make, but looking back at the many economic disasters since August 1971, and the inflation-fuelled food crisis we're being forced to live through today, I really believe it. Central planning does not work - most of all in money production and pricing. Control the banking monster and I'm prepared to live with a little genuine fascism if I have to. After all, I'm living in an inherently unjust dysfunctional corporatist quasi-fascist system right now anyway. It has all the worst elements of fascism without the unifying ideas of genuine fascism. In my wildest dreams I can't think of a more inherently unstable or corrupt monetary system. - [[User:Karmaisking|Karmaisking]] 20:02, 17 February 2011 (CST)

::::I'm glad we are coming closer to an understanding! Let's see where the differences lie. I admit I have no idea what "debt-free" Treasury note issuance is. But if we are looking at the effects of government spending, the key question is, where does the money come from? As long as it is from taxes and borrowing, it is running afoul of the [[Broken window fallacy]], crowding out of private investment, creating corruption and all the goodies that come along. So the Germans would get the ''Autobahn'', but lose something in exchange, something that may be never clearly seen. (I assume this is ''not'' Brown's scenario, please correct me if it is.)

::::Now, if the money is created out of nowhere in some way (which I assume, is Brown's scenario), it is good ole [[inflation]] with all its accompanying effects. The specifics of the inflation may be different if it's channeled into capital investment or consumer spending, but that doesn't change its destructive effects - you'll get the bubbles, [[malinvestment]] and eventual collapse in either case. Again, the Germans would get the ''Autobahn'', but lose something in exchange. Depending on many conditions, the inflation may or may not manifest as a price inflation, that doesn't change its effects either. To me it is safe to conclude, that it "doesn't work". I fully agree with you now, this resource and the author deserve to be on the page as a criticism and 'solution' of the FRB problem, with the explanation why Austrians disagree with it. It's a tricky argument.

::::To the historical part - it is good that you disagree that order after chaos will automatically bring about economic growth, that's why I used the ''other things being equal''. The policies of Mao and Stalin, as you rightly stated, are two particularly destructive examples of how not to bring about stability. Fascism didn't immediately cause economic chaos and at least outwardly seemed to be stable, so that much could contribute to some semblance of a economic recovery - but that wasn't any redeeming feature of the regime itself. Predictably, it caused economic chaos afterwards; this would come to pass with or without the war.

::::Ultimately, my knowledge of Austrian Economics, history and human nature is too limited to say, whether a hypothetical fascist regime would be in the short-term more 'stable' than the current institutional setup - although it very well may be. In the long term it is certainly not stable. But if there would be a choice, it seems to me like a deal with the devil. Give up more of your freedom first (since that's the nature of the beast we are talking about, more control over everything), and hope you'll get it back when the situation improves... if it ever does. You never get just "a little fascism." I understand if you would make a different choice, but I can't help but try to persuade you, that it would be tragically wrong. However sad and unstable our world may be, it can be still worse. Ultimately, I also think the fascists would solve the discussion for us, since in their more unified world they don't need disruptive elements like us. :) [[User:Pestergaines|Pestergaines]] 09:52, 19 February 2011 (CST)

:::::Wow. Balanced, considerate of all sides of the argument and brilliantly, clearly stated. I couldn't have summed up the arguments better myself. A few minor (very minor) points. I'm disappointed that you don't know what debt free fiat issuance entails as that's quite crucial to the article and you really can't understand Brown's arguments if you don't understand how the combination of full reserve banking and fiat debt-free money issuance would work. This has been around well before [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tally_stick tally sticks] were invented and is unlikely to be inflationary if combined with the requirement to pay taxes in fiat (and, of course, combined with high reserve ratios for the banks). If you have a problem with the concept, then everyone will. Please read Brown and Rowbotham and if you still have problems come back here and we can work on the article. There's a huge gap in the article if people don't understand that virtually all spending - including govt spending - is debt-sourced and that's a very recent phenomenon. Back to your other points: I agree all fiat note issuance (or fractional reserve credit issuance) is distorting. Yes, the autobahns sucked capital out of, say, farming technology. However, the implicit point Brown is making is that the "bad" distorting effects from the current system are worse - much worse - than the marginally "bad" (and possibly even good) "distorting" effects govt spending has when it is at least attempting to invest in "good" capital-intensive long-term projects that will boost productivity (and reduce price inflation) in the future. This tracks back to the Austrian question regarding whether there are any genuine "public goods". If there are, then the govt "investing" (spending) in these very narrow areas '''may be''' economically productive in the long-run - or at the very least could be much less damaging than other forms of govt stimulus spending - such as spending trillions to save insolvent banks, allowing them to continue to finance Ponzi schemes. I tend to agree with the Austrian position that the range of '''genuinely''' public goods is very small (possibly vanishingly small, as per Rothbard), and Japanese industrial policy (and US spending on space shuttles) shows lots of govt spending on capital projects is terribly wasteful, but I strongly believe some goods have more "public good" features than others. Water supply, building dams and levees, standing armies...these all have more genuine "public good" features than, say, the sale of a hamburger to a customer who can eat the burger immediately in the store '''to the total exclusion of other customers'''. If the Queensland govt in Australia had invested more in dams and water catchments than useless bureaucrats and policy advisors then Brisbane may have been saved from the recent terrible floods that devastated the city. All public spending is probably bad, but some govt spending is "badder" than others, depending on whether they are just uselessly duplicating or crowding out private services (education, healthcare) or whether they are investing in activities with more "public good" type features that save on damaging externalities that are not easily dealt with in the current system and that private companies would find genuinely difficult to fund (dams, levees, defense, satellites, clean renewable energy supplies etc).

:::::I totally agree there is no such thing as a "little fascism". Since August 1971, we've seen it grow and grow. I also agree we wouldn't be tolerated in a return to Nazism - I'd be the first to be knifed at night in my bed. But I suppose I'm saying that we're barely tolerated in the current quasi-fascist regime and when push comes to shove I think you'll see the true colors of the current "democratic" regime come to life. We're living in a non-democratic kleptocratic fascist system right now, with Lloyd Blankfein at the levers and Bernanke carrying out his orders (and Blankfein probably reporting back to Geneva and Zurich and other places of power on a regular basis). To be brutally honest, even though I'm an avid Ron Paul supporter, if Ron Paul is a genuine contender for power in the US, I don't think he'll live to take the reins of power. South America is littered with principled leaders who were taken out by powerful forces (ref: ''Confessions of an Economic Hitman''). Ironically, true nationalism and fascism would result in a slight '''decentralization''' of the current Basel-based power structures, even though domestically things would probably be even more autocratic than they are now. There's a huge dichotomy between the increasing decentralization of decision-making power via the internet (look at us doing what we're both doing right now on Mises Wiki!) as against the decaying, old, existing centralized economic and financial order built after WWII. It reminds me of an old Soviet car factory - badly made, patched together, decaying, run by blind bureaucrats who are little more than commie zealot-zombies sucking as much cash from the system as possible. Corrupt, decaying governments and fiat spewing banks facing bank runs on real money (the COMEX is currently facing a massive run on both gold and silver) will ultimately have to decide whether to cede power quietly and slink away or fight to shut down the COMEX and the internet. I don't know what they'll do. Hopefully they are too slow and stupid to understand the tsunami that's coming and they'll only try to shut it down when the silver and gold inventories have already been exhausted by the general public. We'll soon see. - [[User:Karmaisking|Karmaisking]] 18:34, 19 February 2011 (CST)

::::::I've heard of debt-free money before, but never seen a good summary of what it entails. The 'Criticizm' page summarizes it quite nicely, so thanks for that! Should have read it more carefully I guess. :) I've created a separate section to discuss it, since we seem to be going too deep into nested paragraphs. Let's see if I understood it correctly. [[User:Pestergaines|Pestergaines]] 09:34, 20 February 2011 (CST)

===Debt-free money===
A) Let's make first a neutral background of a sort. An economy has, say, 1 million credits in circulation, no Fractional Reserve Banking involved. The government's income at the end of the year (from taxes and debt) is say 100.000 credits. It can use this money for all of its expenses. It might borrow more next year, or tax more, but if it uses only this money, it won't issue anymore new notes. And so it goes year after year, as long as the government spends exactly what it gets, there is no inflation involved. This may be validly called debt-free money.

B) Now, let's say the government also issues 10.000 credits more and spends the money. Happy are those accepting it, but it has just inflated money supply by 1% percent. Is this the scenario Brown is focusing on? Because if yes, it is inflationary by definition.

The public goods argument is a ''non sequitur'' - instead of discussing the features of the system of money production it's shifting to basically saying that the new money ''might'' be used for something good. Of course, the same can be said for government debt and taxes and we could discuss our heads off about their necessity and whether the concept of public goods is even meaningful. Even if [[Public goods|it]] is accepted, it's no argument for "debt-free money", its desirability as compared to other sources of government income, or whether the government is able or willing to use it for 'good'. But let's return to the debate.

'''Does the author want to create money out of nowhere or not?''' If that is the case, making it "debt-free" and issued by one institution or another won't change the fact that it is inflation. It ''might'' be "better" than the current monetary system, yes... but then, the very same 'Criticism' article points out the danger of hyperinflation.

My conclusion: it seems that Ellen Brown wants to replace one inflationary regime with another, which might be better, about as bad, or worse. Her argument only shows that there ''might'' be some good, under certain debatable conditions, ours shows that there will be definitively some bad.

---

Now, what do we do about the article itself? The debt-free paradigm seems to have some quite visible contenders and is an interesting speculation. Also it's quite easy to become confused by the 'debt-free' notion. I suggest to put it all into a separate section along with the definition, contenders and criticisms, we need to make clear that it is not the Austrian point of view.

On the side, I think the separation may need to be clearer in the article in general - the 'Basic debate' and 'Basic nature of system' sections start with Austrian views but then mix them with others (the unpayable debt 100 credit example is similarly wrong).

Whew! Hope this is clear now! [[User:Pestergaines|Pestergaines]] 09:34, 20 February 2011 (CST)

:OK, I can see we're getting there slowly. Time for a terrible analogy/metaphor. Imagine we've all been pushed onto the Titanic, the doomed fiat money ship. Austrians scream "If we were meant to float, God would have given us flippers made of paper money!" We're pushed on anyway, courtesy of coercive legal tender laws and compulsory confiscation of gold and silver. Even after being robbed and being beaten and being forced to work in the engineroom, unbowed the Austrians keep screaming "We're doomed, we're doomed! This thing is built to sink! Paper doesn't float!" Everyone else thinks we're crazy and the boat does float. Amazing. '''As long as most people believe it floats, it does'''. But the captain and crew eventually get cocky, complacent, lazy. They were (secretly) worried that the Austrians were right and were scared themselves this thing wouldn't float but because of the stupidity and gullibility and naivety of the general public believing it does, it does. All the staff start partying with the pretty girls, thinking they're Masters of the Universe for pulling off this brilliant scam/coup. They've replaced gold and silver with a paper boat and it floats. They forget they're even on a paper boat. They don't even sense the boat is moving - they are that stupid. We're left in steerage, seething over the madness of being stuck on the boat. The Austrians are the only ones who sense the boat moving from side to side, from one business cycle to the next. All the Austrians are getting violently seasick. We feel very keenly the inherent instability of the fiat money boat. It's going down eventually. We're so pessimistic, no Austrian bothers to go on to the top deck, to look out for icebergs, to warn the captain. Then it hits. It doesn't sink - it crashes! Surely some of us should at least have been on the top deck, looking out for icebergs, not screaming to be back on dry land, when we had to give up dry land long ago.

:Yes, it's all counterfeiting, it's all fiat, it's all inflation. (That's why there's a section in the article entitled "Reform within fiat money systems") But Austrians tend to stop there. They don't generally look into different fiat systems because to us it's all bad. '''But there are degrees of bad depending on the source'''. If (and it's a big "if") govts do have a function in spending money on public infrastructure and public goods, then why can't they source that money cheaply, rather than go to a central bank to borrow the money that the central bank '''itself''' makes out of thin air? As Ben Franklin [correction: Thomas Edison] said, "'''If our nation can issue a dollar bond, it can issue a dollar bill'''." There '''is''' a big difference between debt-free money and bank created credit. Debt-free labour certificates are obviously very close to counterfeiting so everyone treats that seriously. Which is good, because that caution would make hyperinflation under this system unlikely. Why not the same - or worse - for bank created credit? Most people are relaxed about credit issuance when they should treat that as "counterfeiting with a trailing commission". It's going on all the time, everyday, in the billions. Banks are '''way too efficient''' at counterfeiting, compared to govt. Look at M3 growth since 1971, with crazy rates of FRB (no reserves at all) and a central bank playing mommy every single time a bank run has occurred. It's been a disaster. We all know governments are useless, slow, zombified institutions. If we imposed full reserve banking on the private banking system and allowed debt-free fiat money issuance from the Treasury (tally stick-, Ben Franklin-, Nazi Germany labour certificates-, Abe Lincoln greenback- style) I am sure M3 growth would slow. Why? Because govts are hopeless at everything - including counterfeiting! The rule should be: As long as we have governments, give them "bad" tasks to do and they will do them less efficiently than the private sector. Give them tobacco factories and brothels and casinos and drug dens to operate. Give them banks to own. Give them the right to counterfeit. '''They'll do it all badly'''. Isn't that what we want? As long as we're in fiat money Hell and have these zombified bureaucracies, let's turn the fiat temperature down a little bit, surely. That's all Brown and Rowbotham and Zarlenga want to do. They are on our side. Not because their ideas are right. But because they are giving the task of counterfeiting to the best entity to do it - incompetent governments.

:My order of preference for monetary systems is this: (1) gold and silver and free banking (2) full reserve banking (or nationalized banks) and debt free fiat issuance at the margins, for long-term capital projects (Zarlenga, Brown) (3) the current system. Most Austrians scream for (1) but don't consider the differences between (2) and (3) and actually don't even understand (2) and (3). I'm encouraging, in this article, further discussion of (2) and (3). If that's provoking some thought in some readers, great - that's the purpose of the article! Whilst we're on the Titanic, let's at least avoid the most obvious icebergs. - [[User:Karmaisking|Karmaisking]] 19:10, 20 February 2011 (CST)

::"But there are degrees of bad depending on the source." I agree, there may certainly be degrees of bad. And yes, we can see that (2) is different from (3) - but '''no proof was offered that (2) is better than (3)'''. I've rechecked North's resource. Vitriolic as it is, it also contains economic arguments, not only historical ones. Especially interesting are [http://www.garynorth.com/public/7030.cfm these two] points:
::* It is not possible to trust a government to limit its spending.
::* Inflation is a tax. It is an invisible tax, that is much harder to resist than regular taxes. If a government can wield it directly it will use it.

::If I may add something, and be a Devil's advocate, there is an 'advantage' to financing a state via central banking - it attracts more investors to lend their money to the state. While this means on the one hand, that the debt will be more expensive for the state, it draws a larger share of real resources towards the state. That and the displacement effects would happen anyway, but at least the inflation rate is reduced. Also, states that print their own money are notoriously untrustworthy and their currency and debt will suffer in the markets accordingly.

::So there, while I have no real preference for either system, the "debt-free money creation" has definite disadvantages even when compared to the current system and the advantages are at best dubious. [[User:Pestergaines|Pestergaines]] 04:08, 21 February 2011 (CST)

:::Agree with everything you said. Only point I would add: It hasn't been tried with full reserve banking or state-owned banks except in very rare instances. And it doesn't work in the long-run but has worked in the very short run. And in democracies govt grinds slowly and I doubt you'd see hyperinflation - the Obama govt can't get any capital projects started, despite the central bank giving them billions. Some commentators have observed how difficult it is to inject money into the system when the private borrowers clam up. M3 growth slows even if govt spends. And don't speak too soon about the "advantages" of the current system. [http://www.zerohedge.com/article/us-today-what-happens-when-you-let-investment-bankers-run-country-0?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zerohedge%2Ffeed+%28zero+hedge+-+on+a+long+enough+timeline%2C+the+survival+rate+for+everyone+drops+to+zero%29 I don't think you'll be singing their praises for long.] In any case, we're talking about third-best solutions when the first best solution (free banking and a deregulation of legal tender laws) should be the option we should be fighting for. [http://www.zerohedge.com/article/ongoing-overnight-short-squeeze-takes-silver-fresh-31-year-high Get me off this doomed boat of sinking fiat paper and back on dry land!] - [[User:Karmaisking|Karmaisking]] 04:53, 21 February 2011 (CST)

::::I'm happy we agree after all! Singing their praises isn't quite what we did here - but we both know that. :) I just don't want to remove one bankrupt system with another without at least a good chance that it will improve something.

::::Aside, while the government may not be ''starting'' capital projects, it is certainly helping to finance them - the [[Great Recession#Government intervention in the housing market|housing bubble]] was partly financed by it. Then there are uncounted grants and subsidies that result in new projects by private companies; the politicians would probably engage in more if they could.

::::But that's all just side notes. What do we do about the article itself? The criticisms seem to be sufficiently extensive, maybe need a little reorganization, if at all. It's extremely useful to have an overview of the alternatives and suggested reforms. What seems to be the crux is the organization of the content (and I know that's the hardest part). We want to show what the Austrians and other economists suggest, 'within' and 'without' the system, and show the criticism of each suggested reform, wherever available. We want the first, second and third-best options all laid out - and the bad ideas, too! I think this could become one of the most important reference articles yet to understand all the views related to FRB, something to recommend a serious student to check first. Plenty of work is to be done, of course, but you made an excellent base.

::::In any case, thank you for the great discussion! I hope you don't mind me shooting down the idea you seemed partial to. It helped me to clarify my position and I learned about this paradigm. I'm sorry that I can't help more with the page itself, being mostly busy with other topics, but I'll try at least a little. Is there anything particular you could use assistance with? [[User:Pestergaines|Pestergaines]] 07:12, 21 February 2011 (CST)

:::::Focusing on the article, I agree it needs a "cleaner" presentation, but the issues are very complex and over-simplification can result in problems. If you can further divide up and clarify the "debt-free money" idea (Zarlenga) that would be great. Given you're not partial to it, you would be best placed to describe it neutrally. You have a very clear understanding of the issues, and I suggest you dive in and clean up as much as you can (before the whole system collapses and makes the article redundant once more). - [[User:Karmaisking|Karmaisking]] 16:19, 21 February 2011 (CST)

===Reorganizing the page===
I've taken a first shot at the reorganization. The 'Proposals for monetary reform' was moved one level higher, so there are now major sections for criticisms and reform proposals. I've taken out the debt-free money material and put it into a section devoted to it. The 'Basic debate' was extended by what was left over from the 'Basic nature of system' section.

* 'Status under current systems' needs to be moved up a level or under some other section - and it definitely needs to be broken up, as it is a single sentence. :)
* The whole paragraph starting with "It is to be expected that these policies would be violently opposed..." needs to be rewritten. The used references don't seem to confirm any of the statements in the paragraph.
* The references in general should be carefully reviewed. More information is always good (title, author, date) and sometimes the resources don't correspond to the text. :/
* Reference '32' - Stephen A. Zarlenga, The Lost Science of Money AMI (2002) - links to an advertising/summary page about the book, but it doesn't really contain what the quote claims. It's perfectly fine to quote from books, one just needs to make that obvious (ideally with noting the page, etc). The link can stay when marked as a summary or something like that.

I touched up a little bit the definition of debt-free money, more could be useful. However, of the resources quoted - 32, 52 (America's Forgotten War Against the Central Banks, Mike Hewitt) - I don't have the first and the second doesn't seem to contain anything on the topic. Do you happen to have at hand a good definition?

There's still much to do, the text needs to flow better. I'd like to organize the section in the following way: 1. definition of debt-free money 2. features of the reform and properties of the intended system 3. any other suggestions of the proponents (it seems some, but not all call for nationalization of banks, Brown's remarks on historical precedents, etc.) 4. criticisms (parts of 3. and 4. could be combined)

Lastly, weren't there some suggestions for reform 'within fiat systems' among Austrians? I think I faintly remember somebody doing this (Rothbard?), but can't remember who it was at the moment. [[User:Pestergaines|Pestergaines]] 06:51, 22 February 2011 (CST)

Okay, another attempt, divided it into sections and moved much of the text around. Questions:
* Is it fair to say that the concept of debt-free money is most notably represented by Stephen Zarlenga and Ellen Hodgson Brown? (Michael Rowbotham perhaps?)
* Is the definition correct?
* What is the full extent of the suggested reform (at least in general, differences among authors can be listed further below)?
* It seemed to me, that the abolishing of FRB or its curtailing in some crucial way was part of the suggested reform, but can't seem to find it there explicitly. Please confirm.
* I moved the 'It is to be expected that these policies ...' paragraph, but suggest to rewrite it or remove it.

By now is the section arguably large enough to be turned into a separate page, but all references have to be checked before such a move. The size of the page - 99kB - is also pretty big.

Please let me know what you think the changes so far. [[User:Pestergaines|Pestergaines]] 05:49, 24 February 2011 (CST)

:*My order of priority in referencing would be: (1) Rowbotham, who (to the best of my knowledge) was first to use this term and the term "debt money" (I believe he has the best book on the subject, ''The Grip of Death'', which is very well written and predicted the current food crisis better than anyone else) then (2) Zarlenga (reasonable if dense book on the argument that money is a legal and government creation. It's a bogus argument in my view but worth putting in the article because he hits fractional reserve banking very hard) then (3) Brown, who frankly is a child when it comes to monetary theory but is a fairly well-read, literate child who can summarize arguments reasonably well, and does mention debt-free money in her book, but also focuses on public banks. She references Zarlenga and Rowbotham so clearly got her ideas off these writers. I find her arguments on public banks supplementing private banks ridiculous, but her discussion of fiat money issuance is similar to Zarlenga (and Rowbotham) and therefore useful in this section. Note: Her book is self-published and is a marginal reference. I'd use Rowbotham and recommend you get his book off Amazon (it's not that expensive) and confirm these assertions yourself.
:* Yes. It's "pure" fiat.
:* Rowbotham: issuance of debt-free money by govt + essentially the same banking system with less leverage (ridiculous in my view, but that is essentially his argument). You could argue that he states unambiguously FRB is "bad" and should be shut down completely, but to be absolutely precise he's a "pure" fiat inflationist and is a compromiser. Brown: issuance of debt-free money and public banks. Zarlenga: issuance of debt-free money and full reserve banking. They're all gold haters.
:* Zarlenga's pretty clear about FRB in his book and in his proposed monetary reform act. Particularly given the recent discussions at the last AMI Conference with Steve Keen (see [http://www.debtdeflation.com/blogs/2010/10/04/jubilee-shares-and-the-american-monetary-act/ here]). By the way, I haven't gotten around to adding Steve Keen's ideas contained in the video of the AMI Conference because (a) he hasn't published them (b) they don't make sense to me. However they form yet another branch of reforms within the fiat system - basically he wants all rent-producing assets to have a life span and expiry date (all stock dividends and property rents will expire on a future date) so that no incentives are created to inflate the prices of assets through debt-issuance. It's an "exotic" argument from a good-hearted but misguided closet socialist tinkering at the edges of reform. It's one that's not politically feasible, questionable from an economic point of view, and difficult to explain (and understand). Why he doesn't just argue for Soviet-style restrictions on large property ownership is beyond me. He's a "Back to the Future" kind of guy. Back to Zarlenga: Kucinich "borrowed" Zarlenga's ideas for his recent monetary reform bill which is described [http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/12/kucinichs-end-fed-proposal-is.html here] by MISH, albeit very critically. Again, it cracks down on FRB and allows debt-free fiat issuance. If I cared more, I'd add it to the "Reform within fiat systems" section but frankly can't be bothered. The system will hit a wall before these ideas are seriously considered so they really don't matter. If you have the energy you could click on the links contained in this article and get great references for the proposal for full reserve banking and pure fiat issuance - just copy a summary of the proposed bill into the article.
:*Agreed. Delete. You could use MISH's criticisms instead to support the paragraph and keep it, if you have the energy and the time. I'm too busy screaming at the Perth Mint to re-open supplies of 100 ounce silver bars to care at this point. They've temporarily paused supply. Worrying. - [[User:Karmaisking|Karmaisking]] 06:24, 24 February 2011 (CST)

::Okay, moved them around and deleted the paragraph. I admit I don't care enough about the topic to order a book on it (too many other topics to care about more). If you happen to have the book and can add the ref for the definition, that would be cool. The rest is of rather low priority to me. I fear the current monetary system will be in place for quite some time, but there is at least a basic critique of this concept in place, that seems sufficient for now.
::Thanks for the news about the Perth Mint! Most interesting. [[User:Pestergaines|Pestergaines]] 07:18, 24 February 2011 (CST)
::Nice additions! [[User:Pestergaines|Pestergaines]] 07:24, 24 February 2011 (CST)

:::Thx. The great thing about your comments is that they have highlighted the gaps in the stairway that people can fall through as they are forced to walk up to the [http://2020speculator.wordpress.com/2010/07/08/investing-on-the-ledge-above-the-ninth-circle-of-hell/ Ledge Above the Ninth Circle of Hell]. I'm skipping around, knowing we'll all end up in Fire or Ice, but others need more carefully crafted steps to make it up to the Ledge. It's an ugly view when you get up here, but at least you can see the whole terrifying picture. Once people get serious over full reserve banking, when the existing power structures are really threatened (as they will, as they must), then you'll see just how ugly "They" really are. Krugman has already prepared the way to accuse sound money advocates of being racists. [http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig12/tamney3.1.1.html His reasoning is tendentious, twisted and insane], but fiat spewing zealots will do anything - [http://mises.org/daily/3632 and I mean anything] - to keep the scam alive for as long as possible before moving on to the next gullible host country. - [[User:Karmaisking|Karmaisking]] 21:01, 24 February 2011 (CST)

==On references==
Hallo Karmaisking, just a minor note on references - something I noticed with Peter Schiff's video used as source in several places. Feel free to use the 'name' attribute of the 'ref' tag - so you can reuse the same reference without actually writing the same content over and over. (You've surely done it before in the article, just mentioning.)

As another point, the ref was sometimes used several times where it would be easiest to keep it after the content - see for example:

<nowiki>[[gold]],<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPxYg6mgGpE Inflation is There], Peter Schiff</ref> [[silver]]<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPxYg6mgGpE Inflation is There], Peter Schiff</ref></nowiki>

Great work on the article, though! Keep at it! [[User:Pestergaines|Pestergaines]] 04:20, 2 March 2011 (CST)

:Thx. I am involved in a brutal piece of litigation (as an advisor - still it's shockingly draining) and I do this for light relief. No, I'm not joking. Please, please, please help by cleaning up the references! I know exactly what you mean about excessive repetition of references and it's terribly annoying to me too. All the refs are so juicy and so great I can't cull them. I'm now trying not to add a single word, but every day another ref arrives that can be plugged in to a sentence that's already there to buttress the whole article. Inside Job is a great example. I made the comment months ago about a corrupt economics "profession" and now it's fully cited. It's like filling in gaps in a jigsaw puzzle. Fun! If you can tidy the refs up in your spare time by reusing the same ref (like I've done for Rowbotham) we can get the refs back down to 200 - 250. Now, back to the grindstone...[[User:Karmaisking|Karmaisking]] 04:43, 2 March 2011 (CST)
::I totally get the part about relief. Will try to help you out as time allows. [[User:Pestergaines|Pestergaines]] 05:35, 2 March 2011 (CST)
:::Did a little, still quite a few doubles around. More would be of course better, perhaps later. [[User:Pestergaines|Pestergaines]] 18:15, 16 March 2011 (CDT)
::::Thx again my friend. It's basically all there in the article, so I'm over editing it now. If anything, it could be cut down. I welcome you to do so, especially where you think it gets repetitious for no good reason. I've been researching this for over 10 years and sometimes I can't see where it gets too detailed or too repetitious or too messy. At some stage you know too much, and political action has to follow before events "catch up" and justify further detailed writing on various reform proposals. Ron Paul's recent hearings into the monetary system were enlightening and Jim Grant's comments in particular brilliant, but who was listening? Anyone? The answers are clearly there, but not enough Joe Sixpacks are listening, and we need the majority of Joe's to get angry before the next wave of research should begin. I'll clean up the refs around the edges when I have more energy but at this point I've had my guts kicked in and don't want to look at this right now. As Jim Sinclair has stated 'There is NO PRACTICAL SOLUTION to these problems.' So why am I writing at all? Destructive behaviors thrive in such despair. - [[User:Karmaisking|Karmaisking]] 08:06, 19 March 2011 (CDT)
:::::We all need to rest now and then, kick back and relax. Personally, I go for the 'educated minority' approach - try to approach those, who are approachable, and sufficiently open-minded, then persuade them to our way of thinking. I don't see a way to persuade the majority (besides, it's probably useless anyway); but one can at least make a minority larger. Learn, hone your arguments, try to give something of what you've learned to others - that's one of the reasons why this wiki exists. Or choose whatever you think is best. But: don't lose hope. [[User:Pestergaines|Pestergaines]] 12:34, 20 March 2011 (CDT)
::::::Too late for that. At least I can occasionally laugh over how hilariously stupid the whole thing appears to me. Max Keiser, the Mogambo Guru and even Bill Bonner have the right attitude. Laugh. And when you're not laughing, buy gold and silver. - [[User:Karmaisking|Karmaisking]] 02:20, 21 March 2011 (CDT)

==What is there to say?==
I don't know whether to remove the term "meltdown" from the article at this point, but I'll leave it there as it was written ''years before'' the current crisis and by using the term there is no intention whatsoever to use the current crisis in the article - and I will not. Although I note that, in trying to "maximize" resource use, GDP and therefore tax revenues and bank profits, govts and bankers are slowly bringing us to the edge of catastrophe worldwide. From flammable gas coming out of faucets in the US and Australia because of drilling over water tables, to oil spills, to destruction of arable land from super-intensive monoculture and "roundup ready" corporate farming, to the collapse of bee populations (possibly caused by GM seeds) there is no question the current lunacy of our banking and government zombies will result in the present trajectory being maintained and these kinds of crises will - must - become more and more frequent and more disastrous each year. It's embedded in the math, in the mechanics of fractional reserve banking. It's inherent in the machine.

:"Both those in work and out must watch, as the world they know and understand changes almost in front of their eyes like some nightmarish Kafka-esque novel. This is the era of accelerating economic change. The benefits are highly dubious, and no-one even pretends that the economy is responding to what people actually want. The only justification offered for the changes is that this is 'the age of progress', and 'you can't stop progress', even if you are human and the progress you are discussing is supposed to be about people and the lives they might lead in the future. The world of economics has got mankind by the throat and everyone knows it, and no-one has a clue where we are going or why we are going there."

How many people understand that the made-man exacerbation of environmental "shocks" has been made dramatically worse due to the destruction of the gold standard and rise of central banking? Very few. Rowbotham is one. Jim Sinclair is another. Max Keiser is another. Three in 6 billion. There is no way we can turn this ship around through education. Just no way. I despair at my efforts. They will come to nothing.[[User:Karmaisking|Karmaisking]] 07:06, 16 March 2011 (CDT)

==From the tragic to the ridiculous - CAUTION: Bankers at work!==
Jim Sinclair literally calls bankers 'rapists'. And then DSK goes and does [http://maxkeiser.com/2011/05/16/the-perp-walk-youve-all-been-waiting-for/ this]. Could this get any more [http://www.zerohedge.com/article/what-dsks-escape-harlem-nypd-will-look-and-sound?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zerohedge%2Ffeed+%28zero+hedge+-+on+a+long+enough+timeline%2C+the+survival+rate+for+everyone+drops+to+zero%29 laughable]? - [[User:Karmaisking|Karmaisking]] 14:49, 16 May 2011 (MSD)

== Argumentation: FRB ==

Hallo Karmaisking,

I was wondering if you would be interested in working on the page [[Argumentation:Fractional Reserve Banking]]? I already started the [[Argumentation:ABCT]], and continue to slowly add to it.

And that would be all there is - make a page, simply written, collecting and polishing arguments about the phenomenon. (Of course, I know ''simple'' is very hard to do - that's why it will need many small edits and expand slowly. But seeing you editing that 'Criticisms' page, you may have the stomach for that sort of thing. :) )

Starting with just a few very basic arguments is totally okay, one can always add more later (or somebody else can - you know the drill). I'd like to make more of these argumentation chains, extend them and link them together, so that folks can use them in arguments and as an introduction for key topics. But as usual, time is short.

Just in case you happen to be interested. Regards, [[User:Pestergaines|Pestergaines]] 12:13, 29 June 2011 (MSD)

:I'm always interested in explaining FRB. Done and thx for the notice. - [[User:Karmaisking|Karmaisking]] 05:18, 30 June 2011 (MSD)

==Contest==
Hallo there,

just wanted to say that you really ''can'' join the [[MisesWiki:2011 article improvement drive|contest]] for altruistic (or other :) ) reasons. Even if it was for the purpose of demonstration, we can use the help and you can use the exercise. And with the current level of participation, you can win rather easily! There's no downside to $50 worth of books. :)

(And if you have any suggestions on how to improve the rules or instructions, please let me know!) [[User:Pestergaines|Pestergaines]] 01:44, 6 September 2011 (MSD)

:Hi.
:My humble suggestion on ways of encouraging contributions - let's face it, no one does this for a $50 gift card. I do it to de-stress, as a way of working this stuff out of my system and organizing my own thoughts on these issues. With the relatively limited number of contributors, I suggest that the judges simply trawl through the main pages, look at the contributions and pick a dedicated contributor they like and give them a barnstar/little prize whenever they feel it appropriate. WP's senior editors are empowered to randomly give out barnstars at will. Asking a contributor to nominate themselves is difficult because: (1) most (all?) won't (2) the instructions are not easy to understand (3) you have to describe your work (how do I do that?) and (4) you have to click to another page whilst you're editing. It's hard enough for me to click on pages I like, let alone "admin"-type pages. If I don't feel like it, no one will.
:And, more to the point, I've learned the hard way (like Gaddafi should have) that being in the spotlight and talking about a return to the gold standard is liable to get you "disrespected" in monied Establishment circles (if not actually physically injured). Talking about the current monetary system forcing (necessarily, simply by the math) a global food crisis is not exactly going to make me or anyone here Mr Popular on CNBC. It's true, but so what? I don't want to promote this stuff. I prefer to make a quiet record of the reality for the few future readers of this Wiki to be able to say: "At least some of these idiots forced to walk off a cliff like lemmings knew what was going on..." To sum up: Please don't nominate me this month. I will think about nominating myself when the Mises silver coins come back on line. That will be significant motivation. [[User:Karmaisking|Karmaisking]] 04:43, 6 September 2011 (MSD)

::I understand, and don't worry - we won't nominate anyone against their will. :)
::I've updated the example and hope that it is clearer. (Darn, why is it so hard to make things easy to understand?) The contestants don't have to explain anything at length, simply state what they did. They can also add their changes after editing. Will try some more, let me know how it works out.
::Anyway, the contest is an attempt to attract new contributors and new submissions, or re-energize existing contributors, let's see how it works out. Oh, and - the barnstars and other rewards can be given by anybody to anybody, anytime. [[User:Pestergaines|Pestergaines]] 18:03, 6 September 2011 (MSD)

:::I think it was George Bernard Shaw who apologized to a friend in a letter by saying, "If I had more time this letter would have been much shorter." It's always harder to use fewer words to convey complex information. Without in any way being egotistical about it, that's why I tend to re-read my own Wiki article on our debt-based monetary system rather than re-read de Soto's book, or even Hulsmann's, because it's a simpler read. At least it is for me :-). And that's why there's a touch of genius to Lew Rockwell.com and Mises.org. With LRC the presentation is so simple you can read it on your iPhone without the need for an app. And Mises.org is very clean - showing that real thought has gone into the presentation. Zero Hedge, Market Oracle and even Max Keiser all have that similar "clean" presentation. Contrast these "clean" sites with something like the hodge-podge National Review website (or, even worse, The New Republic) and you suddenly realize why we're in the mess we're in. The idiot-blind Establishment can't even get their own websites to read well, let alone their own monetary policies to work. [[User:Karmaisking|Karmaisking]] 05:22, 7 September 2011 (MSD)

== Reorganizing the page really needed ==

Hallo Karmaisking,

did you see this [[Talk:Criticism of fractional reserve banking|notice]], what do you think about it? [[User:Pestergaines|Pestergaines]] 11:38, 8 October 2011 (MSD)

:Go for it. The [http://wiki.mises.org/mediawiki/index.php?title=Criticism_of_fractional_reserve_banking&oldid=15313 'full' edition] is sitting there. I've already encouraged a cut-down. It should be a simple task to edit down. It's not as though 15 million people are reading it. Probably less than 2000 individuals have read it, so I really couldn't care less what happens to it. It is topical and really the banking question is [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEtMQie6Pwg the single most important live issue] in economics, given ongoing Occupy Wall Street protests, the EU disaster, the ongoing US recession, the coming - and current - financial crises... so I suspect people want more information about it than less. But, as I say, I couldn't care less. One minor point - we're trying to ''encourage'' contributions, so I would have thought getting content on to pages would be more important at this point than cutting down content. Libertarianism for example hasn't been touched for a long while which is pretty amazing given its centrality to Austrian thought. And if you haven't read the whole thing, may I suggest you do so before editing. The whole financial system going to blow up anyway and there really is no practical solution anymore - it's way too late to avert disaster - so writing about it is, in itself, a somewhat pointless exercise despite its importance to the next generation and to the sustainability of human civilization more broadly. - [[User:Karmaisking|Karmaisking]] 08:06, 9 October 2011 (MSD)

::To explain, I'm also all for encouraging more contributions, but at some point can be the sheer amount - and the styling - too hard to read. Afterwards, more content doesn't really help it. Will try to improve it when/if I can get around to it, was just hoping you could do something since you know that monster of a page. [[User:Pestergaines|Pestergaines]] 16:11, 10 October 2011 (MSD)

:::Very reasonable. I was being somewhat flippant. It's ridiculously long, I agree. I just want to leave it to others to cut down because for me (somewhat self-evidently) it's all important and I can't bear to have a sentence cut down, as it's all good juicy stuff on what's gonna happen. Which is Japan x 100. Or Ireland x 10,000. Or Detroit x 100,000.
:::Generally editors exist for a reason. They are more objective than the writer and can cut down the writing to the level that the average, slightly curious, reader would want. In my experience over many years I have at times intensely disliked many editors of my work for cutting stuff out that I thought was crucial to the argument, but I've always respected them and their necessary role in the process. - [[User:Karmaisking|Karmaisking]] 04:49, 11 October 2011 (MSD)
::::Interesting point. What sorts of material have you had edited? How did it work?
:::::You may be confused. I have written and published. Others have edited my work. The page I've been working on is a classic example of writing without the benefit of a strict editor (you can see which one I'm talking about by looking at my history of contributions). I will keep going and going until someone shoots me. That's just the way I am. I have also edited other people's writing for my "job" but that's another story. I just rip into other people's work and make it work. Life's too short to leave rubbish in articles. Someone else can cut rubbish from my writing for me. That's what editors are for! If you have something you want me to read or review you can email me at rememberkarma@yahoo.com.au [[User:Karmaisking|Karmaisking]] ([[User talk:Karmaisking|talk]]) 15:32, 5 February 2013 (MSK)
::::::Hallo. Sorry I wasn't more clear, I said what have you "had" edited, meaning what work of yours have you had others edit, i.e. what are your areas of research or venues of publication. Thanks.
:::::::I don't promote myself. I've published in international law. My real interest was always economics but I knew I could never make a living in academia as long as Keynesians ruled the Ivory Towers. So I haven't published in economics although I completed an honours degree in the subject years ago. I have published in the legal sphere. For example, you can buy a copy of an article I wrote [http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13533319508413578#preview here] if you're interested. Few have, so I'm not encouraging it. That article was originally 3 times the length and I hated the editor for a few weeks, but it's more readable because it was cut down. The juicy stuff was removed however. It was prescient in that it predicted the ICC, which I opposed. But I was holding my hand up against the tide. The tide drowned me anyway.- [[User:Karmaisking|Karmaisking]] ([[User talk:Karmaisking|talk]]) 04:39, 7 February 2013 (MSK)

== Banking Article ==

Hello maybe you could do the fix with the quotes you suggested because I am not sure how to fix references? Thank you. [[User:NeverSayDie|NeverSayDie]] ([[User talk:NeverSayDie|talk]]) 17:45, 11 April 2013 (MSD)

User:NeverSayDie

2013-04-09T22:23:23Z

NeverSayDie: Created page with "Hello I am glad I found this Austrian wiki at the Mises Institute and I will try to contribute sometimes."

Hello I am glad I found this Austrian wiki at the Mises Institute and I will try to contribute sometimes.

Austrian School

2013-04-09T22:19:24Z

NeverSayDie: /* Murray Rothbard and the revival of the Austrian School */ I removed libel against Rothbard that is written here with no source footnote.

{{TOC right}}
The '''Austrian School of Economics''' is a [[Schools of economic thought|school of economic thought]] that derives its name from its [[Austrian]] founders and early supporters, including [[Carl Menger]], [[Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk]] and [[Ludwig von Mises]].

Other significant [[Austrian]] writers and economists include [[Murray Rothbard]], Nobel Laureate [[Friedrich Hayek]] and journalist [[Henry Hazlitt]]. Current research is produced by, among many others, scholars from the [[Mises Institute|Ludwig von Mises Institute]], and "Austrian" economists can now come from any part of the world. They are identified with the School through their shared views on the nature of economic science and its proper methodology.

The school emphasizes the spontaneous organizing power of the price mechanism and holds that the complexity of subjective human choices makes mathematical modeling of the evolving market practically impossible and therefore its scholars eschew what they consider "naïve" and pointless mathematical modeling of the economy, considering much of mainstream economics a form of economic charlatanism.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/3582 Keynesians Can't Predict], [[L. Albert Hahn]], ''The Freeman'', October 6, 1952</ref><ref>[http://www.garynorth.com/public/10768.cfm Tenured Austrian Economists]</ref> Its proponents tend to advocate the strong protection of private property rights and the strict enforcement of voluntary contractual agreements between economic agents, but otherwise advocate a laissez-faire approach to the economy and hold that the smallest imposition of coercive force (especially government-imposed force) on commercial transactions is the most effective way to secure long-run economic stability and well-being.

In particular, they voice serious concerns about the distorting and damaging effects of government involvement in commerce, arguing that few government regulations in this area are necessary or desirable and often trigger a "ratchet effect" as problems associated with existing regulations are often blamed on the free market, thereby justifying further damaging, coercive incursions into the market. They are particularly critical of long-standing governmental incursions into the area of private money production, advocating instead the immediate abolition of all coercive [[legal tender]] laws and the return to full reserve - or free - banking, where the financial system is decentralized and not dominated or controlled by coercive [[monopoly]] government or a monopoly [[central bank]].

==History==
While the Austrian School of Economics has connections as far back as the 15th century, it began with notable 19th century economists of Austrian origin. It is recognized to have emerged after the publication in 1871 of a trilogy of works (by [[William Stanley Jevons|Jevons]], [[Léon Walras|Walras]], and [[Carl Menger|Menger]]) which introduced the idea of the [[subjective theory of value]] and began what has been called “the [[marginal revolution]]” in economic thought.<ref>{{Citation | title = School of Thought: The Austrian School of Economics | publisher = [[Online Library of Liberty]] | url = http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Fcollection=8&Itemid=29&s=1 | accessdate = 2011-05-19}}</ref>

Other early theorists of the Austrian School were [[Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk]], [[Ludwig von Mises]], [[Friedrich Hayek]], and [[Friedrich von Wieser]]. Austrian economists no longer need be from Austria, and the term describes a particular school of economic thought rather than the nationality of its practitioners.

===Pre-Austrian Economists===
With noted contributions of earlier thinkers, like [[Nicole Oresme]], the Austrian school traces its roots to the followers of St. Thomas Aquinas, writing and teaching at the [[School of Salamanca|University of Salamanca]] in Spain.

These Late scholastics established the first modern economic theories and argued, in current terms, for free [[trade]] and property rights. Over the course of several generations, they discovered and explained the laws of [[supply]] and [[demand]], the cause of [[inflation]], the operation of foreign exchange rates, and the subjective nature of economic [[value]]. They were advocates of property rights and the freedom to contract and trade. "Austrians share the scholastic belief that there is no such thing as an economic science dealing with autonomous variables. Economic problems are aspects of larger social phenomena; and it is most expedient to deal with them as such, rather than to analyze them in some twisted separation."<ref name="Hulsmann_scholastics">Jörg Guido Hülsmann. [http://www.mises.org/books/moneyproduction.pdf "Ethics of Money Production"], online version, Introduction p. 12, referenced 2009-05-10.</ref>

The first general treatise on economics, [http://socserv2.socsci.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/cantillon/index.html Essay on the Nature of Commerce], was written in 1730 by [[Richard Cantillon]], a man schooled in the scholastic tradition. Born in Ireland, he emigrated to France. He saw economics as an independent area of investigation, and explained the formation of [[price]]s using the "thought experiment." He understood the market as an entrepreneurial process, and held to an Austrian theory of money creation: that it enters the economy in a step-by-step fashion, disrupting prices along the way.

Cantillon was followed by [[Anne Robert Jacques Turgot]], the pro-market French aristocrat and finance minister under the ''ancien regime'', one of the [[Physiocrats]]. His economic writings were few but profound. His paper "Value and Money" spelled out the origins of money, and the nature of economic choice: that it reflects the subjective rankings of an individual's preferences. Turgot solved the famous [[Paradox of value|diamond-water paradox]] that baffled later classical economists, articulated the law of diminishing returns, and criticized usury laws (a sticking point with the Late Scholastics). He favored a classical liberal approach to economic policy, recommending a repeal of all special privileges granted to government-connected industries.

Turgot was the intellectual father of a long line of great French economists of the eighteenth and nineteenth century, most prominently [[Jean-Baptiste Say]] and [[Frédéric Bastiat|Claude Frédéric Bastiat]]. Say was the first economist to think deeply about economic method. He realized that economics is not about the amassing of data, but rather about the verbal elucidation of universal facts (for example, wants are unlimited, means are scarce) and their logical implications.

Say discovered the productivity theory of resource pricing, the role of [[capital]] in the division of labor, and "[[Say's Law]]": there can never be sustained "overproduction" or "underconsumption" on the free market if prices are allowed to adjust. He was a defender of laissez-faire and the [[industrial revolution]], as was Bastiat. As a free-market journalist, Bastiat also argued that nonmaterial services are subject to the same economic laws as material [[good]]s. In one of his many economic allegories, Bastiat spelled out the "[[Parable of the broken window|broken-window fallacy]]" later popularized by [[Henry Hazlitt]].

Despite the theoretical sophistication of this developing pre-Austrian tradition, the [[Classical economics|British school]] of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries won the day, mostly for political reasons. This British tradition (based on the objective-cost and labor-productivity theory of value) ultimately led to the rise of the Marxist doctrine of capitalist exploitation.

===The First Austrians===
The dominant British tradition received its first serious challenge in many years when [[Carl Menger]]'s ''[[Principles of Economics]]'' was published in 1871. Menger, the founder of the Austrian School proper, resurrected the Scholastic-French approach to economics, and put it on firmer ground.

Together with the contemporaneous writings of [[Leon Walras]] and [[Stanley Jevons]], Menger spelled out the subjective basis of [[Value|economic value]], and fully explained, for the first time, the theory of [[Utility|marginal utility]] (the greater the number of units of a [[good]] that an individual possesses, the less he will value any given unit). In addition, Menger showed how money originates in a free market when the most marketable [[commodity]] is desired, not for consumption, but for use in trading for other goods.

Menger's book was a pillar of the "[[marginalist revolution]]" in the history of economic science. When Mises said it "made an economist" out of him, he was not only referring to Menger's theory of money and prices, but also his approach to the discipline itself. Like his predecessors in the tradition, Menger was a classical liberal and methodological individualist, viewing economics as the science of individual choice. His Investigations, which came out twelve years later, battled the [[Wikipedia:Historical school of economics|German Historical School]], which rejected theory and saw economics as the accumulation of data in service of the state. They took great exception to his defense of "theory" and gave the work of Menger and his followers the derogatory name "Austrian school" because of their faculty positions at the University of Vienna. The term stuck.<ref name="School">[http://mises.org/about/3467#Austrian_Economics "FAQ: What is Austrian Economics"], ''[[Mises Institute]]'', referenced 2009-04-27.</ref>

As professor of economics at the University of Vienna, and then tutor to the young but ill-fated [[Wikipedia:Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria|Crown Prince Rudol]]f of the House of Habsburg, Menger restored economics as the science of human action based on deductive [[logic]], and prepared the way for later theorists to counter the influence of socialist thought. Indeed, his student [[Friederich von Wieser]] strongly influenced Friedrich von Hayek's later writings. Menger's work remains an excellent introduction to the economic way of thinking.

Menger's admirer and follower at the University of Innsbruck, [[Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk]], took Menger's exposition, reformulated it, and applied it to a host of new problems involving [[value]], [[price]], [[capital]], and interest. His ''[[History and Critique of Interest Theories]]'', appearing in 1884, is a sweeping account of fallacies in the history of thought and a firm defense of the idea that the interest rate is not an artificial construct but an inherent part of the market. It reflects the universal fact of "[[time preference]]," the tendency of people to prefer satisfaction of wants sooner rather than later (a theory later expanded and defended by [[Frank Fetter]]<ref name="Fetter">Jeffrey Herbener. [http://mises.org/about/3231 "Frank A. Fetter (1863-1949): A Forgotten Giant"], ''[[Mises Institute]]'', referenced 2009-04-28.</ref>).

Böhm-Bawerk's ''[[Positive Theory of Capital]]'' demonstrated that the normal rate of business profit is the interest rate. Capitalists [[Saving|save]] money, pay laborers, and wait until the final product is sold to receive profit. In addition, he demonstrated that [[capital]] is not homogeneous but an intricate and diverse structure that has a time dimension. A growing economy is not just a consequence of increased capital investment, but also of longer and longer processes of production.

Böhm-Bawerk engaged in a prolonged battle with the [[Marxian Economics|Marxists]] over the exploitation theory of capital, and refuted the socialist doctrine of capital and wages long before the communists came to power in Russia. Böhm-Bawerk also conducted a seminar that would later become the model for Mises's own Vienna seminar.

Böhm-Bawerk favored policies that deferred to the ever-present reality of economic law. He regarded interventionism as an attack on market economic forces that cannot succeed in the long run. In the last years of the Habsburg monarchy, he three times served as finance minister, fighting for balanced budgets, sound money and the [[gold standard]], free trade, and the repeal of export subsidies and other monopoly privileges.

===Mises and Hayek===
It was Böhm-Bawerk's research and writing that solidified the status of the Austrian School as a unified way of looking at economic problems, and set the stage for the School to make huge inroads in the English-speaking world. But one area where Böhm-Bawerk had not elaborated on the analysis of Menger was [[money]], the institutional intersection of the "micro" and "macro" approach. The young [[Ludwig von Mises]]<ref name="Mises">Murray N. Rothbard. [http://mises.org/about/3248 "Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)"], ''[[Mises Institute]]'', referenced 2009-04-26.</ref>, economic advisor to the Austrian Chamber of Commerce, took on the challenge.

The result of Mises's research was ''[[The Theory of Money and Credit]]'', published in 1912. He spelled out how the theory of [[Utility|marginal utility]] applies to [[money]], and laid out his "regression theorem," showing that money not only originates in the market, but must always do so. Drawing on the [[British Currency School|British Currency School]], [[Knut Wicksell]]'s theory of [[interest rate]]s, and Böhm-Bawerk's theory of the structure of production, Mises presented the broad outline of the [[Austrian Business Cycle Theory|Austrian theory of the business cycle]]. A year later, Mises was appointed to the faculty of the University of Vienna, and Böhm-Bawerk's seminar spent a full two semesters debating Mises's book.

Mises's career was interrupted for four years by [[World War I]]. He spent three of those years as an artillery officer, and one as a staff officer in economic intelligence. 1919, at war's end, he published ''[[Nation, State, and Economy]]'', arguing on behalf of the economic and cultural freedoms of minorities in the now-shattered empire, and spelling out a theory of the economics of war. Meanwhile, Mises's monetary theory received attention in the U.S. through the work of [[Benjamin Anderson|Benjamin M. Anderson, Jr.]]<ref name="Anderson">Mark Thornton. [http://mises.org/about/3226 "Benjamin Anderson (1886-1949)"], ''[[Mises Institute]]'', referenced 2009-04-26.</ref>, an economist at [[Chase National Bank]]. (Mises's book was panned by [[John Maynard Keynes]], who later admitted he could not read German.{{Fact|reason=It would be cool to quote this somewhere.}})

In the political chaos after the war, the main theoretician of the now-socialist Austrian government was Marxist [[Otto Bauer]]. Knowing Bauer from the Böhm-Bawerk seminar, Mises explained economics to him night after night, eventually convincing him to back away from Bolshevik-style policies.{{fact|reason=It would be great to have a resource on this.}} The Austrian socialists never forgave Mises for this, waging war against him in academic politics and successfully preventing him from getting a paid professorship at the university.

Undeterred, Mises turned to the problem of socialism itself, writing a blockbuster essay in 1921, which he turned into the book ''[[Socialism (book)|Socialism]]'' over the next two years. Socialism permits no private property or exchange in [[capital goods]], and thus no way for resources to find their most highly valued use. Socialism, Mises predicted, would result in utter chaos and the end of civilization.

Mises challenged the socialists to explain, in economic terms, precisely how their system would work, a task which the socialists had hitherto avoided. The debate between the Austrians and the socialists continued for the next decade and beyond, and, until the collapse of world socialism in 1989, academics had long thought that the debate was resolved in favor of the socialists.

Meanwhile, Mises's arguments on behalf of the free market attracted a group of converts from the socialist cause, including [[Friedrich Hayek|Hayek]], [[Wilhelm Roepke]]<ref name="Roepke">Shawn Ritenour. [http://mises.org/about/3241 "Wilhelm Röpke (1899-1966): Humane Economist"], ''[[Mises Institute]]'', referenced 2009-04-27.</ref> , and [[Wikipedia:Lionel Robbins|Lionel Robbins]]. Mises began holding a private seminar in his offices at the Chamber of Commerce that was attended by [[Wikipedia:Fritz Machlup|Fritz Machlup]]<ref name="Machlup">Mark Thornton. [http://mises.org/about/3237 "Biography of Fritz Machlup (1902-1983)"], ''[[Mises Institute]]'', referenced 2009-04-27.</ref>, [[Wikipedia:Oskar Morgenstern|Oskar Morgenstern]], [[Wikipedia:Gottfried von Haberler|Gottfried von Haberler]]<ref name="Haberler">[http://mises.org/journals/aen/aen20_1_1.asp "Between Mises and Keynes An Interview with Gottfried von Haberler (1900-1995)"], ''The Austrian Economics Newsletter'' Spring 2000 Volume 20, Number 1, referenced 2009-04-27.</ref>, [[Wikipedia:Alfred Schutz|Alfred Schutz]]<ref name="Schutz">Peter Kurrild-Klitgaard. [http://mises.org/journals/qjae/pdf/qjae6_2_2.pdf "The Viennese Connection: Alfred Schutz and the Austrian School"](pdf), ''The Quarterly Journal Of Austrian Economics'' Vol.6, no.2, referenced 2009-04-27.</ref>, Richard von Strigl<ref name="Strigl">Jörg Guido Hülsmann. [http://mises.org/about/3243 "Richard von Strigl (1891-1942)"], ''[[Mises Institute]]'', referenced 2009-04-27.</ref>, [[Wikipedia:Eric Voegelin|Eric Voegelin]], [[Wikipedia:Paul Rosenstein-Rodan|Paul Rosenstein-Rodan]], and many other intellectuals from all over Europe.

Also during the 1920s and 30s, Mises was battling on two other academic fronts. He delivered the decisive blow to the [[Historical school of economics|German Historical School]] with a series of essays in defense of the deductive method in economics, which he would later call [[praxeology]] or the logic of [[action]]. He also founded the Austrian Institute for Business Cycle Research, and put his student Hayek in charge of it.

During these years, Hayek and Mises authored many studies on the [[business cycle]], warned of the danger of credit expansion, and predicted the coming currency crisis. This work was cited by the [[Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences|Nobel Memorial Prize]] committee in 1974 when Hayek received the award for economics. Working in England and America, Hayek later became a prime opponent of [[Keynesian economics]] with books on exchange rates, capital theory, and monetary reform. His popular book ''[[Road to Serfdom]]'' helped revive the classical liberal movement in America after the [[New Deal]] and [[World War II]]. And his series ''[[Law, Legislation, and Liberty]]'' ([http://books.google.com/books?id=wK49AAAAIAAJ&dq=Law,+Legislation+and+Liberty&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=YAvviNdntc&sig=ZdwmZeD_vlQzvUM5nIIs2xmqp50&hl=en#PPP1,M1 online]) elaborated on the Late Scholastic approach to law, and applied it to criticize egalitarianism and [[nostrums]] like [[social justice]].

===Outside of Austria===
In the late 1930s, after suffering from the [[Great Depression|worldwide depression]], Austria was threatened by a Nazi takeover. Hayek had already left for London in 1931 at Mises's urging, and in 1934, Mises himself moved to Geneva to teach and write at the [[Graduate Institute of International Studies|International Institute for Graduate Studies]], later emigrating to the United States. Knowing Mises as the sworn enemy of national socialism, the Nazis confiscated Mises's papers from his apartment and hid them for the duration of the war. Ironically, it was Mises's ideas, filtered through the work of Roepke and the statesmanship of [[Ludwig Erhard]], that led to Germany's postwar economic reforms and rebuilt the country. Then, in 1992, Austrian archivists discovered Mises's stolen Vienna papers in a reopened archive in Moscow.<ref name="Documents">Richard M. Ebeling. [http://www.fff.org/comment/ed0397e.asp "The Discovery of the Lost Papers of Ludwig von Mises"], ''The Future of Freedom Foundation'', March 1997, referenced 2009-04-28.</ref>

While in Geneva, Mises's wrote his masterwork, ''[[Nationalökonomie]]'', and, after coming to the United States, revised and expanded it into ''[[Human Action]]'', which appeared in 1949. His student [[Murray N. Rothbard]]<ref name="Rothbard">David Gordon. [http://mises.org/about/3249 "Murray N. Rothbard (1926-1995)"], ''[[Mises Institute]]'', referenced 2009-04-28.</ref> called it "Mises's greatest achievement and one of the finest products of the human mind in our century. It is economics made whole." It remains the economic treatise that defines the School. Even so, it was not well received in the economics profession, which had already made a decisive turn towards Keynesianism, which accepted fiat money, fractional-reserve banking and central banking, as well as the premise that government had to intervene in the economy because somehow the free market sometimes did not "work" - all principles that Mises found objectionable and wrong.

Though Mises never held the paid academic post he deserved, he gathered students around him at New York University, just as he had in Vienna. Even before Mises emigrated, journalist [[Henry Hazlitt]] had become his most prominent champion, reviewing his books in the New York Times and Newsweek, and popularizing his ideas in such classics as ''[[Economics in One Lesson]]''. Yet Hazlitt made his own contributions to the Austrian School. He wrote a line-by-line [[The Failure of the New Economics|critique]] of Keynes's ''[[The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money|General Theory]]'', defended the writings of Say, and restored him to a central place in Austrian macroeconomic theory. Hazlitt followed Mises's example of uncompromising adherence to principle, and as a result was pushed out of four high-profile positions in the journalistic world.

Mises's New York seminar continued until two years before his death in 1973. During those years, [[Murray Rothbard]], a PhD student at Columbia, attended Mises's seminars and become student of the Austrian School, moving further away from "mainstream" economics the more he studied the Austrian School.

===Murray Rothbard and the revival of the Austrian School===

William F. Buckley wrote a bitter obituary on Rothbard's death,<ref>William F. Buckley, Jr. [http://notableandquotable.blogspot.com.au/2008/04/william-f-buckleys-obituary-of-murray.html "Murray Rothbard RIP"], ''National Review'', February 6, 1995. Referenced 2013-02-24.</ref> and supporters of [[Ayn Rand]] ultimately rejected his views on the corrupting influence of big business on politics.

Rothbard wrote of the betrayal of the "true spirit" of the American conservative movement in his book, ''[[The Betrayal of the American Right]]''.

On economic matters, Rothbard's ''[[Man, Economy, and State]]'' was patterned after ''Human Action'', and in some areas--[[monopoly]] theory, [[utility]] and [[welfare]], and the theory of the state--tightened and strengthened Mises's own views. Rothbard's approach to the Austrian School followed directly in the line of Late Scholastic thought by applying economic science within a framework of a natural-rights theory of property.

What resulted was a full-fledged defense of a capitalistic and [[stateless social order]], based on [[property]] and freedom of association and contract. Rothbard extended and in a sense "completed" Mises's views on economic thought, removing inconsistencies and drawing more radical policy conclusions than Mises's early works (that were, in themselves, radical in their day and are still considered to be so even today).

Rothbard followed his economic treatise with an investigation of the [[Great Depression]], which applied [[Austrian Business Cycle Theory]] to show that the stock market crash and economic downturn was attributable to a prior [[bank]] [[Inflation|credit expansion]]. Then in a series of studies on government policy, he established the theoretical framework for examining the effects of all types of intervention in the market.

Rothbard extended and "radicalized" the Austrian School, taking Mises's insights and pushing them to their logical conclusion. Unlike Mises's view that there was a role for the State (in providing public goods and services such as law and order and basic infrastructure) it was Rothbard's view that all goods and services could be - and should be - produced by the private sector. He viewed many regulations and laws ostensibly promulgated for the "public interest" as self-interested power grabs by scheming government bureaucrats engaging in dangerously unfettered self-aggrandizement, as they were not subject to real competition. Rothbard held that there were inherent inefficiencies involved with governments providing commercial services and asserted that real competition would eliminate these efficiencies, if those services could be provided by the private sector.<ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard40.html The Great Society: A Libertarian Critique], Murray Rothbard</ref><ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard53.html The Noble Task of Revisionism], Murray Rothbard</ref><ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard37.html The Fallacy of the 'Public Sector'], Murray Rothbard</ref>

Rothbard was equally condemning of state corporatism. He criticized many instances where business elites co-opted government's monopoly power so as to influence laws and regulatory policy in a manner benefiting them at the expense of their competitive rivals.<ref>''For a New Liberty'', Chapter 3</ref> He was a seminal writer in an area that would later branch out to become public choice theory, but his work is now rarely associated with this area of study.

He argued that [[taxation]] represents coercive theft on a grand scale, and "a compulsory [[monopoly]] of force" prohibiting the more efficient voluntary procurement of defense and judicial services from competing suppliers.<ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard24.html Tax Day], Murray Rothbard</ref> He also considered [[central bank]]ing and [[fractional reserve banking]] under a monopoly [[fiat money]] system a form of state-sponsored, legalized financial [[embezzlement|fraud]], antithetical to [[Libertarianism|libertarian]] principles and ethics.<ref>Rothbard, Murray. [http://www.mises.org/Books/mysteryofbanking.pdf ''The Mystery of Banking''] Ludwig von Mises Institute. 2008. p. 111</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-2737288_ITM |title=Has fractional-reserve banking really passed the market test? (Controversy). |date=January 2003 |format= |work= Independent Review|accessdate=}}</ref><ref>[http://www.fff.org/freedom/0999c.asp The Case for the 100% Gold Dollar], Murray Rothbard</ref><ref>See also Murray Rothbard articles: [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard191.html Private Coinage]; [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard190.html Repudiate the National Debt]; and [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard181.html Taking Money Back]</ref>

It was Rothbard who firmly established the Austrian School and classical liberal doctrine in the U.S., especially with ''[[Conceived in Liberty]]'' (volumes [http://mises.org/books/conceived1.pdf I], [http://mises.org/books/conceived2.pdf II], [http://mises.org/books/conceived3.pdf III], [http://mises.org/books/conceived4.pdf IV]), his four-volume history of colonial America and the secession from Britain. The reunion of natural-rights theory and the Austrian School came in his philosophical work, ''[[The Ethics of Liberty]]'' ([http://www.mises.org/rothbard/ethics/ethics.asp text]), all while he was writing a series of scholarly economic pieces gathered in the two-volume ''Logic of Action'', published in Edward Elgar's ''Economists of the Century'' series.

The founding of the [[Mises Institute|Ludwig von Mises Institute]] in 1982, with the aid of Margit von Mises as well as Hayek and Hazlitt, provided a range of new opportunities for both Rothbard and the Austrian School. Through a steady stream of academic conferences, instructional seminars, books, monographs, newsletters, studies, and even films, they carried the Austrian School forward into the post-socialist age.

The Austrian School enters a new millennium with many new advocates, including economists such as prominent Spanish economist [[Jesus Huerta de Soto]], German economist [[Jörg Guido Hülsmann]] and American economists [[William Anderson]], [[Robert Murphy]] and [[Walter Block]], writers such as [[Thomas Woods]], [[Lew Rockwell]], and [[Charles Goyette]], and media commentators and public figures such as [[Peter Schiff]] and [[Ron Paul]]. Some commentators have described this as a recent renaissance of [[classical liberal]] scholarship and thought.<ref>[http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/255968/who-ron-paul-interview Ron Paul Interview], National Review Online</ref>

==Methodology==
Austrian School economists advocate strict adherence to [[methodological individualism]] – analyzing human [[action]] from the perspective of individual agents.<ref name="Mises_Individualism">Ludwig von Mises [http://mises.org/humanaction/chap2sec4.asp "The Principle of Methodological Individualism"], ''[[Human Action]]'' online edition, [[Mises Institute]]. Referenced 2009-04-24}.</ref> Proponents of this method, [[praxeology]], argue that the only means of arriving at a valid economic theory is to derive it logically from basic principles of human action. Proponents of this method hold that it allows for the discovery of fundamental economic laws valid for all human action. Alongside praxeology, the school has traditionally advocated an interpretive approach to history to address specific historical events.

Austrian economists reject empirical [[Econometrics|statistical methods]] as tools applicable to economics, saying that while it is appropriate in the natural sciences where causal factors can be isolated in laboratory conditions, the actions of human beings are far too complex for this "numerical" treatment as passive non-adaptive subjects. Instead one should isolate the logical processes of human action. Mises called this discipline "[[praxeology]]" – a term he adapted from [[Alfred Espinas]] (but which had been in use by others).<ref>Ludwig von Mises, Nationalökonomie (Geneva: Union, 1940), p. 3; Human Action (Auburn, Ala.: Mises Institute, [1949] 1998), p. 3.</ref>

Mises also argued against the use of empirically derived probability modelling in economics, which became prevalent in finance and other areas of economics in the late 20th century.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mises.org/books/ufofes/ |title=The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science by Ludwig von Mises |publisher=Mises.org |date= |accessdate=2012-08-13}}</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/4128/ The Correct Theory of Probability], Murray Rothbard</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/4979 Why the definition of probability matters], Mark Crowelli</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5352/ What Mises can teach the Quants], Daniel Sanchez</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/media/7496/The-Enduring-Allure-of-Objective-Probability The Enduring Allure of Objective Probability] Robert Mulligan presentation</ref> Instead, the Austrian praxeological method is based on the heavy use of [[deductive reasoning|deductive arguments]] from undeniable, self-evident [[axioms]] or from irrefutable facts about human existence.<ref name="HansHermannHoppe">Hans-Hermann Hoppe, Economic Science and the Austrian Method (Auburn, Ala.: Mises Institute, [1995] 2007), p. 63.</ref> According to Austrians, deductive economic [[thought experiment]], if performed correctly, can yield conclusions that follow irrefutably from the underlying assumptions and could not be discovered by empirical observation or statistical inference.

The Austrian praxeological method is based on the heavy use of logical [[deductive reasoning|deduction]] from what they assert to be undeniable, self-evident [[axioms]] or irrefutable facts about human existence. The primary axiom from which Austrian economists deduce further certain conclusions is the action axiom, which holds that humans take conscious action toward chosen goals.<ref>Hans-Hermann Hoppe, Economic Science and the Austrian Method (Auburn, Ala.: Mises Institute, [1995] 2007), p. 63.</ref>

Austrian school theorists, like [[Ludwig von Mises]], insist that praxeology must be [[positive economics|value-free]]—that the method does not answer the question "should this policy be implemented?", but rather "if this policy is implemented, will it have [[Law of unintended consequences|the effects you intend]]"? However, Austrian economists often make policy recommendations that call for the elimination of government regulations and their policy prescriptions often overlap with [[libertarian]] or [[Anarcho-capitalism|anarcho-capitalist]] solutions. These recommendations are similar to, but further reaching than the [[minarchism|minarchist]] ideas of [[Chicago school of economics|Chicago School]] economists, and frequently address issues that other schools ignore, such as [[monetary reform]].<ref>{{cite book | last = Skousen | first = Mark | title = Vienna & Chicago, Friends or Foes? | publisher = Capital Press/Regnery Pub | location = Washington | year = 2005 | isbn = 0-89526-029-8 }}</ref>

Consistent with this deductive approach, Mises argued against the use of complex mathematical modelling and empirically-derived probabilities in economic models.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mises.org/books/ufofes/ |title=The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science by Ludwig von Mises |publisher=Mises.org |date= |accessdate=2012-08-13}}</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/4128/ The Correct Theory of Probability], Murray Rothbard</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/4979 Why the definition of probability matters], Mark Crowelli</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5352/ What Mises can teach the Quants], Daniel Sanchez</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/media/7496/The-Enduring-Allure-of-Objective-Probability The Enduring Allure of Objective Probability] Robert Mulligan presentation</ref> Instead, his praxeological method is based on [[deductive reasoning|deductive arguments]] from what are considered undeniable, self-evident [[axioms]], or irrefutable facts, about human existence. According to Mises, deductive economic [[thought experiment]], if performed correctly, can yield conclusions that follow irrefutably from the underlying assumptions and could not be discovered by empirical observation or statistical inference.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mises.org/books/ufofes/ |title=The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science by Ludwig von Mises |publisher=Mises.org |date= |accessdate=2012-08-13}}</ref>

Austrian economists view [[entrepreneurship]] as the driving force in [[economic development]], see [[private property]] as essential to the efficient use of resources, and usually (if not always) see [[government]] interference in market processes as counterproductive.

As with neoclassical economists, Austrian economists reject [[classical economics|classical]] cost of production theories, most famously the [[labor theory of value]]. Instead, they explain value by reference to the [[Subjective theory of value|subjective preferences of individuals]]. This psychological aspect to Menger's economics has been attributed to the school's birth in turn of the century [[Vienna]]. [[Supply and demand]] are explained by aggregating over the decisions of individuals, following the precepts of [[methodological individualism]], which asserts that only individuals and not collectives make decisions, and [[marginalist]] arguments, which compare the costs and benefits for incremental changes.

[[Frank van Dun]] outlines the basic difference between the methods:
: The central dogma of [[positivism]] in fields such as “law” and “economics” is that every order is artificial. There are no [[natural order]]s, or, if there are, they are not suitable objects of scientific investigation. Consequently, persons can be admitted as objects of study only if they are disguised as artificial persons. In economics, positivism typically involves the personification of “theoretical constructs” (for example, utility functions) constrained by the rules of a model or a simulation. It fits the profile of a technology of want-satisfaction that characterises modern neo-classical and mainstream economics, but obviously is useless for the anarchocapitalists’ program of research into the conditions of order and disorder of the real human world.<ref>Frank van Dun. [http://www2.units.it/etica/2003_2/index.html ''Natural Law: A Logical Analysis'']. Etica & Politica, 2003.2. Dipartimento di Filosofia, Lingue e Letterature, Università di Trieste.</ref>

===Criticism of mainstream practices===
Austrians consider their methodology to be superior to mainstream economists' attempts to mimic the "hard' sciences through what Austrians consider to be a "naive" [[empiricism]]. This "naive" attempt by the mainstream academic community to mimic the hard sciences through econometrics has had questionable results. German economist, banker and Keynesian critic, L. Albert Hahn, noted the following in October 1952:<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/3582 Keynesians Can't Predict], L. Albert Hahn, ''The Freeman'', October 6, 1952</ref>

{{quote|It is seldom realized that belief in the possibility of "scientific" business forecasts, and the forecasting mania of our time, are comparatively new phenomena. Until about 1930 serious economists were not so bold — or so naive — as to pretend to be able to calculate the coming of booms and depressions in advance. It would not have fitted into their general view on the working of a free economy. They considered the economic future as basically dependent on unpredictable price-cost relationships and on the equally unpredictable psychological reactions of entrepreneurs. Predictions of future business conditions would have seemed to them mere charlatanry, just as predictions, say, regarding the resolutions of Congress two years from now... The basic error of the whole approach lies in the fact that the causative link between objective data and the decision of the members of the community are treated as mechanical. But men are still men and not automatons... Insufficiently educated in the history of economic thought, they [Anglo-American economists] do not realize that Keynesianism — down to the most technical details, like the concept of the foreign exchange multiplier — is mercantilism or, more precisely, John Lawism pure and simple... Reading, quoting, praising, and promoting each other, and only each other, will not liberate these economists from their voluntary isolationism. They will remain in their dream world. They will continue to predict the unpredictable.}}

Mainstream economists mostly ignore the Austrian assertion that prediction in economics is inherently impossible and continue to focus on mathematical modelling of the economy derived from simplified assumptions about human behaviour and preferences.<ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig11/rosen-e1.1.1.html What is the Current State of Economic Science?], Erwin Rosen</ref> However, in the past some mainstream economists and central bankers held similar views to those of the Austrians, eschewing econometric analysis and disparaging attempts to control statistical data that were not amenable to central control and direction (or prediction).<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5146/Over-to-You-H-Parker-Willis Over To You H. Parker Willis], James Grant</ref> For example, H. Parker Willis co-authored the 1936 text ''The Theory and Practice of Central Banking'' and wrote the following:

{{quote|Central banks will do wisely to lay aside their inexpert ventures in half-baked monetary theory, meretricious statistical measures of trade, and hasty grinding of the axes of speculative interests with their suggestion that by so doing they are achieving some sort of vague 'stabilization' that will, in the long run, be for the greater good.}}

In their rejection of mainstream practices, Austrians have long argued that mainstream economic models have a very poor record of prediction, citing the [[Global Financial Crisis]] as one of many examples of the utter uselessness of theoretical economic modelling - and risk analysis - just when it is needed most.<ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig11/rosen-e1.1.1.html What is the Current State of Economic Science?], Erwin Rosen</ref><ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/thornton/thornton38.html You Heard It Here First], Mark Thornton, LRC</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/media/4019 Business Cycles and Prediction, Mark Thornton]</ref> However, some Austrian adherents have themselves been labeled as "Chicken Littles" for continually making predictions of "catastrophic" financial crises.<ref>[http://www.goldensextant.com/SavingtheSystem.html Saving the System], Robert K. Landis</ref><ref>{{cite news
|last=Brodie
|first=Lee
|title=Is This Market Heading For A Serious Correction?
|date=2009-08-17
|work=CNBC
|url=http://www.cnbc.com/id/32441070/Is_This_Market_Heading_For_A_Serious_Correction }}
</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPxYg6mgGpE Inflation is There], Peter Schiff</ref>

==Contributions==
Some significant general contributions of Austrian economists are listed below:
* The Regression Thereom of Money, wherein Mises hypothesized that the creation of money is a time-dependent process where market participants, by spontaneously engaging in barter and trading goods, quickly reach a market-based consensus regarding what should be commonly accepted as a medium of exchange in that market. An item becomes "money" based primarily on participants' subjective values - their past experience of ''other'' traders accepting this "good" as money - and their expectation that it will be accepted by others in future. If people stop trusting that others will accept this item in future, this item can lose its tradeability - or "moneyness" - suddenly and immediately.
* A fundamental rejection of mathematical methods in economics, seeing the function of economics as investigating the essences rather than the specific quantities of economic phenomena. This was seen as an evolutionary, or "genetic-causal", approach against the alleged "unreality" and internal stresses inherent in the "static" approach of [[economic equilibrium|equilibrium]] and [[perfect competition]], which are the foundations of mainstream Neoclassical economics (see also [[praxeology]]). This methodology is also driven by the belief that [[econometrics]] is inherently misleading in that it creates a fallacious "precision" in economics where there is none.
* [[Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk]]'s critique of [[Karl Marx|Marx]], which centered on the untenability of the [[labor theory of value]] in the light of the [[transformation problem]]. There was also the connected argument that capitalists do not exploit workers; they ''accommodate'' workers by providing them with income well in advance of the revenue from the output they helped to produce.
* Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk's demonstration that the law of marginal utility, as formulated by [[Carl Menger|Menger]] necessarily implies the classical law of costs and hence the vast majority of the conclusions of the British [[classical economists]]. This discovery was later fully developed and its implications traced by a student of [[Ludwig von Mises|von Mises]], [[George Reisman]], in his book, ''Capitalism''.
* An emphasis on [[opportunity cost]] and reservation demand in defining [[marginal theory of value|value]], and a refusal to consider supply as an otherwise independent cause of value.<ref>"Values are not seen (as they are in Marshallian economics) as ''jointly'' determined by subjective (utility) and objective (physical cost) considerations. Rather, values are seen as determined ''solely'' by the actions of consumers... Cost is seen (by Menger, and especially by Wieser...) merely as prospective utility deliberately sacrificed (in order to command more highly preferred utility)." Israel M. Kirzner, "The Austrian School of Economics", ''The New Palgrave: Dictionary of Economics'' (1987)</ref> (The British economist [[Philip Wicksteed]] adopted this perspective.)
* The Mises-Hayek [[business cycle]] theory, which is asserted as explaining depression as a reaction to an intertemporal production structure fostered by [[monetary policy]] setting [[interest rate]]s inconsistent with individual time preferences.
* Mises and Hayek's view of prices as permitting agents to make use of [[dispersed knowledge|dispersed tacit knowledge]].
* The [[time preference theory of interest]], which explains interest rates through [[intertemporal choice]] - the different time preferences of the borrower or lender - rather than as a price paid for a [[factor of production]].
* The [[economic calculation debate]] between Austrian and [[Marxist]] economists, with the Austrians claiming that Marxism is flawed because prices could not be set to recognize opportunity costs of factors of production, and so [[socialism]] could not make rational decisions.
* [[Friedrich Hayek]] was one of the few economists who gave warning of a major economic crisis before [[Wall Street Crash of 1929|the great crash]] of 1929.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Making of Modern Economics |last=Skousen |first=Mark |authorlink=Mark Skousen |year=2001 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |isbn=0-7656-0479-5 |page=284 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/1974/press.html |title=The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 1974 |accessdate=2008-10-12 |publisher=[[Nobel Foundation]] |date=1974-10-09 }}</ref> In February 1929, Hayek warned that a coming financial crisis was an unavoidable consequence of reckless monetary expansion.<ref>{{cite book |title= Keynes and Hayek |last= Steele |first=G. R. |year=2001 |publisher= Routledge |isbn= 0-415-25138-9 |page=9 }}</ref>
* Stressing uncertainty in the making of economic decisions, rather than relying on "[[Homo economicus]]" or the rational man who was fully informed of all circumstances impinging on his decisions. The fact that perfect knowledge never exists, means that all economic activity implies risk.
* Seeing the entrepreneurs' role as collecting and evaluating information and acting on risks.
* An emphasis on the forward-looking nature of choice, seeing time as the root of uncertainty within economics (see also [[time preference]]).

==Notable theories==
===Economic calculation problem===
{{Main|Economic calculation problem}}
The economic calculation problem was first proposed by Ludwig von Mises in 1920 and later expounded by Friedrich Hayek.<ref name="Mises">{{cite book |title=Economic calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth |accessdate=2008-09-08 |last=Von Mises |first=Ludwig |authorlink=Ludwig von Mises |year=1990|format=pdf |publisher=[[Ludwig von Mises Institute]] |url=http://mises.org/pdf/econcalc.pdf |isbn=0945466072 }}</ref><ref>F. A. Hayek, (1935), "The Nature and History of the Problem" and "The Present State of the Debate," om in F. A. Hayek, ed. ''Collectivist Economic Planning'', pp. 1–40, 201–243.</ref> The problem referred to is that of how to distribute resources efficiently in an economy. The capitalist or free market solution is to produce and distribute goods and services according to the [[price mechanism]]; Mises and Hayek argued that this is the only viable solution, as the [[price mechanism]] co-ordinates supply and investment decisions most efficiently, favoring the production of desired goods and services and eliminating those goods and services that are not wanted by reducing their prices and thereby rationing the resources given to "unwanted" or inefficient producers. Without the "feedback" information being provided by market prices, centrally planned [[socialism]] lacks a method to efficiently allocate resources over an extended period of time in any market where the [[price mechanism]] is effective (an example where the [[price mechanism]] may not work is in the relatively confined area of [[public goods|public]] and [[common good (economics)|common goods]]). This thereom implies that a [[socialist]] [[planned economy]] could never be sustainable in the long term for the vast bulk of the economy, as huge shortages of desired goods and large surpluses of unwanted goods would continually occur in the economy, resulting in misallocations and dislocations that would eventually cause chaos throughout the economic system. The debate over whether socialism was a viable economic system raged in the 1920s and 1930s, and that specific period of the debate has come to be known by historians of economic thought as ''The Socialist Calculation Debate.''<ref name="School">[http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/essays/paretian/social.htm The socialist calculation debate]</ref>
[[Ludwig von Mises]] argued in a famous 1920 article "[[Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth]]" that the pricing systems in socialist economies were necessarily deficient because if government owned the [[means of production]], then no prices could be obtained for [[capital goods]] as they were merely internal transfers of goods in a socialist system and not "objects of exchange," unlike final goods. Therefore, they were unpriced and hence the system would be necessarily inefficient since the central planners would not know how to allocate the available resources efficiently.<ref name="School" /> This led him to declare "…that rational economic activity is impossible in a socialist commonwealth."<ref name="Mises" />

===Inflation===
{{Main|Inflation}}
The Austrian School has consistently argued that a "traditionalist" approach to inflation yields the most accurate understanding of the causes (and the cure) for [[inflation]]. Austrian economists maintain that inflation is ''by definition'' always and everywhere simply an increase in the [[money supply]] (i.e. units of currency or means of exchange), which in turn leads to a higher nominal price level for assets (such as housing) and other goods and services in demand, as the real value of each monetary unit is eroded, loses purchasing power and thus buys fewer goods and services.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5407/Is-Higher-Inflation-Inevitable Is Higher Inflation Inevitable?], Thorsten Polleit</ref>

Given that all major economies currently have a [[central bank]] supporting the private [[bank]]ing system, money can be supplied into these economies by way of private bank-created credit (or [[debt]]).<ref>[http://mises.org/media/4014 The Economics of Legal Tender Laws], [[Jorg Guido Hulsmann]] (includes detailed commentary on [[central banking]], [[inflation]] and [[fractional reserve banking|FRB]])</ref> Austrian School economists therefore regard the private bankers and the state-sponsored [[central bank]] as the main cause of [[inflation]] in an economy where the bulk of the money supply is created through debt, because they regard the central bank as the institution charged with supporting the banking system and supplying cash to the banking system when needed by the banks.<ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north803.html Why Deflation Is not Inevitable (Sadly)], Gary North</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article25964.html QE is Nothing New], Mike Hewitt</ref>

The Austrian School also views the "contemporary" definition of [[inflation]] as inherently misleading in that it draws attention only to the ''effect'' of inflation (rising prices) and does not address the "true" phenomenon of [[inflation]], which they believe simply involves the debasement of the means of exchange. They argue that this semantic difference is important in defining inflation and finding a cure for inflation.<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article25964.html QE is Nothing New], Mike Hewitt</ref> Austrian School economists maintain the most effective cure is the strict maintenance of a stable money supply.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mises.org/story/908 |title=Defining Inflation |accessdate=2008-09-20 |last=Shostak, Ph.D |first=Frank |date=2002-03-02 |publisher=Mises Institute }}</ref> [[Ludwig von Mises]], the seminal scholar of the Austrian School, asserts that:

<blockquote>
Inflation, as this term was always used everywhere and especially in this country, means increasing the quantity of money and bank notes in circulation and the quantity of bank deposits subject to check. But people today use the term `inflation' to refer to the phenomenon that is an inevitable consequence of inflation, that is the tendency of all prices and wage rates to rise. The result of this deplorable confusion is that there is no term left to signify the cause of this rise in prices and wages. There is no longer any word available to signify the phenomenon that has been, up to now, called inflation. . . . As you cannot talk about something that has no name, you cannot fight it. Those who pretend to fight inflation are in fact only fighting what is the inevitable consequence of inflation, rising prices. Their ventures are doomed to failure because they do not attack the root of the evil. They try to keep prices low while firmly committed to a policy of increasing the quantity of money that must necessarily make them soar. As long as this terminological confusion is not entirely wiped out, there cannot be any question of stopping inflation.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Ludwig |last=von Mises |chapter=Economic Freedom and Interventionism |editor1-first=Bettina B. |editor1-last=Greaves |title=Economics of Mobilization |publisher=The Commercial and Financial Chronicle |location=Sulphur Springs, West Virginia |pages= |year=1980 |isbn= |chapterurl=http://mises.org/efandi/ch20.asp |ref=harv}}</ref>
</blockquote>

Austrian economists tend to measure the inflation by calculating the growth of what they call 'the true money supply', i.e. how many new units of money that are available for immediate use in exchange, that have been created over time.<ref>Ludwig von Mises Institute, "[http://mises.org/content/nofed/chart.aspx?series=TMS True Money Supply]"</ref><ref>Joseph T. Salerno, (1987), Austrian Economic Newsletter, "[http://www.mises.org/journals/aen/aen6_4_1.pdf The "True" Money Supply: A Measure of the Medium of Exchange in the U.S. Economy]"</ref><ref>Frank Shostak, (2000), "[http://www.mises.org/journals/qjae/pdf/qjae3_4_3.pdf The Mystery of the Money Supply Definition]"</ref>

Austrian School economists claim that the state uses subtle forms of inflation as one of the three means by which it can fund its activities, the other two being taxing and borrowing.<ref>[[Lew Rockwell]], interview on "[http://mises.org:88/Now NOW with Bill Moyers]"</ref> Because of the disruptive and dislocating effects of inflation, many Austrian School economists support the abolition of the [[central bank]]s and the [[fractional-reserve banking]] system, and advocate instead a return to money based on the [[gold standard]], or less frequently, [[free banking]].<ref>Ludwig von Mises Institute, "[http://mises.org/books/goldstandard.pdf The Gold Standard]"</ref><ref>Ron Paul, "[http://mises.org/books/caseforgold.pdf The Case for Gold]"</ref> Money could only be created by finding and putting into circulation more gold under a [[gold standard]]. In the absence of a return to commodity money, many Austrian analysts predict catastrophe for the economy. For example, Austrian commentator Robert K. Landis has written the following:<ref>[http://www.goldensextant.com/SavingtheSystem.html Saving The System], Robert K. Landis</ref>

<blockquote> No, the die is cast: we shall have the catastrophe. Our fiat monetary system got a reprieve in the 1980's, not a deliverance. All that has happened since, with the fantastic mispricing of credit the Greenspan Fed has engineered, and the massive global malinvestment this has engendered, is that the dimensions of the unraveling have become more dire.

Mises called this one too:

"Certainly, the banks would be able to postpone the collapse; but nevertheless, as has been shown, the moment must eventually come when no further extension of the circulation of fiduciary media is possible. Then the catastrophe occurs, and its consequences are the worse and the reaction against the bull tendency of the market the stronger, the longer the period during which the rate of interest on loans has been below the natural rate of interest and the greater the extent to which roundabout processes of production that are not justified by the state of the capital market have been adopted."

With respect to the form the denouement will take, much has been written within the gold community on the subject of whether we face hyperinflation or deflationary depression as the prelude to monetary collapse. Both sides of the debate appear to accept the premise that whatever may transpire will bear a linear relationship to what now exists. The disagreement centers on the direction the line will go. But today's markets are fully linked by derivatives and technology, and they are patrolled by wolf packs of large, leveraged speculators not noted for their patient outlook. So it seems likely that the terminal monetary crisis will unfold on virtually an instantaneous and discontinuous basis, once the fog of statistical deceit and false market cues begins to lift and a clear trend either way becomes evident. We are not likely to enjoy the luxury of observing either a deflation or an inflation unfold in the fullness of time, but rather, just as Mises foretold, a final and total catastrophe of our fiat monetary system. All we can hope is that once the curtain falls on the current system, the wisdom in the gold bugs' submissions to the Gold Commission will finally find a receptive audience.</blockquote>

Advocates argue that the abolition of legal tender laws and the spontaneous return to a gold or silver monetary system would effectively constrain unsustainable and volatile [[fractional-reserve banking]] practices, ensuring that [[money supply]] growth ("[[inflation]]") would never spiral out of control.<ref>Murray Rothbard, "[http://mises.org/rothbard/100percent.pdf The Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar]"</ref><ref>Ludwig von Mises Institute, "[http://mises.org/story/2870 Money, Banking and the Federal Reserve]"</ref>

In relation to the current [[central bank]]-managed [[fractional reserve banking|fractional reserve]] [[fiat currency]] [[debt-based monetary system|system]], Austrian economist [[Murray Rothbard]] stated the following:<ref>Rothbard, Murray. [http://www.mises.org/Books/mysteryofbanking.pdf ''The Mystery of Banking''], p. 261</ref>

{{quote|Given this dismal monetary and banking situation, given a 39:1 pyramiding of checkable deposits and currency on top of gold, given a Fed unchecked and out of control, given a world of fiat moneys, how can we possibly return to a sound noninflationary market money? The objectives, after the discussion in this work, should be clear: (a) to return to a gold standard, a commodity standard unhampered by government intervention; (b) to abolish the Federal Reserve System and return to a system of free and competitive banking; (c) to separate the government from money; and (d) either to enforce 100 percent reserve banking on the commercial banks, or at least to arrive at a system where any bank, at the slightest hint of nonpayment of its demand liabilities, is forced quickly into bankruptcy and liquidation. While the outlawing of fractional reserve as fraud would be preferable if it could be enforced, the problems of enforcement, especially where banks can continually innovate in forms of credit, make free banking an attractive alternative.}}

[[Ludwig von Mises]] asserted that, in addition to reducing the serverity of business cycles and eliminating inflation, civil liberties would be better protected through a return to the gold standard:

<blockquote>
It is impossible to grasp the meaning of the idea of [[sound money]] if one does not realize that it was devised as an instrument for the protection of civil liberties against despotic inroads on the part of governments. Ideologically it belongs in the same class with political constitutions and bills of rights. The demand for constitutional guarantees and for bills of rights was a reaction against arbitrary rule and the nonobservance of old customs by kings.<ref>{{cite book |last=von Mises |first=Ludwig |authorlink=Ludwig von Mises |coauthors= |title=The Theory of Money and Credit |publisher=Liberty Fund, Inc. |date=1981-07-01 |location= |pages=Chapter 21 |url=http://mises.org/story/2276 |doi= |id= |isbn=0-913966-71-1 |nopp=true }}</ref>
</blockquote>

===Business cycles===
{{Main|Austrian Business Cycle Theory}}
The Austrian School is one of the few schools of economic thought that considers different forms of money to be "non-neutral" - meaning that changes in the money supply can have real economic effects, disrupting the price mechanism and causing "ripple" effects throughout the economy. Mainstream theories generally consider money to be "neutral" (in other words, they consider that changes in the money supply do not have significant effects on the real economy). According to Austrian School economist [[Joseph Salerno]], what most distinctly sets the Austrian school apart from [[neoclassical economics]] is the [[Austrian Business Cycle Theory]]:<ref>{{Cite journal
| last = Salerno
| first = Joseph
| author-link = Joseph Salerno
| title = Why We're Winning: An Interview with Joseph T. Salerno
| journal = The Austrian Economics Newsletter
| volume = 16
| issue = 3
| pages =
| date =
| origyear =
| year = 1996
| month =
| url = http://mises.org/journals/aen/aen16_3_1.asp
| archiveurl =
| archivedate =
| doi =
| id =
| ref = harv }}
</ref>
{{quote|The Austrian theory embodies all the distinctive Austrian traits: the theory of heterogeneous capital, the structure of production, the passage of time, sequential analysis of monetary interventionism, the market origins and function of the interest rate, and more. And it tells a compelling story about an area of history neoclassicals think of as their turf. The model of applying this theory remains [[Murray Rothbard|Rothbard]]'s ''[[America's Great Depression]]''.}}

Austrian School economists focus on the changes in the money supply and the associated credit cycle as the primary cause of most business cycles. Austrian economists assert that the pernicious monetary effects of [[fractional reserve banking]] are the predominant cause of most business cycles, as the inflating effects of the practice result in lower interest rates than would prevail in a stable money system, thereby causing excessive credit creation, speculative "[[economic bubble|bubbles]]" and "artificially" low savings.<ref>Thorsten Polleit, [http://mises.org/story/2810 Manipulating the Interest Rate: a Recipe for Disaster], 13 December 2007</ref>

According to the Austrian School business cycle theory, the business cycle unfolds in the following way:

Fractional reserve banking continually causes inflation through the "artificial" lowering of interest rates (compared to what they would be in a stable money environment).<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5407/Is-Higher-Inflation-Inevitable Is Higher Inflation Inevitable?], Thorsten Polleit</ref> This can occur indefinitely with the aid and assistance of the central bank. Low interest rates encourage fresh borrowing and new credit creation, thereby increasing the short term profitability of the banking system. But this expansion of credit also causes an expansion of the [[money supply|supply of money]], through the [[money creation]] process in a [[fractional reserve banking]] system and misallocates resources, skewing production to "unwanted" capital goods industries and encouraging Ponzi-like speculation. This artificial increase in money and credit inevitably leads to an unsustainable "credit-fuelled boom" during which the "artificially stimulated" borrowing seeks out diminishing investment opportunities and causes widespread [[malinvestment]]s, where capital resources are misallocated into areas that would not attract investment if the money supply remained stable.

[[Murray Rothbard]] used the concept of malinvesment and the distorting effects of bank-induced credit creation to study the [[Great Depression]] is his [[historical revisionism|revisionist]] work, ''[[America's Great Depression]]'':<ref>[[Murray Rothbard]], [http://mises.org/rothbard/agd/chapter1.asp#cluster_of_error|''America's Great Depression'', 2005, 5th Edition, Ludwig von Mises Institute, Chapter 1, ''The Cluster of Error''].</ref>

{{quote|A credit expansion may appear to render submarginal capital profitable once more, but this too will be malinvestment, and the now greater error will be exposed when this boom is over. Thus, credit expansion generates the business cycle regardless of the existence of unemployed factors. Credit expansion in the midst of unemployment will create more distortions and malinvestments, delay recovery from the preceding boom, and make a more grueling recovery necessary in the future. While it is true that the unemployed factors are not now diverted from more valuable uses as employed factors would be (since they were speculatively idle or malinvested instead of employed), the other complementary factors will be diverted into working with them, and these factors will be malinvested and wasted. Moreover, all the other distorting effects of credit expansion will still follow, and a depression will be necessary to correct the new distortion.}}

Austrian School economists argue that a correction or "[[credit crunch]]" – commonly called a "[[recession]]" or "bust" – occurs when credit creation cannot be sustained. They claim that the [[money supply]] suddenly and sharply contracts when markets finally "clear", causing resources to be reallocated back toward more efficient uses.

Economist [[Steve H. Hanke]] identifies the [[Great Recession|financial crisis of 2007–2010]] as the direct outcome of the Federal Reserve Bank's interest rate policies as is predicted by Austrian school economic theory.<ref>{{Cite web |url= http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10100 |title=The Fed's Modus Operandi: Panic | Cato Institute: Commentary |first=Steve H. |last=Hanke |work=cato.org |accessdate=17 July 2010 }}</ref> Some analysts such as Jerry Tempelman have also argued that the predictive and explanatory power of ABCT in relation to the recent [[Global Financial Crisis]] has reaffirmed its status and, perhaps, cast into question the utility of mainstream theories and critiques.<ref>[http://mises.org/journals/qjae/pdf/qjae13_1_1.pdf ABCT and the GFC: Confessions of a Mainstream Economist] by Jerry Tempelman</ref>

===Monetary Reform===
{{Main|Debt-based monetary system}}
The Austrian School is currently the only major school of economic thought that advocates radical monetary reform and actively debates the efficacy of fundamental banking reform.<ref>See for example these [[Murray Rothbard]] articles: [http://www.mises.org/money.asp What Has Government Done to Our Money?], [http://www.mises.org/story/1829 The Case for the 100% Gold Dollar]; [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/cartelization.pdf The Fed as Cartel], [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard191.html Private Coinage], [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard190.html Repudiate the National Debt]; [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard181.html Taking Money Back], [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard163.html Anatomy of the Bank Run], [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard128.html Money and the Individual]</ref>

All other schools of economic thought (including Keynesian, monetarist and neo-classical) implicitly accept the current monopoly fiat money and central bank-dominated financial system as optimal - or at least as not actively destructive of the economy.<ref>[http://mises.org/story/3108 Sound Money], [[Lew Rockwell]]</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/story/1971 Our Money Madness], [[Lew Rockwell]]</ref> This is based on the mainstream idea of "money neutrality" - the idea that inflation does not have real economic effects over the long term and does not significantly distort real resource allocation.<ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/wenzel/wenzel87.1.html Senior Fed Economist Calls Ron Paul a Pinhead], Robert Wenzel</ref>

Austrian scholars, on the other hand, uniformly see coercive legal tender laws (which inevitably force people to use the national fiat currency as money) and the current fractional-reserve financial system as an extremely dysfunctional and disruptive influence on the economy.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5407/Is-Higher-Inflation-Inevitable Is Higher Inflation Inevitable?], Thorsten Polleit</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/story/3108 Sound Money], [[Lew Rockwell]]</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/story/1971 Our Money Madness], [[Lew Rockwell]]</ref> Through the centralized control of interest rates, through the arbitrary diversion of scarce resources to repeatedly bail out the "too big to fail" banks, through the manipulation of financial markets via the buying of government bonds (so called "quantitative easing"), Austrian scholars see coercive legal tender laws, central banking and the current financial system generally as a source of continual disruption in the price discovery mechanism, misleading investors and market participants and ultimately causing continual and ongoing misallocations in scarce resource distribution, resulting in massive [[malinvestment]]s and wrenching and disruptive business cycles.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5407/Is-Higher-Inflation-Inevitable Is Higher Inflation Inevitable?], Thorsten Polleit</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/4880 The Faults of Fractional-Reserve Banking], Thorsten Polleit</ref>

However, Austrian scholars are divided on the optimal solution to this urgent problem.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/4898 ''Free Banking''], review by John P. Cochran</ref>

Some Austrian scholars advocate "free banking", where banks are permitted to engage in fractional-reserve banking activities provided they comply with the laws against fraud and are not supported in any way against the possibility of bank runs and are forced into bankruptcy should they not be able to pay their debts as and when they fall due.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/4898 ''Free Banking''], review by John P. Cochran</ref>

Advocates of this system of banking include Lawrence White, Steven Horwitz, George Selgin, and Kevin Dowd, amongst others.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/4898 ''Free Banking''], review by John P. Cochran</ref> F.A. Hayek also advocated the de-nationalization of money production and implicitly supported a free banking financial system in some of his works on monetary reform.<ref>[http://www.mises.org/store/Free-Market-Monetary-System-A-P553.aspx?AFID=14 ''Free Market Money System''] by [[F.A. Hayek]]</ref>

Other Austrian scholars advocate "full-reserve banking", considering fractional-reserve banking to be inherently unethical, disruptive and dysfunctional, akin to embezzlement.<ref>See for example these [[Murray Rothbard]] articles: [http://www.mises.org/money.asp What Has Government Done to Our Money?], [http://www.mises.org/story/1829 The Case for the 100% Gold Dollar]; [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/cartelization.pdf The Fed as Cartel], [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard191.html Private Coinage], [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard190.html Repudiate the National Debt]; [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard181.html Taking Money Back], [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard163.html Anatomy of the Bank Run], [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard128.html Money and the Individual]</ref> [[Full reserve banking]] would require banks to retain in reserve all deposits that are legally available for immediate withdrawal, and permit lending only from longer-term deposits.

Advocates of this system of banking include [[Murray Rothbard]],<ref name="The Mystery of Banking">[http://www.mises.org/Books/mysteryofbanking.pdf ''The Mystery of Banking''], Murray Rothbard</ref><ref name="The Case for a 100% Gold Dollar">[http://mises.org/story/1829 The Case for a 100% Gold Dollar], Murray Rothbard</ref> [[Jesus Huerta de Soto]],<ref>[http://www.mises.org/books/desoto.pdf ''Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles''], Jesus Huerta de Soto, First English edition (2006), pp. 98-114</ref> and [[Jörg Guido Hülsmann]],<ref>[http://mises.org/media/4014 The Economics of Legal Tender Laws], [[Jorg Guido Hulsmann]] (includes detailed commentary on [[central banking]], [[inflation]] and [[fractional reserve banking|FRB]])</ref><ref name=FBFB>[http://mises.org/journals/rae/pdf/RAE9_1_1.pdf Free Banking and the Free Bankers], Jörg Guido Hülsmann, Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics (Vol. 9, No. 1)</ref><ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/lewrockwell-show/2011/01/04/181-hyperinflation-ahead/ Interview with Jörg Guido Hülsmann], The Lew Rockwell Show</ref> amongst others.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/4880 The Faults of Fractional-Reserve Banking], Thorsten Polleit</ref>

==Criticism of the Austrian School==
Critics argue that modern Austrian economics generally lacks scientific rigor,<ref name="white1">{{Cite journal |title=The research program of Austrian economics |publisher=Emerald Group Publishing Limited |first=Lawrence H. |last=White |journal=Advances in Austrian Economics |year=2008 |pages=20 |url=http://www.emeraldinsight.com/books.htm?chapterid=1775479&show=pdf}}</ref> which forms the basis of the most prominent criticism of the school. Austrian theories are not formulated in formal mathematical form,<ref>{{cite web |first=Deborah L. |last=Walker |title=Austrian Economics |publisher=Library of Economics and Liberty |url=http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc1/AustrianEconomics.html |accessdate=2010-01-23 }}</ref> but by using mainly verbal logic and self-evident axioms. Mainstream economists believe that this makes Austrian theories too imprecisely defined to be clearly used to explain or predict real world events. Economist [[Bryan Caplan]] noted that, "what prevents Austrian economists from getting more publications in mainstream journals is that their papers rarely use [[mathematics]] or [[econometrics]]."

There are also criticisms of specific Austrian theories. For example, Nobel laureate [[Milton Friedman]], after examining the history of business cycles in the US, concluded that "The Hayek-Mises explanation of the business cycle is contradicted by the evidence. It is, I believe, false."<ref name="Friedman1969">{{cite book|last=Friedman |first=Milton |title=The Optimal Quantity of Money and Other Essays |publisher=Aldine |location=Chicago |pages=261–284 |chapter=The Monetary Studies of the National Bureau, 44th Annual Report}}</ref><ref name="Friedman93">{{cite journal|last=Friedman|first=Milton|title=The 'Plucking Model' of Business Fluctuations Revisited|journal=Economic Inquiry|pages=171–177|url=http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1465-7295.1993.tb00874.x/abstract}}</ref><ref name="Friedman_ABCT_false">{{cite book|last=Friedman |first=Milton |title=The Optimal Quantity of Money and Other Essays |publisher=Aldine |location=Chicago |pages=261–284 |chapter=The Monetary Studies of the National Bureau, 44th Annual Report | quote=The Hayek-Mises explanation of the business cycle is contradicted by the evidence. It is, I believe, false. }}</ref> In addition to Milton Friedman's criticism, noted liberal [[Neo-Keynesian Economics|neo-Keynesian]] economist [[Paul Krugman]] has criticized the theory.<ref name="Krugman">{{cite web|url=http://www.slate.com/id/9593 |title=The Hangover Theory |last=Krugman |first=Paul |date=1998-12-04 |publisher=Slate |accessdate=2008-06-20}}</ref>

[[Jeffrey Sachs]] has argued that high tax rates and a "mixed" economy (with some "socialist" elements such as high levels of social welfare transfer payments) appears to have generated higher growth rates in the second half of the 20 century - which appears to run counter to the Austrians' assertion that strong deference to private property rights (and therefore low tax rates) are essential for a properly functioning free market economy. Sachs asserts that poverty rates are lower, median income is higher, the government budget has larger surpluses, and the trade balance is stronger (although unemployment tends to be higher).<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Social Welfare State, Beyond Ideology |last=Sachs|first=Jeffrey |date=October 2006 |journal=Scientific American |url=http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-social-welfare-state |accessdate=2008-06-20|ref=harv }}</ref> In response to Sachs' article, [[William Easterly]] states that Hayek, writing in 1944, correctly recognized the dangers of large-scale state economic planning. He also questions the validity of comparing poverty levels in the Nordic countries and the United States, when the former have been moving away from social planning toward a more market-based economy, and the latter has historically taken in impoverished immigrants.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116355956112023480.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries|title=Dismal Science|accessdate=2008-09-07|author=[[William Easterly]]
|date=2006-11-15|publisher=[[The Wall Street Journal]]}}</ref>

==Seminal works==
* ''[[Principles of Economics]]'' (1871) by [[Carl Menger]]
* ''[[Capital and Interest]]'' (1884–1921) by [[Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk]]
* ''[[Human Action]]'' (1940–1949) by [[Ludwig von Mises]]
* ''[[Economics in One Lesson]]'' (1946) by [[Henry Hazlitt]]
* ''[[Individualism and Economic Order]]'' (1948) by [[Friedrich Hayek]]
* ''[[Man, Economy, and State]]'' (1962) by [[Murray Rothbard|Murray N. Rothbard]]
* ''[[Competition and Entrepreneurship]]'' (1973) by [[Israel Kirzner|Israel M. Kirzner]]

==See also==
* ''[[The Austrian School of Economics]]''
* ''[[An Introduction to Economic Reasoning‎]]''
* ''[[An Introduction to Austrian Economics]]''
* ''[[The Historical Setting of the Austrian School of Economics]]''
* ''[[Austrian Economics: An Anthology]]''
* ''[[Economic Science and the Austrian Method]]''

==References==
{{Reflist|3}}

==Links==
{{store|http://mises.org/store/Home-Study-Course-in-Austrian-Economics-P211.aspx|Home Study Course in Austrian Economics|https://mises.org/store/The-Framework-P10468.aspx|The Framework}}
{{Academy|http://academy.mises.org/courses/ae1/|Austrian Economics 1: Praxeology through Price Theory|http://academy.mises.org/courses/production/|Production and the Market Process|http://academy.mises.org/courses/money-monopoly-market-intervention/|Money, Monopoly, and Market Intervention|http://academy.mises.org/courses/microeconomics/|Austrian Microeconomics}}
===Writings===
* What is economics (Austrian perspective)
** [http://mises.org/daily/987 "What is Economics? Why Study It?"] by [[Gene Callahan]] (excerpt from ''[[Economics for Real People]]'')
** [http://mises.org/daily/6118 "What Is Economics?"] by [[Percy L. Greaves, Jr.]] (excerpt from ''[[Understanding the Dollar Crisis]]'')
** [http://mises.org/daily/1294 "Why Study Economics?"] by Stephen Carson, April 2003
** {{md|2025|What Is A Priori Science, and Why Does Economics Qualify As One?|Gene Callahan|February 2006}}
** {{mb|8056|The Real Problem With Non-Austrian Economics|Stefan Karlsson|April 2008}}

* Austrian School tenets & methodology
** [http://mises.org/etexts/austrian.asp What is Austrian Economics?] from the [[Mises Institute]] (republished in Mises About [http://mises.org/about/3223 here])
** [http://mises.org/resources/1200 "Why Austrian Economics Matters"] by [[Lew Rockwell]]
** [http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/AustrianSchoolofEconomics.html Austrian School of Economics] from The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics
** [http://homepage.newschool.edu/het//schools/austrian.htm The Austrian School] from the History of Economic Thought page
** [http://mises.org/daily/5091 "The Austrian School in Brief"] by Schulak and Unterköfler (excerpt from ''[[The Austrian School of Economics]]'')
** {{md|1665|To Be an Austrian: A Primer|Sean Corrigan|November 2004}}
** [http://mises.org/daily/3561 Understanding "Austrian" Economics] by [[Henry Hazlitt]], February 1981
** [http://mises.org/daily/4390 A Primer on Austrian Economics] by Jonathan M. Finegold Catalan, June 2010
** [http://www.cobdencentre.org/literature/primer/ Austrian economics primer] list of resources by [[Cobden Centre]]
** [http://www.tomwoods.com/blog/austrian-economics-is-unscientific/ Austrian Economics Is ‘Unscientific’] by [[Tom Woods]], November 2011
** [http://www.tomwoods.com/blog/austrian-economists-called-unscientific/ Austrian Economists Called ‘Unscientific’] [[Jeffrey M. Herbener]] interview by Tom Woods, August 2012
** [http://mises.org/daily/3512 "Mises Introduces the Austrian School"] (Excerpt from [[Memoirs (Mises)|Memoirs]])
** "Ludwig von Mises and the Austrian School of Economics" ([http://mises.org/journals/rae/pdf/rae5_2_2.pdf PDF]) by Jeffrey M. Herbener, 1991
** [http://mises.org/resources/1004 "Hermeneutics vs. Austrian Economics"] by [[David Gordon]], 1986
** [http://blog.mises.org/15965/adventures-in-austrian-economics/ "Adventures in Economics"] Interview with [[Richard M. Ebeling]], March 2011
** [http://mises.org/resources/204/ "The Austrian School and the Theory of Value"] by [[Friedrich Wieser]], 1891
** [http://mises.org/resources/976/ "Austrian School of Economics at the University of Vienna"] lecture by Ludwig von Mises, May 1962
** [http://mises.org/daily/2200 "The Philosophical Origins of Austrian Economics"] by David Gordon, 1994
** [http://ontology.buffalo.edu/smith/articles/menger.html "Aristotle, Menger, Mises: An Essay in the Metaphysics of Economics"] by Barry Smith, 1990

* Collections
** [http://mises.org/literature.aspx?action=subject&Id=1 Overview of the Austrian School of Economics] literature collection at [[Mises.org]]
** [http://mises.org/literature.aspx?action=subject&Id=116 Austrian core] literature collection at Mises.org
** [http://mises.org/literature.aspx?Id=3&action=subject Methodological Foundations] literature collection at Mises.org
** [http://mises.org/literature.aspx?action=subject&Id=127 Austrian Methodology for the Social Sciences] literature collection at Mises.org
** [http://www.fee.org/category/intro-to-austrian-economics/ Intro to Austrian Economics Category] article collection at [[Foundation for Economic Education|FEE.org]]

* {{wplink}}

===Recommendations===
* [http://mises.org/store/For-Beginners-C9.aspx "For Beginners"] - Mises Store reading list
* [http://www.garynorth.com/public/3112.cfm "Ten Steps to Understand Austrian Economic Theory"] - [[Gary North]] recommended reading list (in order of difficulty)
* [http://blog.mises.org/8831/how-do-i-get-started-with-austrian-economics/ "How Do I Get Started with Austrian Economics?"] by [[Thomas E. Woods]], October 2008
* [http://austrianomics.com "Learn Austrian Economics"] - Tom Woods' recommended reading list
** {{mb|19148|Learn Austrian Economics|Justin Ptak|November 2011}}
*"[http://www.cobdencentre.org/2010/06/review-how-an-economy-grows-and-why-it-crashes/ And Then There Were Three]" by Andy Duncan, June 2010

===Media and interactive===
{{See also|Where to study Austrian Economics}}
* [http://academy.mises.org/ Mises Academy]
* [http://mises.org/classroom/default.asp The Mises Classroom] - study in Austrian economics and libertarian theory ([http://mises.org/resources/2022/ MP3 downloads])([http://mises.org/HSCAE/lessonplan.pdf PDF Lesson Plan & Study Guide])
** [http://mises.org/freemarket_detail.aspx?control=562 "Why Home Study?"] by [[Robert P. Murphy]] (republished as Mises Daily [http://mises.org/daily/1901 here])
* [http://mises.org/media.aspx?action=category&ID=89 Introduction to Austrian Economic Analysis] lecture series with [[Joseph T. Salerno]]
* [http://mises.org/media/category/176The-Austrian-School-of-Economics-An-Introduction The Austrian School of Economics: An Introduction] lecture series
* [http://vforvoluntary.com/austrian-economics Austrian economics lectures] (selected lectures, including "Introduction to Austrian Economics" by [[Jörg Guido Hülsmann]] and [[Hans-Hermann Hoppe]])([http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=1AD95D0593508BD8 YouTube])
* [http://mises.org/media/5618/media.aspx?action=author&ID=1619 "Why Does Economics Matter?"] lecture by [[Mark Thornton]], November 2010
* [http://mises.org/media/4288/The-Core-of-What-Economics-Teaches "The Core of What Economics Teaches"] lecture by [[Bob Murphy]], November 2009
* [http://mises.org/media/6143/The-Core-of-What-Economics-Teaches "The Core of What Economics Teaches"] lecture by [[Mark Thornton]], April 2011
* [http://mises.org/media/5722/Why-Should-We-Care-About-Economic-Theory "Why Should We Care About Economic Theory?"] lecture by [[Lew Rockwell]], January 2011
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e_8H7E3cTo Austrian Economics versus Mainstream Economics] with Mark Thornton, June 2011
* [http://mises.org/quiz.aspx Are You an Austrian?] quiz at Mises.org

[[Category:Austrian School of Economics|*]]

Criticism of fractional reserve banking

2013-04-09T22:15:49Z

NeverSayDie: /* Typical criticisms */ I removed a long list of quotes that do not give expert views that they are valid sources. I think the article should give us analysis by respected Austrian scholars from Mises.org and GMU and other sources.

{{main|Fractional-reserve banking}}
'''Criticisms of [[fractional reserve banking]]''' and [[central bank|central banking]] have been put forward from a variety of perspectives, although the most vigorous and sustained criticism now comes from libertarians and anarcho-capitalists such as economists [[Jesús Huerta de Soto]] and [[Jörg Guido Hülsmann]], American politician [[Ron Paul]], and commentators such as historian Thomas Woods, Jim Grant of ''Grant's Interest Rate Observer'' and former US Budget Director David Stockman.<ref>[http://blog.mises.org/16521/fantastic-speech-by-de-soto/ Jesús Huerta de Soto Speech]</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5174/Life-with-the-Fed-Sunshine-and-Lollipops Life with the Fed], Thomas Woods</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5146/Over-to-You-H-Parker-Willis Over to you H Parker Willis], Jim Grant</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VcN_Z6L0jM&feature=player_embedded#at=609 James Grant Interview with James Turk]</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5113/The-End-of-Sound-Money-and-the-Triumph-of-Crony-Capitalism The End of Sound Money and the Triumph of Crony Capitalism], David Stockman, Henry Hazlitt Memorial Lecture, Austrian Scholar's Conference</ref><ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig11/stockman6.1.1.html Crony Capitalism Strikes Again], David Stockman</ref><ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig11/stockman6.1.1.html David Stockman Interview - Blame the Fed]</ref><ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-04-03/david-stockman-keynesian-endgame The Keynesian Endgame], David Stockman</ref><ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/imperative-sound-money.html The Social Imperative of Sound Money], Lew Rockwell</ref><ref>[http://lewrockwell.com/stockman/stockman16.1.html The Forgotten Cause of Sound Money]</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/6397/The-Keynesian-Endgame The Keynesian Endgame]</ref> Most in the mainstream (both on the left and right) remain silent on the issue of fractional reserve banking and central banking,<ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/lewrockwell-show/2008/10/31/58-americas-slow-motion-fascist-coup/ Naomi Wolf Interview with Lew Rockwell], Lew Rockwell: "I've frankly never understood why people on the Left are ''not'' upset about the Federal Reserve. If you look back to the history..." Wolf: "We probably don't understand it!" Lew Rockwell:"...but you know the founding of the Fed before the law was, you know, with bipartisan support signed in 1913, the Federal Reserve Act was drafted at J.P. Morgan's private club - it's sounds like a conspiracy story, but I guess it sort of is - on Jekyll Island Georgia...Big bankers wrote the Federal Reserve Act for their benefit!"</ref><ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/imperative-sound-money.html The Social Imperative of Sound Money], Lew Rockwell: "I find it sickening that there are so few voices outside the Austrian School that will stand up to this policy [of fiat money, fractional reserve banking and central banking]."</ref> although past critics have included mainstream economists such as Irving Fisher,<ref>''100% Money'', Irving Fisher</ref> and [[Milton Friedman]].<ref>Friedman, M., A Program for Monetary Stability, New York, Fordham University Press, 1960, pp. 65</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/3108 The Social Imperative of Sound Money], Lew Rockwell: "I find it sickening that there are so few voices outside the [[Austrian School]] that will stand up to this policy (of [[fiat money]]/[[fractional reserve banking]]/[[central bank]]ing)".</ref> Within the economics profession, most criticisms are from the [[Austrian School]].<ref>[http://mises.org/media/4014 The Economics of Legal Tender Laws], [[Jorg Guido Hulsmann]] (includes detailed commentary on [[fractional reserve banking|FRB]])</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/store/Money-Bank-Credit-and-Economic-Cycles-P290C0.aspx Money, Bank Credit and Economic Cycles], Jesus Huerta de Soto, Mises Institute ISBN: 978-1-933550-39-8</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/store/Meltdown-P557.aspx ''Meltdown''], Tom Woods, Regnery Press ISBN: 9781596985872</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article25212.html The Faults of FRB], Thorsten Polleit</ref> There are also critics from outside the economics profession who advocate [[monetary reform]].<ref>[http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/12/matt-stoller-end-this-fed.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NakedCapitalism+%28naked+capitalism%29 End This Fed], Matt Stoller</ref><ref>For an example of the writings of these groups, see [http://www.bilderberg.org/monref.htm this] contribution from Bilderberg.org</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMngK0t5WkY Max Keiser]</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article28533.html The Global Debt Crisis], Ellen Hodgson Brown</ref><ref>[http://www.mises.org/daily/6358/The-Backroom-World-of-Central-Banking Lords of Finance]</ref>

==Terminology==

Critics of fractional reserve banking and the related fiat paper monetary system may refer to it by the term '''debt-based monetary system''',<ref>[http://www.thenewamerican.com/economy/economics/item/14238-obama%E2%80%99s-trillion-dollar-coin-exposes-federal-reserve-scam Obama’s Trillion-Dollar Coin Exposes Federal Reserve Scam], Alex Newman, ''New American''</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/4631 Is Our Money Based On Debt?], Robert Murphy</ref><ref name="speech">For an example of the public use of the term, see the [http://www.prosperityuk.com/prosperity/articles/earl.html speech] of the Earl of Caithness in the House of Lords on 5 March 1997</ref> or '''credit-based monetary system'''.<ref>For example of the public use of the term, see this speech given by [[Zhou Xiaochuan]], [http://www.bis.org/review/r090402c.pdf Reform the monetary system], 23 March 2009 (BIS), and this article, [http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2009/02/steve-keen-roving-cavaliers-of-credit.html ''Roving Cavaliers of Credit''] by Steve Keen (with commentary by Yves Smith)</ref><ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/09/myths-about-whats-economically.html Myths], MISH</ref><ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/07/are-we-trending-towards-deflation-or-in.html Deflation], MISH</ref><ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2008/04/deflation-in-fiat-regime.html Deflation In A Fiat Regime?], MISH</ref> They may also refer to money created in parallel with debt as '''debt money''' or '''endongenous money''', reflecting the fact that virtually all new money is currently created by people or businesses or governments further indebting themselves to banks.<ref name="death"/><ref>[http://www.debunkingeconomics.com/Papers/Money/KeenModellingEndogenousMoneyICAPE.pdf Endogenous Money], Steve Keen</ref> This monetary system is called "endogenous" because the money supply is flexible, expanding in parallel with the demand for debt and stalling or contracting when demand for debt declines.<ref>[http://www.debunkingeconomics.com/Papers/Money/KeenModellingEndogenousMoneyICAPE.pdf Endogenous Money], Steve Keen</ref> Some consider this a perverse and dysfunctional way of introducing new money into the economy.<ref name="death"/>

The term, "debt-based monetary system," and related terms such as "debt money" are not used by conventional economists. Mainstream economists often refer to "debt money" by its antonym "credit" and distinguish between types of money only ''after'' the money is created. The very definition of "money" and the distinction between "debt" and "money" (and their respective economic effects) are still sources of vigorous ongoing debate.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8HnN8Htr1M David Graeber's Interview with Max Keiser]</ref><ref>[http://lewrockwell.com/wile/wile25.1.html Daily Bell Interview: Dr. Joseph Salerno]</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5052/Deflation-Confusion-Money-Is-Not-Credit Money Is Not Credit], Robert Blumen</ref><ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/02/fiat-world-mathematical-model.html Fiat World], MISH</ref><ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/09/myths-about-whats-economically.html What's Economically Important], MISH</ref> Mainstream economists rarely if ever discuss the origins of modern money and generally do not actively discuss or comment on the fact that virtually all money is now created through individuals, or businesses, or governments going into debt to government-sponsored commercial banks.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/3108 The Social Imperative of Sound Money], Lew Rockwell</ref><ref>For an example of the mainstream use of the term "credit" instead of "debt-money" see [http://www.ft.com/cms/s/bdfa429e-17a2-11dd-b98a-0000779fd2ac,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2Fbdfa429e-17a2-11dd-b98a-0000779fd2ac.html&_i_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fhome%2Fasia this] example from the Financial Times, 1 May 2008</ref> Discussion around the nature of "debt-based" money and the arguments over its effects on the economy are notably absent from most established mainstream academic economic publications<ref>Paul Krugman, writing at [http://www.slate.com/id/9593 Slate.com], stated that the Austrian theory of business cycles was "about as worthy of serious study as the phlogiston theory of fire".</ref> and most mainstream economists instead argue that the origin of different kinds of money (and the volume of their issuance) does not really matter, at least in the long run.<ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/wenzel/wenzel87.1.html Senior Fed Economist Calls Ron Paul a Pinhead]</ref> This mainstream idea is referred to as the theory of "money neutrality".<ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/wenzel/wenzel87.1.html Senior Fed Economist Calls Ron Paul a Pinhead]</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5172/Is-Inflation-Harmless-or-Even-Good Is Inflation Harmless or Even Good?], Robert Murphy</ref><ref>[http://libertarianpapers.org/articles/2011/lp-3-14.pdf Free Banking and the Structure of Production], Dan Mahoney</ref> Some commentators have speculated that the unusual "silence" around the topics of fractional reserve banking and central banking and the staunch refusal to consider alternative theories of money can be attributed to the simple fact that many economists are on the payroll of the major commerical or central banks of the world and are beholden to those banks for their livelihood.<ref>[http://www.safehaven.com/article/15068/economists-opposing-fed-audit-are-on-fed-payroll Economists on Fed Payroll], MISH</ref><ref>[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/07/priceless-how-the-federal_n_278805.html Priceless], Ryan Grim, Huffington Post</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article26581.html Ten Reasons The Banksters Got Away With It], Danny Schechter</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxtCn2GyqKc&feature=related Corruption in Academic Economics], Charles Ferguson</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article27805.html Currency Dead End Paradox], Jim Willie CB</ref> Those economists who "dare" to speak about such topics are simply not employed by the banks, by government-sponsored universities or by international financial institutions and are not published in mainstream economic publications and, therefore, their views are not widely disseminated to the general public who are generally taught by government-sponsored teachers and receive their news from the mainstream media.<ref>[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/07/priceless-how-the-federal_n_278805.html Priceless], Ryan Grim, Huffington Post</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article26581.html Ten Reasons The Banksters Got Away With It], Danny Schechter</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxtCn2GyqKc&feature=related Corruption in Academic Economics], Charles Ferguson</ref><ref>[http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/01/29/keen-j29.html UWS victimises Professor Steve Keen]</ref>

== Typical criticisms ==

Many [[monetary reform]]ers claim that a fiat money/fractional-reserve based banking system is inherently destructive and inevitably generates [[inflation|debasement of the currency]], extreme inequality, the destruction of the middle class<ref name="Paul_End" /> and [[Austrian Business Cycle Theory|wrenching business crises]].<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article25212.html The Faults of FRB], Thorsten Polleit</ref><ref name="Paul_End" /><ref>[http://mises.org/store/Money-Bank-Credit-and-Economic-Cycles-P290C0.aspx Money, Bank Credit and Economic Cycles], Jesus Huerta de Soto, Mises Institute ISBN: 978-1-933550-39-8</ref><ref>[http://www.mises.org/Books/mysteryofbanking.pdf Murray Rothbard, ''The Mystery of Banking'']</ref><ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book |last= Brown |first= Ellen H. |title= Web of Debt |url= http://books.google.com/books?id=ILMGrEC524UC |accessdate= 2007-12-15 |year= 2007 |publisher= Engdahl Publishing|isbn= 0979560802 }}</ref><ref name="death"/><ref name="monetary.org">[http://www.monetary.org/lostscienceofmoney.html Stephen A. Zarlenga, ''The Lost Science of Money'' AMI (2002)]</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/story/3108 Sound Money], Lew Rockwell</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/story/1971 Our Money Madness], Lew Rockwell</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/rothbard/genuine.asp The Case for a Gold Dollar], Murray Rothbard</ref><ref name="twilight"/> Vladimir Z. Nuri has analyzed fractional reserve banking and considers it a form of economic parasitism.<ref>[http://econpapers.repec.org/paper/wpawuwpma/0203005.htm Fractional Reserve Banking as Economic Parasitism]</ref> Ellen Hodgson Brown has compared fractional reserve banking and the charging of compound interest on created money with cancer.<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article39053.html Why Bankers Rule the World], Ellen Hodgson Brown</ref>

These views are not accepted by mainstream government-supported economists. For example David Andolfatto, Vice President in the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, has openly called Dr. Ron Paul a "pinhead" for holding such views.<ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/wenzel/wenzel87.1.html Senior Fed Economist Calls Ron Paul a Pinhead], LRC</ref> He later tried unsuccessfully to delete or retract his statements and expressed his regret over making the comments.<ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/wenzel/wenzel92.1.html Fed Economist in Retreat], Robert Wenzel</ref>

Critics of fractional reserve banking frequently argue that since money creation requires ''loans'' from the banking system, people are required to go further into debt in order for any new money to be created. They theorize that this eventually causes [[Austrian Business Cycle Theory|credit cycle]]s (or [[Austrian Business Cycle Theory|business cycles]]) and debases the [[means of exchange]].<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article25212.html The Faults of FRB], Thorsten Polleit</ref> They also argue that if debts were ever paid back, there would be no money and the economy would collapse in a debt-deflation trap.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqvKjsIxT_8 Money As Debt]</ref> They therefore argue the system is ''inherently unstable'', requiring constantly increasing injections of debt just to avoid deflationary collapse.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqvKjsIxT_8 Money As Debt]</ref> They claim this is ultimately unsustainable.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqvKjsIxT_8 Money As Debt]</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZAzBDDnhwg Rich Dad Advisors Discuss Food Storage]</ref>

Many critics find it problematic that banks "create money out of nothing" and consider this fundamentally immoral, akin to [[counterfeiting]]<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3Mtjsjfk98 Stacy Herbert and Max Keiser: Flaming Banks] Max Keiser Quote: "Banks counterfeit money. Bernanke, Geithner... anyone in the banking business is just a... just an out of control, rogue, counterfeiting, naked short selling ''weasel''."</ref> and/or [[embezzlement]].<ref>[http://www.dailypaul.com/node/119914 Ron Paul video - fractional reserve banking is fraudulent]</ref><ref name="Paul_End" /><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article25212.html The Faults of FRB], Thorsten Polleit</ref>

Some also link the alleged negative effects of fractional reserve banking with central banking<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/article/guest-post-qe-end-america-we-know-it QE Is The End Of America], ZeroHedge</ref> and a government-enforced "paper" or [[fiat currency]],<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article27768.html The Federal Reserve Note Is Dead], Jeff Berwick</ref> which they claim allows the practice of fractional reserve banking to continue without a "natural" limitation on the growth of the [[money supply]], thereby causing inherently unsustainable "[[bubble (economics)|bubbles]]" in asset and capital markets, which are vulnerable to Ponzi-like speculation by highly leveraged [[hedge funds]] and other bank agents.<ref name="Paul_End" /><ref>[http://www.debtdeflation.com/blogs/2009/12/23/mish-on-the-fictional-reserve-system/ MISH on the Fictional Reserve System], Steve Keen</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/store/Money-Bank-Credit-and-Economic-Cycles-P290C0.aspx Money, Bank Credit and Economic Cycles], Jesus Huerta de Soto, Mises Institute ISBN: 978-1-933550-39-8</ref><ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book |last= Brown |first= Ellen H. |title= Web of Debt |url= http://books.google.com/books?id=ILMGrEC524UC |accessdate= 2007-12-15 |year= 2007 |publisher= Third Millennium Press |location= Baton Rouge, Louisiana |isbn= 0979560802 }}</ref><ref name="death"/><ref name="monetary.org">[http://www.monetary.org/lostscienceofmoney.html Stephen A. Zarlenga, ''The Lost Science of Money'' AMI (2002)]</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/story/3108 Sound Money], Lew Rockwell</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/story/1971 Our Money Madness], Lew Rockwell</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/rothbard/genuine.asp The Case for a Gold Dollar], Murray Rothbard</ref><ref name="twilight"/><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article25212.html The Faults of FRB], Thorsten Polleit</ref>

Reformist economists such as [[Murray Rothbard]] support a "full reserve" banking system and criticize [[fractional reserve banking]] as inherently fraudulent.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5185/The-Need-for-100-Reserves The Need for 100% Reserves], Frank D. Graham</ref> [[Murray Rothbard]] held this view very strongly throughout his life.<ref name="Paul_End" /><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article25212.html The Faults of FRB], Thorsten Polleit</ref> Other reformist economists are more tolerant of fractional-reserve banking and support [[free banking]] instead of full reserve banking.<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=DFv6OzeBWpQC&pg=PP3&dq=steven+horwitz++banking&sig=VZasp_8pGVvpQsFKMI3W9yp4AlM#PPA231,M1 Microfoundations and Macroeconomics: An Austrian Perspective], Steven Horwitz, pp. 223-232.</ref>

==Basic debate==

The economic, environmental and social effects arising from money creation through fractional-reserve banking have been subject to much heated political debate for well over two centuries.<ref name="The Forgotten War"/><ref name="books.google.com"/><ref name="death"/><ref name="twilight"/><ref>[http://www.silverbearcafe.com/private/fracbank.html Antal E. Fekete, Fractional Reserve Banking Revisited]</ref><ref>[http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1297199137.php China Inflation and Gold], Darryl Robert Schoon</ref><ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/article/guest-post-good-bad-and-ugly-part-3 The Good, the Bad and the Ugly], James Quinn</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article29255.html The Collapse of Paper Money], Darryl Robert Schoon</ref><ref>[http://www.goldismoney2.com/archive/index.php/t-524.html?s=d418ff253326772a09e1a8d992da7753 Venetian Bankers and the Dark Ages]</ref>

Many Austrian economists and monetary reformers focus on the combined use of [[fiat currency]], [[fractional-reserve banking]] and [[central banking]] as a negative feature of modern monetary systems.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1l7DY8kdz0 The Fed Unspun]</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/media/4014 The Economics of Legal Tender Laws], [[Jorg Guido Hulsmann]]</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/store/Meltdown-P557.aspx ''Meltdown''], Tom Woods, Regnery Press ISBN: 9781596985872</ref> These commentators use the term "debt-based monetary system" to refer to an economic system where [[money]] is created primarily through fractional-reserve banking techniques, using the banking system.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/4569 What Does Debt-Based Money Imply for Interest Payments?], Robert Murphy</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/4631 Is Our Money Based On Debt?], Robert Murphy</ref><ref name="speech"/> This form of money is called "debt-based" because as a ''condition of its creation'' someone must go into debt in order for the money to be created and it must be paid back plus interest at some time in the future.

To some commentators, this implies that as the [[money supply]] and the economy grows, the general populace becomes increasingly indebted at the same time due to the fact that debt grows in parallel with money supply growth, and increasing interest payments (from either taxpayers or indebted consumers) are needed to pay bondholders as the money supply grows.<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article28533.html The Global Debt Crisis], Ellen Hodgson Brown</ref><ref name="death"/><ref name="twilight">[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article4489.html Antal E. Fekete, The Twilight of Irredeemable Debt]</ref><ref name="The Forgotten War">[http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1192819378.php America's Forgotten War Against the Central Banks], Mike Hewitt</ref>

One argument posits that since debt and the interest on the debt can only be paid in the same form of money, the total debt (principal plus interest) can never be paid in a debt-based monetary system unless more money is created through the same process.<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article28533.html The Global Debt Crisis], Ellen Hodgson Brown</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article38581.html The Trillion Dollar Coin: What You Really Need To Know], Rudy Avizuis</ref> For example: if 100 credits are created and loaned into the economy at 10% per year, at the end of the year 110 credits will be needed to pay the loan and extinguish the debt. However, since the additional 10 credits does not yet exist, it too must be borrowed. To some, this implies that the money supply must grow exponentially at the same rate as economic growth and compounding debt in order for the monetary system to remain solvent, as economic activity would be stifled with a static volume of money when interest became due, because in a static-money world no new money could be found to be taken out of circulation to allow debtors to pay outstanding interest to creditors.<ref name="death"/><ref name="twilight"/><ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/01/steve-keen-responds-to-world-economic.html Exponential Credit], MISH,</ref><ref>[http://blog.mises.org/17737/chancellor-not-enough-gold/ Not Enough Gold], Robert Blumen</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/6391/Why-the-Greenbackers-Are-Wrong Why Greenbackers Are Wrong], Thomas Woods</ref>

Others argue that there is in fact no mathematical necessity for the stock of money in a debt-based system to grow, as the "turnover" or "flow" or "velocity" of money can increase to allow for compounding interest payments.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/4569 What Does Debt-Based Money Imply for Interest Payments?], Robert Murphy</ref><ref>[http://www.debtdeflation.com/blogs/2010/10/08/ami-talks-in-flv-format/ AMI Conference 2010], Steve Keen</ref><ref>[http://www.debtdeflation.com/blogs/2010/11/05/solving-the-paradox-of-monetary-profits-2/ Solving the Paradox of Monetary Profits], Steve Keen</ref><ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-11/occams-gold-vs-rube-goldbergs-fiat Occam's Gold]</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/6391/Why-the-Greenbackers-Are-Wrong Why Greenbackers Are Wrong], Thomas Woods</ref> However this does imply that population growth would need to be positive to encourage increased spending rates or some individual consumers would have to increase their rate of spending (and decrease their savings) to expand GDP sufficiently to allow the fixed stock of money to turnover sufficiently to pay for the interest compounding on top of the debt.<ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/01/steve-keen-credit-impulse.html The Credit Impulse], Steve Keen with commentary from MISH</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/4569 What Does Debt-Based Money Imply for Interest Payments?], Robert Murphy</ref><ref>[http://www.debtdeflation.com/blogs/2010/10/08/ami-talks-in-flv-format/ AMI Conference 2010], Steve Keen</ref><ref>[http://www.debtdeflation.com/blogs/2010/11/05/solving-the-paradox-of-monetary-profits-2/ Solving the Paradox of Monetary Profits], Steve Keen</ref> This may mean that Ponzi-like dynamics bubble up in "pockets" of the economy with interest payments being allowed in a fixed money economy, but these debt-fuelled bubbles of higher spending or speculation would pop and die out relatively quickly as there would be no central bank to keep the bubbles alive with further money creation.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/4569 What Does Debt-Based Money Imply for Interest Payments?], Robert Murphy</ref><ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/01/steve-keen-credit-impulse.html The Credit Impulse], Steve Keen with commentary from MISH</ref><ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-11/occams-gold-vs-rube-goldbergs-fiat Occam's Gold]</ref>

Gold, silver and other [[precious metals]] have in the past been used as money.<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-11/occams-gold-vs-rube-goldbergs-fiat Occam's Gold]</ref> Because of the difficulty in increasing the supply of precious metals quickly, some [[monetary reform]]ers believe a return to the [[gold standard]], or a similar system of "hard" or "real" asset-backed currency, is the only way to stabilize the growth of the money supply. These monetary reformers often refer to the gold standard and [[silver standard]] as "sound money" or "honest money".<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/4860 Money: Sound and Unsound], Mark Thornton commentary on Joseph Salerno's book</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/6391/Why-the-Greenbackers-Are-Wrong Why Greenbackers Are Wrong], Thomas Woods</ref>

==Main criticisms==

In a 2003 statement to the U.S. House of Representatives, Ron Paul stated "if unchecked, the economic and political chaos that comes from currency destruction inevitably leads to tyranny".<ref name="house.gov">[http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2003/cr090503.htm Paper Ron Paul, Paper Money and Tyranny, Speech in U.S. House of Representative, September 5, 2003]</ref>

Some economic thinkers (primarily members of the [[Austrian School]]) and political commentators believe that a debt-based monetary system amounts to a subtle form of monetary "[[fraud]]" in that it creates money "costlessly" through the use of [[fractional-reserve banking]] techniques.<ref>[http://www.mises.org/rothbard/moneyback.asp Taking Money Back, by Murray Rothbard]</ref>

Michael Rowbotham is an active proponent of [[monetary reform]], and argues that this system of [[money supply]] is perverse and inherently monopolistic and "anti-democratic", as it creates an inflationary exponential growth imperative in the economy which leads to over-centralization and environmentally damaging and unstable over-consumption. Critics such as Rowbotham argue that the indebted are forced to induce new consumers to spend their way into debt so existing loans can be repaid with new debt-created money. Failure to achieve this goal results in [[foreclosure]] for those businesses and [[insolvency]] in the banking system that leads to economic collapse due to the sudden contraction of the money supply.<ref name="death"/><ref name="Ponzi Nation">[http://www.iimagazine.com/article.aspx?articleID=1234345 Ponzi Nation]</ref> This failure is inevitable due to the fact that, eventually, debt-saturated businesses and governments will no longer be able to force individuals into further debt due to the fact that they are already debt-saturated themselves. Once this point is reached, economic collapse is inevitable without wholesale debt repudiation.

Mark Anielski as well as some political thinkers such as Rowbotham and some economists (such as Hyman Minsky, Steve Keen and Mike Shedlock) argue that this system of money supply has characteristics similar to a [[pyramid scheme]], where the newly indebted are compelled to induce others into debt to pay off their own debts.<ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/01/steve-keen-credit-impulse.html The Credit Impulse], Steve Keen with commentary from MISH</ref><ref>[http://www.lin.ca/resource/html/arpa02/PC1-FertileObfuscation.pdf ''Fertile Obfuscation: Making Money Whilst Eroding Living Capital''], 34th Annual Conference of the Canadian Economics Association, Mark Anielski</ref> It is therefore argued by a number of monetary reformers that fractional-reserve banking and the associated exponential growth of money in the economy "forces" the economy towards indebted consumerism.<ref name="books.google.com"/>

Rowbotham argues that a major negative side-effect of the debt-based monetary system is its effect on agriculture, claiming that residential development produces by far the greatest continuous injection of debt money into modern debt-based economies because banks secure loans primarily with developed property and are therefore willing to issue more debt-money against property development than any other asset class. Therefore, significant super-normal profits can be generated by re-zoning agricultural land and replacing it with low-density [[House|housing]].<ref name="death"/>
If this is correct, this trend will lead to the destruction of fertile arable land, as farmers cannot compete to retain fertile arable land from property developers at the periphery of major population centers, and as this land is then progressively re-zoned for speculative new residential development. Rowbotham predicts that the global supply of fertile arable land will systematically and catastrophically decline as perverse monetary incentives inherent in the current debt-based system favor short-term speculative land development over long-term food security, leading to a broad decline in the quality and nutritional value of agricultural produce and, eventually, a dramatic increase in the prices of many "soft" commodities - which could then lead to actual food shortages for poorer segments of the world population.<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article27874.html Horrific Global Food Crisis is Looming], Michael Snyder</ref><ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/85588.html Inflation and Bacteria], Michael Rozeff</ref><ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/76920.html The Corporate State and the Tapeworm Economy], Catherine Austin Fitts</ref><ref name="death"/><ref>[http://www.wsws.org/articles/2007/dec2007/food-d22.shtml Naomi Spencer, World Socialist Website, "Severe food shortages, price spikes threaten world population", 22 December 2007]</ref><ref>[http://www.preparednesspro.com/blog/food-shortage-series-part-1/ Food Shortage Series],Kellene Bishop</ref> This has been referred to as the problem of "Peak Everything".<ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/03/oil-prices-are-double-edged-sword-peak.html Peak Everything?], MISH</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article28218.html "Peak Everything"], Jeremy Grantham</ref>

If for any reason the monetary system broke down, urban populations (nominally "rich" but poor in terms of direct access to food supply) could find basic foodstuffs either rationed or contaminated with lower quality products - or even unavailable at any price, ultimately resulting in food security becoming a major public policy issue - particularly if combined with oil supply shortages or an oil price spike,<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article27874.html Horrific Global Food Crisis is Looming], Michael Snyder</ref><ref>[http://jsmineset.com/2011/02/24/in-the-news-today-791/ Collapse]</ref> as major population centers worldwide are almost entirely reliant on mass transportation of food from distant (or even foreign) locations to survive day-to-day.<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article27874.html Horrific Global Food Crisis is Looming], Michael Snyder</ref><ref name="death"/><ref>[http://www.preparednesspro.com/blog/food-shortage-series-part-1/ Food Shortage Series],Kellene Bishop</ref><ref>[http://www.wsws.org/articles/2007/dec2007/food-d22.shtml Severe food shortages, price spikes threaten world population]</ref><ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/18/business/global/18yuan.html?hpw Inflation in China]</ref><ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/76920.html The Corporate State and the Tapeworm Economy], Catherine Austin Fitts</ref><ref>[http://jsmineset.com/2011/02/24/in-the-news-today-791/ Collapse]</ref><ref>[http://www.rickackerman.com/2011/04/bee-die-off-threatens-global-food-calamity/ Bee Die Off]</ref><ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/03/oil-prices-are-double-edged-sword-peak.html Peak Everything?], MISH</ref> In addition, fresh water (an essential commodity that is subsidised in its production by state-controlled entities in virtually every country around the world) appears to be rapidly diminishing through pollution and over-use, further threatening the global food supply in coming decades, resulting in what some commentators are describing as a global water crisis of "horrific" proportions.<ref>[http://lewrockwell.com/rep2/water-crisis-coming.html 25 Signs That a Horrific Global Water Crisis Is Coming], Economic Collapse Blog</ref><ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-03-06/guest-post-30-facts-coming-water-crisis-will-change-everything 30 Facts]</ref> Recent "scandals" involving the supply of horse meat sold as beef in Europe,<ref>[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/horsemeat-scandal-a-global-conspiracy/story-e6frg6so-1226574880191 Horsemeat a global conspiracy]</ref> Mad Cow Disease in Britain<ref>[http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/campaign/food-safety/mad-cow-disease/other-resources/a-consumers-guide-to-mad-cow-disease/history-of-rendering-cattle-cannibalism-in-the-usa/ History of Rendering]</ref> and rat poison found in Polish dairy products<ref>[http://www.wbj.pl/article-61746-scandals-rock-polish-food-exports.html Scandals Rock Polish Food Exports]</ref> could be seen as the logical conclusion of Rowbotham's analysis, as economic pressures build to systematically debase the quality of inputs throughout the food chain as producers fight the effects of cost-push inflation and try to satisfy the need for ever-increasing productivity in the industrialized food industry by systematically debasing their products until they are not fit for human consumption, but are allowed to be consumed by the authorities anyway because of the urgent need to feed the general population within their shrinking incomes.<ref>[http://www.edmundconway.com/2013/02/horse-meat-scandal-the-economics/ Horse meat scandal: the economics]</ref><ref>[http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/horsemeat-scandal-a-global-conspiracy/story-e6frg6so-1226574880191 Horsemeat a global conspiracy]</ref> For example, it is alleged that Mad Cow Disease was caused by British authorities reducing heating standards in the waste meat rendering process to reduce the cost of food production in Britain. If Rowbotham's analysis is correct, these food contamination and food debasement scandals will increase in coming years, but may be censored by the authorities in future to avoid widespread protests.<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-11/guest-post-more-stealth-inflation-maker%E2%80%99s-mark-slashes-alcohol-content More Stealth Inflation]</ref><ref>[http://www.edmundconway.com/2013/02/horse-meat-scandal-the-economics/ Horse meat scandal: the economics]</ref><ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2013-02-14/hidden-inflation-everywhere-watered-down-bourbon-horse-meat-chili Hidden Inflation Everywhere]</ref><ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Chinese_milk_scandal Chinese Milk Scandal]</ref> This has already occurred in China with authorities trying to censor reports of toxic melamine in Chinese milk products<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Chinese_milk_scandal Chinese Milk Scandal]</ref> and in the UK with British authorities downplaying or delaying information relating to the huge scale of the horse meat scandal.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxZtfi2pYNo&list=SPPszygYHA9K2ZtV_1KphSugBB7iZqbFyz&index=6 Horsemeat Burgers], Max Keiser</ref> Max Keiser has made a direct connection between stealth monetary debasement throughout the banking system and stealth debasement of inputs throughout the British food chain.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxZtfi2pYNo&list=SPPszygYHA9K2ZtV_1KphSugBB7iZqbFyz&index=6 Horsemeat Burger]</ref> Quality adjustments in official CPI measurements often ''reduce'' the rate of inflation by assuming quality ''improvements'' - however no government has taken into account these food scandals in ''increasing'' the effective rate of inflation by taking into account dramatic ''reductions'' in the quality of food production.<ref>[http://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/webfaq.nsf/home/consumer+price+index+faqs CPI FAQs]</ref><ref>[http://www.econ.rochester.edu/people/BilsPapers/growth_qje_revision_August_2008.pdf BLS paper on CPI adjustments for quality]</ref><ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-03-02/first-horsemeat-trading-now-59-tuna-sold-us-isn%E2%80%99t-tuna 59% Of Tuna Isn't Tuna]</ref> If the dramatic degradation in the quality of food production was fully taken into account, it is likely that "true" inflation would be measured far in excess of official figures, and may in some instances (such as with the UK horse meat scandal) be reaching something similar to hyperinflation in some years, as food that changes from "beef" to "horse meat" is effectively a tiny fraction of the quality of the product of only a few years or months ago.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxZtfi2pYNo&list=SPPszygYHA9K2ZtV_1KphSugBB7iZqbFyz&index=6 Horsemeat Burgers], Max Keiser</ref>

Others consider that the core problem is not food security, nor overpopulation, nor environmental destruction, nor excessive carbon emissions due to non-pricing of energy producing externalities, nor excessive "specialization" of labor in the midst of monetary dysfunction, but excessive government regulation, causing capital destruction.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5277/When-Capital-Is-Nowhere-in-View When Capital Is Nowhere In View], Jeffrey Tucker</ref><ref>[http://www.garynorth.com/public/8071.cfm Population Growth as Propaganda], Gary North</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article39449.html An Orwellian America], Gordon T Long</ref>

The fundamental problem with the current monetary system that all Austrian economists agree on is that in the midst of constant credit creation and monetary dysfunction is it ''impossible'' to know what unsustainable [[malinvestment]]s are taking place in the economy, except to acknowledge that they ''must'' be taking place somewhere in the midst of unsustainable credit growth.<ref>[http://www.goldensextant.com/SavingtheSystem.html Saving the System], Robert K. Landis</ref>

===Effects on economic health: Ponzi scheme dynamics===

According to Michael Rowbotham and many Austrian theorists the expansion of money through debt is unsustainable and necessarily fuels and creates [[Austrian Business Cycle Theory|economic bubbles]].<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5567/Hayeks-Ghost-Haunts-the-World Hayek's Ghost Haunts the World], Jeffrey Tucker</ref> This concentrates wealth in the hands of private banks as the populace is forced into [[debt]] simply to own a home and educate their children, hoping that the loans can be repaid by others going into debt in ''greater amounts'' later to purchase the assets they themselves have purchased through incurring large amounts of personal debt.<ref name="death"/> However, debt expansion leads to price appreciation of assets through speculation as the financial market becomes riskier and this process is unsustainable in the long run, with the last cycle of indebted being wiped out when they cannot find anyone to buy the assets they themselves have purchased by going into massive debt. Doug Noland, Steve Keen, Edward Chancellor, Bill Bonner and many others have compared this type of market to an enormous State-sponsored global monetary [[Ponzi scheme]].<ref>[http://www.debtdeflation.com/blogs/2008/12/13/the-worlds-biggest-ponzi-scheme/ The World's Biggest Ponzi Scheme], Steve Keen</ref><ref>[http://www.iimagazine.com/article.aspx?articleID=1234345 Ponzi Nation,"Who is Hyman Minsky?", para 6]</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article26678.html One Gargantuan Ponzi Scheme], Paul Hallyer</ref><ref>[http://prudentbear.com/dmdocuments/HowCouldIrvingFisherHaveBeenSoWrong.pdf How Could Irving Fisher Have Been So Wrong?], Doug Noland</ref><ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/08/former-fed-governor-mishkin-paid-124000.html Mishkin], MISH</ref><ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/bonner/bonner467.html Warning], Bill Bonner</ref>

The bust phase of this Ponzi-like [[business cycle]] occurs when "debt-based" money growth cannot continue because the debt levels are already at saturation levels, meaning growth in debt money slows or contracts, catching newly indebted businesses and consumers who are left out of the growth cycle, triggering a combined liquidity and solvency crisis when markets seize up due to a collapse in the artificially-supported prices in financial markets.<ref name="death"/><ref name="Ponzi Nation"/>

===Effects on the environment===
There are also critics in the left-wing and environmentalist camps who contend fractional reserve banking (by creating a necessity for indefinite [[economic growth]]) leads to environmental destruction and a sudden, catastrophic depletion of the earth's natural resources as the unsustainable, exponential consumption of the world's scarce natural resources reaches its inevitable limits.<ref>David Korten, ''Agenda For A New Economy'', Berret-Koehler, 2009</ref><ref>[http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2004/10/06/no-longer-obeying-orders/ George Monbiot], about five sixths of the way down</ref>

===Inherent problems with the system===

Some monetary reformers predict that there will be an increased incidence of financial crises in the developed world, as economic and population growth inevitably slow and as the success of financial sector lobbying results in increased tax loopholes and a reduction in effective redistributive [[tax]]es which, combined with the debt-legacy of the [[welfare state]], allows an intense and unsustainable concentration of wealth and political power in the financial services sector.<ref name="death">{{cite book |last= Rowbotham |first= Michael |title= The Grip of Death: A Study of Modern Money, Debt Slavery and Destructive Economics | year= 1998 |publisher= Jon Carpenter Publishing |isbn= 9781897766408 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdVc40Mc9cQ&feature=related Andrew Sheng, INET presentation]</ref>

Some monetary reformers argue that perverse incentives in the financial services industry lead to collusive relationships between governments and bankers which are economically and socially destablizing in the long run.<ref>[http://mises.org/media/4014 The Economics of Legal Tender Laws], Jorg Guido Hulsmann</ref>

Given that the financial system requires ever higher levels of indebtness from the general populace for its solvency, it is vital that the indebted "victims" who must sink deeper into debt for the system to survive do so voluntarily and willingly and are not made aware of the consequences of purchasing consumables with debt money.<ref name="death">{{cite book |last= Rowbotham |first= Michael |title= The Grip of Death: A Study of Modern Money, Debt Slavery and Destructive Economics | year= 1998 |publisher= Jon Carpenter Publishing |isbn= 9781897766408 }}</ref> Some isolated politicians have previously highlighted the fact that mainstream media organizations appear to downplay or minimize the seriousness of deficit spending by government and debt-sourced spending of all kinds.<ref>[http://www.senate.gov/~budget/democratic/statements/2005/fs_reconciliationfloorstmt102005.pdf Speech by Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) on October 20, 2005 regarding the "misleading" reporting of deficit spending by the mainstream media]</ref> Euphemisms for debt and personal and national bankruptcy associated with debt have been developed to delay a mass panic away from government bonds or debt. For example, the associated growth of debt-based derivatives during the upward phase of the debt money cycle was referred to as "[[innovation]]" in financial markets.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/03/opinion/03krugman.html?em&ex=1196917200&en=ac60abcdbd977d07&ei=5087%0A Innovating Our Way to Financial Crisis, by Paul Krugman]</ref>

[[Bankruptcy]] laws differ to a small degree in different jurisdictions but in all developed economies unpaid debt results in legal penalties, property confiscation on behalf of the creditor and income [[sequestration]]. Although in Christian, Jewish and Muslim religious practice there have been traditions of debt relief or laws against [[usury]], in no modern Western jurisdiction are any debts periodically forgiven or cancelled in recognition of the inherent impossibility of repaying debts in circumstances where the debt-based monetary cycle has inevitably resulted in too little new [[debt money]] being injected into the [[money supply]] to pay for the currently outstanding debts.<ref>[http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2007/11/new-bankruptcy-law-backfires-by.html Bankruptcy law backfires]</ref>

On a national level, if the issuance of [[government bonds]] becomes unsustainable, sovereign [[bankruptcy]] can occur - and has occurred many times in history.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/4869 Can the Fed Become Insolvent?], Robert Murphy</ref><ref>[http://elainemeinelsupkis.typepad.com/money_matters/2007/10/greenspaniel-an.html Greenspaniel and U.S. bankruptcy]</ref><ref>[http://www.prudentbear.com/index.php/thebearslairview?art_id=10493 Dee-Fault!], Martin Hutchinson, Prudent Bear</ref> [[Sovereign debt]] crises due to the inability of nations to pay interest on [[government bonds]] have occurred frequently and regularly in the third world and less frequently (every 30 years or so) in the first world as a result of high levels of unsustainable public debt - often because private debts are assumed by a corrupt government through large private bank bailouts.<ref>[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1331076/Ireland-bailout-Lets-frank-7bn-bunch-liars-crooks-bunglers.html Ireland Bailout], Alex Brummer</ref><ref name="Willie_Misdiagnosis">[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article24543.html QE2 and the Great Economic Misdiagnosis], Jim Willie, November 24, 2010.</ref> The [[Latin American debt crisis]] is an example of sovereign debt levels becoming unsustainable, resulting in a [[currency crisis]] and economic collapse, as [[interest rates]] rise precipitously due to the inability of the national government to attract financiers to purchase new [[government bonds]] to inject new debt money into the ailing economy.<ref name="Willie_Misdiagnosis" />

At such times, it is the responsibility of the [[IMF]] to come in as a kind of supranational [[central bank]] to mediate between the national government and international financiers.<ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/05/imf-chief-pulled-from-plane-in-new-york.html Time to Dissolve the IMF], MISH</ref> The role of the [[IMF]] as [[central bank]] to the world has similar responsibilities and risks inherent in [[central bank]]ing which are described below in relation to the role of the [[Federal Reserve]]. If the [[IMF]] repeatedly intervenes to save financiers from loss when sovereign bankruptcy occurs, this has a tendency to induce [[moral hazard]] and can encourage the financing of reckless government spending and borrowing.<ref>[http://www.rgemonitor.com/41 IMF Reform and International Lender of Last Resort, RGE Monitor]</ref><ref>[http://info.interactivist.net/article.pl?sid=02/11/07/199213&mode=thread&tid=8 Banking Bunkum, by Henry C.K. Liu]</ref><ref name="Willie_Misdiagnosis" />

A [[single currency]] regime such as the [[Euro]] can mask national liquidity or solvency crises, by ensuring that a national currency is not quickly exchangeable for another, thereby restricting the ability of national governments to depreciate their currencies and cutting off the possibility that the real value of [[government bond]] interest repayments could decline relative to other currencies.<ref>[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1316442/Anglo-Irish-Bank-bail-Will-Irish-economic-meltdown-hit-UKs-fragile-recovery.html Irish Meltdown], UK Mail On-line,</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article24459.html Ireland Bailout Consequences for Britain, Portugal Next?], Nadeem Walayat</ref><ref name="Willie_Misdiagnosis" /><ref>[http://news.goldseek.com/RichardDaughty/1192374060.php The Mogambo Theory of Currency Relativity]</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvJEJEGzeU8&feature=player_embedded#! Putin ditches dollar], RTTV</ref> This may however increase the risk of bond default where indebted national governments cannot pay back the interest payments in the denominated common currency.<ref>[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1316442/Anglo-Irish-Bank-bail-Will-Irish-economic-meltdown-hit-UKs-fragile-recovery.html Irish Meltdown], UK Mail On-line,</ref><ref>[http://blog.mises.org/15129/bagus-explains-the-ecb-and-the-euro/ The Tragedy of the Euro], Philipp Bagus</ref>

===Types of downturns===
{{main|Austrian Business Cycle Theory}}
[[Austrian Business Cycle Theory]] states that artificially low interest rates set by any coercive price-fixing entity will inevitably stimulate malinvestment in the wrong capital projects which will inevitably lead to an unsustainable boom followed by a bust.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5164/The-Cure-Low-Interest-Rates-Is-the-Disease The Cure (Low Interest Rates) Is The Disease], Thorsten Polleit</ref> However, the precise nature of the downturn and the way in which losses are allocated within the economy are both dependent on the actions government and bankers take to forgive debt or control credit and there are two main kinds of debt money contraction that can cause a collapse in the value of inflated assets.

A "credit squeeze" occurs where new debt money is difficult to access without a high [[credit rating]]. At such times marginal borrowers, or those who have borrowed at the end of any debt-induced asset bubble, get "squeezed" out of further borrowing and a contraction in the growth of new debt money occurs, triggering a slow down in the growth of inflated assets. Those assets can then be "harvested" by the [[private bank]]s through widespread [[foreclosure]] or [[bankruptcy]] and re-sold to those with the money to buy the distressed assets.<ref name="marketoracle.co.uk">[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article2882.html Market Fundamentalism, by Richard C. Cook]</ref>

A "credit crunch" occurs where new debt money is not available at any [[interest rate]] - even for those with previously acceptable credit ratings - due to widespread insolvency in the banking system. At such times, it is the banking system itself that is [[insolvent]] and other financial institutions (including overseas financiers) become reluctant to lend to the domestic banking system, resulting in the domestic banking system being unable to issue loans even to credit worthy borrowers.<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_crunch Credit crunch], Wikipedia definition</ref>

At any stage during the downward spiral of a "credit crunch", the [[central bank]] in a modern economy can try to save the system from complete economic meltdown by purchasing (either indefinitely or temporarily) the failed debts of the private banks.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTUY16CkS-k&feature=player_embedded#! Quantitative Easing Explained]</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article24489.html Does the Fed Create Money?] Michael Pento</ref><ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=A1YourView&xml=/money/2007/12/19/ccom119.xml ECB's mind-numbing cash injection]</ref> This involves swapping depreciating "failed" assets with hard cash, thereby allowing the banks to maintain their net asset position and continue to give the impression of solvency to their auditors and depositors. However, doing so results in cash being transferred to the private banks in exchange for [[bad debt]], thereby violating the general economic precept to avoid [[moral hazard]] and effectively makes liquid the failed lending decisions of the [[private bank]]s.<ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/06/prudently-managed-banks-victimized-by.html Prudent Banks Victimized], MISH</ref><ref>[http://www.rgemonitor.com/blog/roubini/228924/ Privitizing Profits and Socializing Losses, by Nouriel Roubini]</ref> In the U.S. banking system this is called "opening the Fed discount window", where the [[Federal Reserve]] temporarily purchases the failed investment portfolios of distressed private banks in exchange for cash. However, this rescue measure may only delay, rather than avoid, the realization of losses in the banking system, as the central bank cannot "force" new borrowing into the system to inject new debt money into the money supply. Somebody has to be a [[counterparty]] to borrow the debt money that is being offered. If all market participants realize a "[[bubble (economics)|bubble]]" has formed in assets markets, there will be few (or no) buyers for new debt money, as no one wants to borrow to buy inflated assets no one else will buy. Money markets can therefore remain illiquid even with intense [[central bank]] support.<ref>[http://www.prudentbear.com/index.php/creditbubblebulletinview?art_id=10511 Favorable or Unfavorable], Doug Noland, Prudent Bear</ref>

Furthermore, banks can go bust even with intense central bank support, if the issue is not one of liquidity, but one of solvency.<ref>[http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/233ae764-abef-11dc-82f0-0000779fd2ac.html Central Banks have No Plan]</ref><ref>[http://www.rgemonitor.com/blog/roubini/233120 Central Banks get desperate]</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMngK0t5WkY $20 Trillion in Bad Debt], Max Keiser</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article27686.html Bernanke's QEx Money Printing Box], Gordon T. Long</ref>

===Pushing on a string===
Some monetary economists describe the opening of the Fed discount window after the bursting of an asset bubble and swapping of "junk" with new money as "pushing on a piece of string", as this measure does not solve the key problem – creating new credit (or debt money) to keep up the growth in the money supply and maintain the required level of liquidity in credit markets.<ref>[http://www.mises.org/story/2695 Don't Discount the Fed Discount Window]</ref><ref>[http://www.federalreserve.gov/Pubs/FEDS/2004/200401/200401pap.pdf Monetary Policy in Deflation: The Liquidity Trap in History and Practice]</ref> This is because unlimited central bank money and low interest rates ''allow'' credit creation, but cannot ''force'' it into the system. In order for any new debt money to be created, someone has to ''borrow'' the excess reserves in order for the money to be injected into the system. With an endogenous money system, money is only created if someone wants to borrow money from a bank. If corporations and individuals are already heavily indebted (or insolvent after the bursting of a debt-induced bubble) there are no credit-worthy borrowers to lend to. This means there are no new buyers at the margin to keep asset prices at high levels. If there are no new marginal buyers, "liquidity" - or debt growth - dries up and volumes and prices drop suddenly, forcing liquidation and creating a sudden cascading effect in highly leveraged markets very similar to the end of an unsustainable Ponzi scheme. The only ones able to stimulate the economy are the tiny minority of bankers who have been bailed out by the central bank and even if they spent lavishly to try to "help" the economy, this would in no way compensate for the lack of spending in the general economy.

To encourage fresh borrowing, central banks generally combine these rescue measures with an interest rate cut to encourage more new borrowing to allow the existing (failed) debts to be [[liquidate]]d at or close to their original value. When [[Alan Greenspan]] repeatedly resorted to this tactic to revive illiquid [[money market]]s this became known in the market as the "[[Greenspan put]]", as the effect of these repeated reductions in interest rates was similar to a [[put option]] in the [[stockmarket]], insuring [[bank]]s' lending mistakes would be covered up by the Federal Reserve.<ref>[http://www.iie.com/publications/wp/02-1.pdf Moral Hazard and the "Greenspan Put"]</ref>

When interest rates cannot go any lower (the so-called "zero bound" monetary problem) and people still will not - or cannot - load themselves up with more debt, then to stave off a collapse of market prices due to the drying up of marginal buyers at inflated debt-saturated prices central banks have resorted to "Quantitative Easing" which is the abandonment of interest rate setting and the targeting of bulk purchases of bank assets to artificially pump up their price and keep the banking system solvent.<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article38855.html QE for Dummies], Dr Martenson</ref> In addition, the Keynesian solution is to run large public deficits and indebt future generations (who, they hypothesize, are more likely to be able to pay through increased future growth).<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-09/paul-krugman-we-should-kick-can-down-road-it%E2%80%99s-responsible-thing-do "Kick the Can Down the Road"]</ref><ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/business/26view.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=shiller&st=cse Stimulus Without More Debt], Robert Shiller</ref> Fabian socialists, and Keynesian economists such as Paul Krugman and Robert Shiller, argue that governments must take charge of the responsibility of spending more (and taking on more debt) on behalf of the public (who are too fearful to take on more debt themselves) in order to compensate for the immediate and urgent ''present'' insufficiency in total private consumption.<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-09/paul-krugman-we-should-kick-can-down-road-it%E2%80%99s-responsible-thing-do "Kick the Can Down the Road"]</ref><ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/05/opinion/the-fatal-distraction.html?src=me&ref=general The Fatal Distraction], Paul Krugman</ref><ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/business/26view.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=shiller&st=cse Stimulus Without More Debt], Robert Shiller</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5616/Is-the-Need-for-Stimulus-Undeniable Is the Need for Stimulus "Undeniable"?], Hunter Lewis</ref> Paul Krugman and Robert Reich are prominent advocates of the policy of spending trillions of government money to help stimulate the economy, if spending billions does not work.<ref>[http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/09/01/reich_government_has_to_spend_more_to_get_out_of_debt.html Reich: Government Has To Spend More To Get Out Of Debt]</ref><ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/21/opinion/21krugman.html?dbk Budget Deficits], Paul Krugman</ref><ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/10/krugman-and-inevitable-i-told-you-so.html Krugman], MISH</ref><ref>[http://krugman-in-wonderland.blogspot.com/2010/11/inflation-prisoner.html The Inflation Prisoner], William Anderson</ref> For economists such as Paul Krugman, if the "more and more government spending" solution does not work initially, it is a sign that not enough government money has been spent.<ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/sowell/sowell44.1.html Fed Up With the Fed?], Thomas Sowell</ref><ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/20/opinion/20krugman.html?hp When Zombies Win], Paul Krugman, NY Times</ref><ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/10/krugman-and-inevitable-i-told-you-so.html Krugman], MISH</ref> It is his view that the "deflationary" Japanese recession from 1991/2 could have been cured by the Japanese government going into even more debt than the current net debt to GDP ratio of 110%.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/21/opinion/21krugman.html?dbk Budget Deficits], Paul Krugman</ref><ref>[http://www.economist.com/node/15867844 Japan's debt-ridden economy], The Economist</ref> Although some commentators have puzzled over exactly which group Krugman blames for the crisis, Krugman repeatedly calls for the government "to do more" and "spend more" as the "responsible" way out of the crisis, regardless of the true culprits or cause of the crisis.<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-09/paul-krugman-we-should-kick-can-down-road-it%E2%80%99s-responsible-thing-do "Kick the Can Down the Road"]</ref><ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/08/opinion/credibility-chutzpah-and-debt.html?_r=1&hp Credibility, Chutzpah and Debt], Paul Krugman</ref><ref>[http://www.thedailybell.com/2271/Shock-Krugman-Turns-on-Elites.html Shock Krugman Turns on Elites], The Daily Bell</ref><ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/11/opinion/11krugman.html?_r=2&hp Obama Is Missing], Paul Krugman</ref> When pressed to find culprits he identifies "extremist" Republicans and, somewhat paradoxically, those who call for ''fiscal restraint'' to be the real source of the debt crisis and the downgrading of US sovereign debt.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/08/opinion/credibility-chutzpah-and-debt.html?_r=1&hp Credibility, Chutzpah and Debt], Paul Krugman</ref> How ''increasing'' the debt load will solve the debt problem is never explained, apart from Krugman repeatedly stating that the "long-term" debt problem is not as important as the immediate and urgent "lack of spending" problem.<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-09/paul-krugman-we-should-kick-can-down-road-it%E2%80%99s-responsible-thing-do "Kick the Can Down the Road"]</ref> Krugman has never advocated the simple solution of debt default as the way to solve the debt crisis, despite de-emphasizing the scale of the debt by arguing that we (mostly) "owe it to ourselves".<ref>[http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/28/debt-is-mostly-money-we-owe-to-ourselves/ Debt is mostly money we owe to ourselves]</ref> If this was the case, debt default would be the easiest solution. On the other hand, Paul Krugman has yet to clearly identify a country or a time when government spending became excessive or was out of control and resulted in too much accumulation of debt and malinvestment during an economic slowdown. He has intimated that, perhaps, the Greek government may have spent too much, but he treats that as an isolated case and not applicable to the rest of Europe or the United States, despite some countries having comparable debt levels to Greece's.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/12/opinion/an-impeccable-disaster.html?_r=1&hp An Impeccable Disaster], Paul Krugman</ref> He has also never explained or written about what happens ''after'' government stimulus spending inevitably stops, which Austrians argue would inevitably result in an even bigger slump if it is not continually replaced with something similar or bigger. If further attempts at artificial government-induced "stimulus" ''are'' attempted, Austrians argue that this pointless exercise would simply further distort capital structures throughout the economy. They therefore see the slump as curative, even if it results in bank runs and financial crises. They see light at the end of the depression, once the re-pricing of capital goods and financial assets returns the economy to a sound, stable footing - provided ''no bailouts occur and provided asset prices are permitted to fall''.<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-post-keynesian-solutions-after-total-failure-try-try-again Keynesian Solutions Total Failure]</ref><ref>[http://dailyreckoning.com/the-pain-of-restoring-investor-confidence/ The Pain of Restoring Investor Confidence], Bill Bonner</ref><ref>[http://dailyreckoning.com/government-spending-and-the-path-to-money-printing/ Government Spending and the path to Money Printing], Bill Bonner</ref><ref>[http://www.prudentbear.com/index.php/featuredcommentaryview?art_id=10485 Krugman Is Eating America Alive], Neeraj Chaudhary, Prudent Bear</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article25163.html Keynesian models], Robert Murphy</ref><ref>[http://krugman-in-wonderland.blogspot.com/2010/11/inflation-prisoner.html The Inflation Prisoner], William Anderson</ref><ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north925.html Yes, Virginia, There Really Is a Free Lunch], Gary North</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5257/They-Want-Us-to-Love-the-Fed They Want Us to Love the Fed], William L. Anderson</ref><ref>[http://lewrockwell.com/rockwell/many-collapses-of-keynesianism189.html The Many Collapses of Keynesianism], Lew Rockwell,</ref>

Although there is active debate as to whether Krugman's recommended "stimulus" policy (spending money and thereby indebting future generations, with the government spending debt-sourced money on projects the private sector would not touch) can actually help the economy long term,<ref>[http://www.mises.org/daily/6357/Feds-Policies-Expose-Mainstream-Fallacies Mainstream Fallacies], Frank Shostak</ref><ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-post-keynesian-solutions-after-total-failure-try-try-again Keynesian Solutions Total Failure]</ref><ref>[http://dailyreckoning.com/the-pain-of-restoring-investor-confidence/ The Pain of Restoring Investor Confidence], Bill Bonner</ref><ref>[http://dailyreckoning.com/government-spending-and-the-path-to-money-printing/ Government Spending and the path to Money Printing], Bill Bonner</ref><ref>[http://www.prudentbear.com/index.php/featuredcommentaryview?art_id=10485 Krugman Is Eating America Alive], Neeraj Chaudhary, Prudent Bear</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article25163.html Keynesian models], Robert Murphy</ref><ref>[http://krugman-in-wonderland.blogspot.com/2010/11/inflation-prisoner.html The Inflation Prisoner], William Anderson</ref><ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north925.html Yes, Virginia, There Really Is a Free Lunch], Gary North</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5257/They-Want-Us-to-Love-the-Fed They Want Us to Love the Fed], William L. Anderson</ref><ref>[http://lewrockwell.com/rockwell/many-collapses-of-keynesianism189.html The Many Collapses of Keynesianism], Lew Rockwell,</ref> there is no argument that this would undoubtedly help the present group of private bankers, as increased income from the interest payments on new government bond issuance offsets the decline in private sector debt and allows banks to survive when otherwise they may face collapse due to the fatal impairment of their balance sheets through private debt write-offs after an unsustainable debt-fuelled bubble bursts.<ref>[http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2010/08/quantitative-easing-wont-help-economy.html QE won't help the economy]</ref><ref>[http://moneymorning.com/2010/11/19/federal-reserves-quantitative-easing-strategy-save-the-us-economy/ QE won't save the economy]</ref>

As government debt is effectively an asset on the books of the banks, increasing Treasury bond issuance necessarily increases the profitability and net asset position of the debt-issuing banks - at least until government insolvency or mass tax evasion renders the value of those bonds worthless.<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article25313.html Asset Speculation and Capital Destruction], Jim Willie</ref><ref>[http://www.prudentbear.com/index.php/featuredcommentaryview?art_id=10485 Krugman Is Eating America Alive], Neeraj Chaudhary, Prudent Bear</ref>

Perhaps in recognition that increasing debt to solve a debt crisis does not work even in the short term, in early 2013 Krugman resorted to advocating the coining of a debt-free trillion dollar platinum coin to solve the debt crisis and revive the economy.<ref>[http://www.thenewamerican.com/economy/economics/item/14238-obama%E2%80%99s-trillion-dollar-coin-exposes-federal-reserve-scam Obama’s Trillion-Dollar Coin Exposes Federal Reserve Scam], Alex Newman, ''New American''</ref><ref>[http://webofdebt.wordpress.com/2013/01/18/the-trillion-dollar-coin-joke-or-game-changer/#more-5323 The Trillion Dollar Coin], Ellen Hodgson Brown</ref> Some Austrians have argued Krugman's support of the trillion dollar coin is the logical ''reductio ad absurdum'' of Keynesian economics.<ref>[http://bastiat.mises.org/2013/01/trillion-dollar-coins-and-alien-invasions/ Trillion Dollar Coins and Alien Invasions], Daniel Sanchez</ref>

===Inequities in the debt-based monetary system===
Many inequities arise because of the damage an overly leveraged financial system and big spending government can have on the real economy.<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article26581.html Ten Reasons The Banksters Got Away With It], Danny Schechter</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article28949.html United States of Denial], James West</ref> The standard government strategy to help the banks out of the "tailspin" of an insolvency crisis follows a standard chronology:

The government first tries to stimulate the economy and spend money into the markets directly without individuals needing to borrow and spend, thereby "inflating" its way out of economic crisis by causing asset prices to rise and bank balance sheets to appear solvent. It currently does this principally by borrowing newly created money from the central bank and then spending this new money on projects that the private sector is not already engaged in.<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article25964.html QE is Nothing New], Mike Hewitt</ref><ref>[http://www.mises.org/daily/6357/Feds-Policies-Expose-Mainstream-Fallacies Mainstream Fallacies], Frank Shostak</ref>

Unfortunately, there is no easy solution to an economy-wide insolvency crisis caused by excessive credit expansion.<ref>[http://www.prudentbear.com/index.php/creditbubblebulletinview?art_id=10511 Favorable or Unfavorable], Doug Noland, Prudent Bear</ref> Although superficially and politically appealing, government spending only further distorts the economy through widespread malinvestment and makes things worse over the medium term.<ref>[http://mises.org/store/Rollback-P10449.aspx ''Rollback''], Thomas Woods</ref> Later, after the immediate crisis, when bond yields rise, governments are often forced to reduce basic social services or welfare to the poor to pay for the increased bond payments to bankers and other wealthy investors, making those least responsible and least able to pay for the crisis suffer wrenching economic hardship.<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article26581.html Ten Reasons The Banksters Got Away With It], Danny Schechter</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/store/Rollback-P10449.aspx ''Rollback''], Thomas Woods</ref>

Antal E. Fekete compares quantitative easing to the repeated supply of opium by an immoral drug dealer to a dependent drug addict:<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article26339.html Silver and Opium], Antal E. Fekete</ref>

{{quote|The explanation for this self-destructing behavior is the addictive, debilitating and mind-corrosive nature of paper money, in direct analogy with that of opium. The high caused by administering the opium pipe to the patient (read: administering QE) had to be repeated when the effect faded by a fresh administration of more opium (read: more QE2).}}

Aside from the [[moral hazard]] issue, the key risk with [[quantitative easing]] is that the [[central bank]] exposes the financial system to disruptive inflation, as the growth in the [[money supply]] spirals out of control due to the need to save the [[bank]]s from themselves.<ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north961.html Tiger], Gary North</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article27530.html The Fed Obliterates the Savings Ethic], Douglas French</ref> This eventually tends to precipitate a currency and/or government bond crisis, as the debt-based currency becomes completely dysfunctional when either the currency becomes worthless or when debtors - including government debtors - cannot even pay interest on the debt money.<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article25964.html QE is Nothing New], Mike Hewitt</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article25313.html Asset Speculation and Capital Destruction], Jim Willie</ref><ref>[http://www.swlearning.com/economics/hall/hall-lieb2e-upd/ppt_lecture/exchange_rate_macro_policy.ppt Exchange Rates and Macroeconomic Policy]</ref><ref>[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VGT-41WBFRG-1&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=4e89075114dcdb58b503172ff1801bd2 Central Bank Intervention]</ref><ref>[http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/mishkin20071026a.htm Financial Instability and the Federal Reserve as a Liquidity Provider, by Frederic S. Mishkin]</ref>

For these reasons, a collapse in confidence in the [[solvency]] of the domestic banking system (and the central government) is one of the most complex and difficult policy issues any central government can face.<ref>[http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/ambroseevans-pritchard/100008812/irelands-debt-servitude/ Ireland's Debt Servitude], Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, UK Telegraph</ref> If central bank continues to try to save the current players in the banking sector by continually printing money and inflating its way out of the crisis, at some point hyperinflation suddenly appears, and has appeared many times in history.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/4869 Can the Fed Become Insolvent?], Robert Murphy</ref><ref>[http://blog.mises.org/14626/quantitative-easing-explained/ Quantitative Easing Explained], YouTube video</ref>

Some commentators have observed that the media and the Fed have to constantly come up with new terms (such as "quantitative easing") to hide the fact that they are simply repeating the same failed policy of monetary inflation that corrupt sovereigns have deployed at the end of failed regimes many times over the millenia.<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article25679.html Many Euphemisms for Money Creation], Thorsten Polleit</ref> This is also now referred to by some [[monetary reform]]ers and [[economist]]s as "socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor", as many indebted [[consumers]] will still lose their [[house]]s and be declared [[bankrupt]] regardless whether or not the central bank intervenes to save marginal lenders who have been made [[insolvent]] through their mis-timing of the [[credit cycle]].<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny6YI2JCP9Q&feature=player_embedded#at=147 Blood Starts Flowing on the Streets], Max Keiser interview with Gerald Celente</ref><ref>[http://www.rgemonitor.com/blog/roubini/228924/ Privatizing Profits and Socializing Losses, by Nouriel Roubini]</ref><ref>[http://www.beearly.com/pdfFiles/Satyajit%20Das.pdf Regulatory Debauchery by Satyajit Das]</ref> Future generations of innocent taxpayers may ultimately finance any [[bail out]] of reckless lenders, as the money used to fund any [[bail out]] will be funds diverted from the general revenue of the central government.<ref>[http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f4cf8426-654d-11dc-bf89-0000779fd2ac.html A run on the bank]</ref>

In times of crisis, some bankers still refer to [[Walter Bagehot]]'s 1873 commentary on monetary crises, ''Lombard Street'', in an attempt to gain insights into the way in which central bankers should revive illiquid banking systems.<ref>[http://www.prudentbear.com/index.php/thebearslairview?art_id=10513 The Evils of Crony Capitalism], Martin Hutchinson</ref><ref>[http://blogs.ft.com/economistsforum/2010/04/a-history-lesson-from-lombard-street-for-wall-street-in-2010/ History Lesson from Lombard Street], Roger Farmer, Ft.com</ref> However this old text may be outdated in circumstances where the community's debt limits have been reached and where the banking crisis arises from insolvency or environmental depletion rather than illiquidity.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KInB2rvgaY Eco Eco Disaster], Keiser Report</ref><ref name="Willie_Misdiagnosis" /><ref>[http://www.prudentbear.com/index.php/creditbubblebulletinview?art_id=10511 Favorable or Unfavorable], Doug Noland, Prudent Bear</ref> A prime example where aging demographics combined with reckless bank lending in a purely fiat debt-based monetary system resulted in economic problems which no amount of money printing or government spending could fix can be found in the case of the [[Japanese asset price bubble]].<ref>[http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10286992 The Japanese and American Bubbles: Been There, Done Some of That]</ref> Some believe the West will repeat the mistakes of the Japanese and the result will be worldwide monetary disorder and instability and economic decline.<ref>[http://dailyreckoning.com/destiny-is-demography/ Destiny is Demography], Bill Bonner</ref><ref>[http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10286992 The Japanese and American Bubbles: Been There, Done Some of That]</ref><ref>[http://www.prudentbear.com/index.php/creditbubblebulletinview?art_id=10508 Monetary Disorder], Doug Noland</ref><ref>[http://www.prudentbear.com/index.php/creditbubblebulletinview?art_id=10571 Crumbling Pillars], Doug Noland. Quote: "Whether it’s monetary or fiscal policy - at home or abroad – there seems to be confirmation everywhere that policymaking has become largely ineffectual and, increasingly, incapacitated. This is fundamental to my bearish thesis. With each passing market day it seems to take a greater leap of faith to believe that additional monetary and fiscal stimulus will ameliorate a sovereign debt crisis fomented by ultra-loose monetary and fiscal policies. Increasingly, it appears impossible for policies that fomented monetary instability to now somehow engender a return to market stability. Liquidity-challenged global markets are convulsing through a problematic period of de-risking and de-leveraging, and once such a process commences it basically has to run its course. Efforts to intervene in the marketplace, as we’ve been witnessing, are likely to beget only greater uncertainty and instability."</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbQq33iTsrw Rigged bank rates]</ref>

===Debt Saturation and the Keynesian Endpoint===

Keynesians often refer to Keynes' dictum "In the long run we are all dead" to justify artificially low interest rates and short-term stimulus spending by government to "kick start" a stalled economy where pre-existing private debt levels have caused spending to collapse. Tyler Cowen has responded to this Keynesian rejoinder with the following response:<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/business/06view.html The Fiscal Illusion], Tyler Cowan</ref>

{{quote|The famous Keynesian rejoinder, “In the long run we are all dead,” is less comforting when that long run comes into sight. Short-run planning is a hard carousel to stop, especially when there are frequent election cycles, but the federal government must act soon...

The technocratic Keynesian recommendation was to run deficits in bad times and surpluses in good times. But except for one stretch during the Clinton administration, this notion has been broken since the early 1980s. In the United States, at least, Keynesian economics has failed to find the necessary political institutions to enact and sustain a wise version of the theory.

Now that fiscal constraints are starting to bite, many politicians are afraid to reform or even to discuss changes in the largest problem areas...

Fiscal austerity may sometimes sound like a dogmatic religion, but fixed principles often help us do the right thing, especially when temptation beckons. Professor Buchanan argued that the real choice was between a religion of budget balance and a rule of illusion.

...the rigor of the numbers will soon sweep away the fiscal illusion. The only question is whether we will end the charade on our own terms or continue to play the fool.}}

Nassim Taleb posits that with increasing debt comes increasing fragility as markets end up standing on a "knife-edge" between precipitous currency devaluation due to money printing and widespread insolvency/depression due to slowing organic money supply growth.<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-25/taleb-skin-game-and-his-disdain-public-intellectuals Nassim Taleb Interview on Anti-Fragile]</ref> It therefore becomes increasingly difficult for central banks to control volatility in heavily indebted world markets, until it ultimately becomes impossible to control.<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-25/taleb-skin-game-and-his-disdain-public-intellectuals Nassim Taleb Interview on Anti-Fragile]</ref>

No current commentator predicts bankers, politicians or government employee unions will spontaneously reform themselves.<ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/lewrockwell-show/2011/03/27/193-gold-guns-and-getaway-plans/ Gerald Celente interview with Lew Rockwell]: Lew Rockwell: "When do you see social unrest coming to this country?" Gerald Celente: "I see more crime happening in this country, and social unrest at a much lower level. The people in this country don't have what it takes... This is a country of soccer mommies boys. We're prescription drug-addicted and we're junk food fat... Look at the way they dress, look at the way they talk, look how the Nation's become so Snooki-stupid."</ref> Noted commentator Bill Bonner and others have described politicians, welfare recipients, bankers and other tax beneficiaries as economic "zombies" obsessed with preserving their own coercively acquired incomes and unable to adapt to new economic realities. He has predicted that the "zombies" will continue to "steal" as much as possible and parasitically live off the productive efforts of others until the whole monetary system collapses.<ref>[http://dailyreckoning.com/the-coincidental-rise-of-oil-and-the-monetary-base/ The Coincidental Rise of Oil and the Monetary Base], Bill Bonner</ref><ref>[http://dailyreckoning.com/california-the-greece-of-the-us-financial-crisis/ California: The Greece of the U.S.], Bill Bonner</ref><ref>[http://dailyreckoning.com/zombies-born-of-government-spending/ Zombies Born of Government Spending], Bill Bonner</ref><ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/article/not-program-salvage-greek-economy-its-program-pillage-bankruptcy Pillage Before Bankrupcty], Washington's Blog</ref> Some commentators have criticized so-called "zombie" bureaucracies such as the TSA as not only deadweights on the real productive economy, costing millions of tax dollars each year; their very existence hinders economic productivity.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5611/TSA-and-Unproductive-Labor TSA and Unproductive Labor], James E. Miller</ref> It is alleged that once these organizations are created and fed by government fiat, these "zombies" never die because there is no natural market mechanism to provide the necessary feedback signalling that they are unwanted by consumers. They grow only because they survive through government bureaucratic support and largesse - which comes from coercively acquired tax dollars or central bank produced fiat money. It is argued that the richest parasitic "zombies" (such as the CEOs and shareholders of the private security firms servicing the TSA's multi-million dollar government contracts) will continue to suck as much wealth from the productive economy as possible and then move on to the next host country with their real wealth converted into land, precious metals and jewels and other real assets.

The difficulty with any attempt at reform measures is that the "Ponzi" elements of finance are inextricably tied to pension funds and "real" elements in the economy, making it impossible to eliminate the "cancer" without damaging the wealth-creating structures as well.<ref>The term "cancer" is specifically mentioned in [http://www.pytheas.net/docs/Laissez-faire-and-policymakers.pdf Laissez-faire, investment banks and policy makers], Pytheas Market Focus, August 2009</ref><ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/jeffrandall/8436123/We-must-call-the-bluff-of-the-big-bad-banks.html We must call the bluff of the big banks], Jeff Randall</ref><ref name="Repudiating the National Debt"/><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zMv4Offm_8&feature=player_embedded#at=1341 Max Keiser Interview with Alex Jones]</ref><ref>[http://www.buildfreedom.com/tl/rape3.shtml Economic Rape of America]</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbQq33iTsrw Rigged bank rates]</ref> Commentator Max Keiser has also referred to "zombie" bankers as "The Walking Dead"<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23_S5etzSP0 Resident Evil Zombie Banks!]</ref> and has coined the term "Suicide Banking" to describe the paradoxical situation where virtually every politician and economist acknowledges that "Too Big To Fail" is a dysfunctional policy but no one has a viable solution, given that the banking system is "rigged to blow" if threatened.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCRXz5oOQVY&feature=player_embedded Suicide Bankers], Max Keiser</ref> He also refers to the current crisis as a fight to the death not between countries or ethnic groups or political ideologies but between future-oriented, prudent and conservative "Savers" on one side and present-focused, imprudent and overconsuming "Speculators" on the other.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzzIqi2sbQY&feature=player_embedded US flashing Orange]</ref>

Many non-mainstream financial commentators believe the U.S. and the E.U. will soon experience terminal financial crises, but there is vigorous on-going debate amongst numerous commentators regarding whether this terminal currency crisis will end in hyperinflation and currency destruction (making government bonds worthless) or repeated bouts of deflation and depression (making government bonds more valuable).<ref name="Landis_Reprieve" /><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article28148.html How to Keep a Damaged Financial and Economic System Afloat?], Bob Chapman</ref><ref>[http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1305306000.php Winning in the Hyperinflation/Deflation War], Deepcaster LLC</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article27733.html Compound Inflation], John Mauldin</ref><ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north973.html Rick Ackerman Defects], Gary North</ref><ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/04/no-miracle-cures-from-inflation.html Impossible to Inflate Out of this Mess], MISH</ref><ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/06/big-inflationist-scare.html The Big Inflationist Scare], MISH</ref><ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/09/debating-flat-earth-society-about.html Debating the Flat Earth Society About Hyperinflation], MISH</ref><ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/01/peter-schiff-was-wrong.html Peter Schiff Was Wrong], MISH</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article27726.html Deflation Threat is Still Alive], EWI</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article27791.html Can We Give The Hyperinflation Thing a Rest?], Mike Whitney</ref> Most - but not all - Austrian commentators now believe the denouement will inevitably result in hyperinflation and render the U.S. dollar near-worthless in real terms, as U.S. bond and dollar holders compete to offload excess holdings in the face of massive ongoing issuance.<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article29393.html US Dollar Supply and Demand], Jim Willie CB</ref><ref>[http://fofoa.blogspot.com/2011/04/deflation-or-hyperinflation.html Deflation or Hyperinflation?], FOFOA</ref><ref>[http://maxkeiser.com/2011/04/25/ding-ding-ding-its-all-over-rick-ackerman-concedes-hes-been-wrong-and-joins-the-hyperinflationist-camp/ It's all over! Rick Ackerman Concedes!], Max Keiser</ref> Mike Shedlock and Antal E. Fekete are amongst a small group of deflationists who believe contracting credit will continue to have a deflationary impact on the economy, causing government bonds to become even more valuable over time.<ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/05/hyperinflation-nonsense-in-multiple.html Hyperinflation Nonsense], MISH</ref><ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/04/no-miracle-cures-from-inflation.html No Miracle Cures from Inflation], MISH</ref><ref>[http://www.julianmidwinter.com.au/ The Federal Reserve as an engine of deflation], Antal E. Fekete</ref><ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/preposterous-falsehoods-from-gary-north.html Falsehoods from Gary North], MISH</ref>

It should be noted that few hyperinflationists can explain the ''precise mechanism'' by which massive amounts of new credit money will be injected into the economy. There has been no detailed explanation from the hyperinflationists regarding how, with so few potential credit-worthy borrowers (including governments), the new money (via the issuance of new debt) will be injected into the economy in sufficient volume to trigger hyperinflation in the absence of extreme government policies (such Congress authorizing every citizen to be issued with $30,000 vouchers, or a civil war, or other natural catastrophe).<ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/09/bernankes-waterloo-midst-of.html Bernanke's Waterloo], Mike Shedlock</ref>

Gary North is one of the few Austrians who does not predict the extremes of either hyperinflation or deflationary depression, but rather expects a continuation of steady, moderate price inflation encouraged and controlled by the Federal Reserve, against a background of ongoing extreme boom-busts in the real economy and the slow but systemic impoverishment of the middle class.<ref>[http://lewrockwell.com/north/north1031.html Mass Inflation, Yes; Hyperinflation, No], Gary North</ref>

Austrian commentator Robert K. Landis believes there will be a combined deflationary/inflationary catastrophe.<ref>[http://www.goldensextant.com/SavingtheSystem.html Saving The System], Robert K. Landis</ref>

Leaving aside the debate between deflationists and hyperinflationists, and in stark contrast to the predictions of deflationary or hyperinflationary catastrophe from the Austrians, monetarist, Keynesian and neo-classical economists regard the current financial system as benign and the current financial distress as temporary and not structural in nature.<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article35922.html Who do You Trust?], James Quinn</ref> Most advocate "tweaking" of government policy (such as temporary increases in government spending) to get us out of the current crisis. No mainstream economist identifies the problem as fundamental or structural and no mainstrean economist advocates a return to full reserve banking, the gold standard or free banking. Indeed, most financial analysts still use the normal distribution - or "Bell Curve" - to represent the likely distribution of future returns in financial markets.<ref>[http://seekingalpha.com/article/163271-rethinking-alpha-and-beta Rethinking Alpha and Beta], Paul Amery</ref> This continues despite extensive research demonstrating that the normal distribution does not apply to financial market returns, which display so-called "fat tail" distributions, with much more volatlity at the extremes than the normal distribution would predict.<ref>[http://www.bearcave.com/bookrev/misbehavior_of_markets.html The Misbehavior of Markets], Ian Kaplan</ref> The Austrian view - that the economy will either slide into depression or hyperinflation under the stresses of the current debt-based monetary monetary system - may be supported by more recent analysis of actual financial market behavior under conditions of high debt and extreme stress.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5352/What-Mises-Can-Teach-the-Quants What Mises Can Teach the Quants], Daniel James Sanchez</ref><ref>[http://lewrockwell.com/north/north990.html The Next Financial Crisis], Gary North</ref><ref>[http://www.debtdeflation.com/blogs/2011/06/11/dude-where%E2%80%99s-my-recovery/ Where's My Recovery?], Steve Keen</ref> And recently even mainstream economists, such as senior IMF advisor Dr Robert Shapiro, now openly acknowledge that the inter-dependencies created by the issuance of Credit Default Swaps and other risk-related financial products by reckless under-capitalized banks has created a situation of extreme global financial vulnerability, where the world is only weeks away from a complete and total financial "meltdown".<ref>[http://maxkeiser.com/2011/10/07/imf-advisor-says-we-face-a-worldwide-banking-meltdown/ IMF Advisor Says We Face a Worldwide Banking Meltdown], BBC. Quote, Dr Robert Shapiro: "If they (EU governments) cannot address this in a credible way, I believe that in perhaps two to three weeks we will have a meltdown in sovereign debt which will produce a meltdown across the European banking system - we're not just talking about a relatively small Belgian bank - we're talking about the largest banks in the world - the largest banks in Germany, the largest banks in France - that will spread. It will spread to the United Kingdown - in part through sovereign debt problems in Ireland - it will spread ''everwhere'' because the global financial system is so inter-connected they are each counter...''all'' those banks are counter-parties to every significant bank in the United States and in Britain and in Japan and around the world! This would be a crisis that would be, in my view, more serious than the crisis in 2008."</ref>

Regardless whether the government chooses hyperinflation or periodic deflationary depression as the way out, throughout history, only two real alternatives occur in the midst of economic or financial crisis: ever greater centralization (often on a "higher level") or disintegration of the core power structures and (eventually) rejuvenation.<ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/janetdaley/8770696/The-European-dream-lies-in-ruins.html The European dream lies in ruins], Janet Daley, UK Telegraph</ref><ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/article/greeces-ultimatum-bailout-bankers-or-loss-sovereignty Greece's Ultimatum], ZeroHedge</ref><ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north966.html Wealth Through Decentralization], Gary North</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/store/Rollback-P10449.aspx ''Rollback''], Thomas Woods</ref><ref>[http://blog.mises.org/9321/crisis-and-leviathan/ Crisis and Leviathan], Robert Higgs</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/store/Money-Bank-Credit-and-Economic-Cycles-P290C0.aspx Money, Bank Credit and Economic Cycles], Jesus Huerta de Soto, Mises Institute ISBN: 978-1-933550-39-8</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/store/Meltdown-P557.aspx ''Meltdown''], Tom Woods, Regnery Press ISBN: 9781596985872</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/media/4014 The Economics of Legal Tender Laws], [[Jorg Guido Hulsmann]] (includes detailed commentary on centralization during crises)</ref><ref>[http://www.amazon.com/Warwolves-Iron-Cross-International-Relationships/dp/146358380X/ref=sr_1_33?ie=UTF8&qid=1316347713&sr=8-33 Warwolves of the Iron Cross], Veronica Kuzniar Clark</ref> Accordingly, many of the more extreme monetary reformers and [[conspiracy theorists]] anticipate repeated and ever more desperate attempts at ''higher-order centralization'',<ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/janetdaley/8770696/The-European-dream-lies-in-ruins.html The European dream lies in ruins], Janet Daley, UK Telegraph</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article27051.html A New World Currency?], Ellen Hodgson Brown</ref> as the existing co-ordinated state-based central bank architecture becomes discredited through repeated economic failure and environmental crises caused by the need for unsustainable exponential debt-driven economic "growth" within the current debt-based financial architecture.<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/article/guest-post-economic-abyss The Economic Abyss], Brandon Smith</ref> This centralization is anticipated to include the empowerment of the UN to increasingly intervene in the domestic political affairs of nations,<ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/rozeff/rozeff343.html World Government], Mike Rozeff</ref> the IMF and EU to increasingly intervene in the domestic financial affairs of member nations,<ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/janetdaley/8770696/The-European-dream-lies-in-ruins.html The European dream lies in ruins], Janet Daley, UK Telegraph</ref><ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/article/greeces-ultimatum-bailout-bankers-or-loss-sovereignty Greece's Ultimatum], ZeroHedge</ref><ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/11/terms-of-enslavement-irish-citizens-say.html Terms of Enslavement], MISH</ref><ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/11/imf-ready-to-help-ireland-can-imf-help.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MishsGlobalEconomicTrendAnalysis+%28Mish%27s+Global+Economic+Trend+Analysis%29 Can the IMF help anyone?], MISH</ref><ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8150137/Ireland-forced-to-take-EU-and-IMF-bail-out-package.html Ireland forced to take IMF bailout package], Telegraph</ref> and the declaration of [[martial law]] and the imposition of [[fascist]]-style restrictions on [[civil rights]]<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/article/guest-post-us-monetary-system-and-descent-fascism-interview-dr-edwin-vieira The U.S. Monetary System and Descent Into Fascism], Dr Edwin Vieir</ref><ref>[http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/04/201142612714539672.html Global capitalism and 21st cenury fascism], William I. Robinson</ref><ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/rep2/jesse-ventura-on-tsa-abusers.html Jesse Ventura on the TSA' Sexual Abusers]</ref> and [[freedom of speech]] by the political [[The Establishment|Establishment]] to physically protect it from [[anarchy]] or military [[coup]] when the [[bubble (economics)|bubble]] of debt completely bursts, through a precipitous currency crisis, debt-created [[Depression (economics)|depression]], environmental crisis or oil shortage.<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article26605.html Population Reduction], Chris Kitze</ref><ref>[http://jsmineset.com/2011/02/24/in-the-news-today-791/ Collapse]</ref><ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/lewrockwell-show/2010/12/14/179-the-espionage-act-and-the-death-of-american-freedoms/ Death of American Freedoms], Naomi Wolf, LRC interview, Dec 14, 2010</ref><ref>[http://www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2007/cr120507h.htm New security legislation threats freedoms]</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article26325.html Bank Credit Ends in Catastrophe], Richard Daughty, The Mogambo Guru</ref> Ultimately this is anticipated to yield either repressive world government<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-31/guest-post-linchpin-lie-how-global-collapse-will-be-sold-masses The Linchpin Lie]</ref> or chaos (or most likely both), with a world central bank stationed in Basel, Switzerland.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMngK0t5WkY Max Keiser]</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article28533.html The Global Debt Crisis], Ellen Hodgson Brown</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article27051.html A New World Currency?], Ellen Hodgson Brown</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article27554.html Libya War All About Oil or Gold and Banking?], Ellen Hodgson Brown</ref><ref>[http://blog.mises.org/9321/crisis-and-leviathan/ Crisis and Leviathan], Robert Higgs</ref> During this transition period, some analysts and conspiracy theorists anticipate multiple wars to force governments into the BIS financial "net",<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMngK0t5WkY Max Keiser]</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article28533.html The Global Debt Crisis], Ellen Hodgson Brown</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article27051.html A New World Currency?], Ellen Hodgson Brown</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article27554.html Libya Ware All About Oil or Gold and Banking?], Ellen Hodgson Brown</ref> impotent and counterproductive price controls,<ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/03/food-prices-rise-11-in-china-overall.html Chinese inflation], MISH</ref><ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/goyette/goyette18.1.html Too Late!], Charles Goyette</ref> repeated sell-offs of monopoly state assets in a desperate attempt to feed private domestic banks with steady, coercively acquired income to keep the value of government bonds collapsing,<ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/05/whos-bigger-socialist-president-obama.html Who's the Bigger Socialist?], MISH</ref> and then, once this attempt (to feed unsustainable compounding debt with any remaining basic infrastructure) destroys any remaining parts of the productive economy, there will be in the end coercivly enforced rationing of basic essentials to ensure continued supply of food and oil to senior government officials, bankers and their associates amidst widespread general starvation and chaos,<ref>[http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/27083/?p1=blogs Food prices and Riots]</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article26605.html Population Reduction], Chris Kitze</ref> as the coalescence of a corrupt banker-government coalition solidifies<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-31/guest-post-linchpin-lie-how-global-collapse-will-be-sold-masses The Linchpin Lie]</ref><ref>[http://maxkeiser.com/2011/04/28/kr142-keiser-report-blind-cult-of-america/ Blind Cult of America]. Quote: Max Keiser: "Yes, it's beyond religious fervor. That's the point. It's become this echo chamber, cult-like 'America can't fail' which is very endemic when you see suicide cults. Remember Jim Jones. Remember him. The Kool Aid. He made the idea of drinking Kool Aid... he popularized that notion. Everyone committed suicide in Guyana. Or the Hail-Bot Comet Cult. Here you've got 300 million Americans who are worshipping this idea of 'American-style' Free Market Capitalism that doesn't exist. They support market manipulation on Wall Street and they're all gonna ''die'' as a result. Now that's less than 5% of the world's population. It is 25% of the world's garbage so the world will breathe a sigh of relief, but, as far as those living inside they don't really understand that they're being used as cult fodder." Stacy Herbert: "The equivalent of drinking the cyanide-laced Kool Aid would be purchasing a McMansion with a sub-prime mortgage. This is them committing suicide. It's the equivalent of drinking cyanide-laced Kool Aid." Max Keiser: "It's financial suicide. As we've talked about. Financialization of the economy has turned into this hybrid reality that combines political malfeasance with financial larceny and that's the combination between Obama's White House and Wall Street merging together into something even more insidious than fascism. It's a Klepto-F*@kingSh*tism. It's a... it's a Klepto-Sh*tism is the current political-financial school of thought in America today and it's not working. It's unsustainable."</ref> to eliminate potential dissent and ensure the forced elimination - by any means necessary - of any actual or potential competing [[currencies]] that could threaten the viability or legitimacy of the [[monopoly]] currency, which could include war against any country considering using any currency other than US dollars to price essential commodities such as oil <ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/holland/holland44.1.html Anglo-American Deception], Ron Holland</ref> and the compulsory confiscation of all privately-owned [[gold]] (gold being the ultimate reserve currency, still used by central banks as a universally accepted medium of exchange for the settlement of international debts).<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5184/The-Crime-of-Private-Money The "Crime" of Private Money], Robert Murphy</ref><ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/article/guest-post-thoughts-liberty-dollar-debacle Liberty Dollar], ZeroHedge.com</ref><ref>[http://blog.mises.org/14795/the-gold-clause-cases-and-constitutional-necessity/ Gold Clause Cases]</ref><ref>[http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1196605589.php America's Trade Debts Lead to a Likely Gold Confiscation]</ref><ref>[http://www.libertydollar.org/ld/legal/raid.htm FBI Raids Liberty Dollar]</ref><ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/solution.html The Solution]</ref><ref>[http://prudentinvestor.blogspot.com/2007/09/us-mint-suspends-gold-coin-sales-due-to.html US Mint Suspends Gold Coin Sales]</ref><ref>[http://www.swissamerica.com/article.php?art=06-2004/200406140537f.txt Why a Gold Standard Now?]</ref><ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/73468.html Bank of America an arm of US government policy]</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article26325.html Bank Credit Ends in Catastrophe], Richard Daughty, The Mogambo Guru</ref><ref>[http://www.sovereignman.com/expat/bernanke-terrorist Bernanke is the domestic terrorist], Sovereign Man</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article28225.html DSK Was Trying to Torpedo the Dollar], Mike Whitney</ref>

Some have speculated that the overthrow and attempted assassination of Col. Gaddafi and his family in 2011 Libyan "civil war" was triggered by Col. Gaddafi's open (and unwise) attempt to price Libya's oil in gold, which is the reaction many would expect for a country that "dared" to price an essential commodity in anything other than a Western paper currency.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuqZfaj34nc&feature=player_embedded#! Gaddafi: Gold for Oil?], RTTV</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lnslMWhOTw&list=SPC3F29DDAA1BABFCF&index=194 Welcome Home German Gold], Max Keiser</ref>

There have been many [[financial crisis|monetary crises]] throughout history,<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-26/trust-me-time-different Trust Me This Time Is Different]</ref><ref>[http://www.delanion.com/main/dom.htm Fiat Money Inflation in France], Gold Money video featuring Max Keiser, James Turk and Pierre Jovanovic</ref><ref>[http://www.delanion.com/main/dom.htm Dying of Money], Jens O. Parsson</ref><ref>[http://www.delanion.com/main/dom.htm Dying of Money], Jens O. Parsson</ref><ref name="Bonner_Swan">[http://www.lewrockwell.com/bonner/bonner454.html Revolution in Egypt and Black Swans], Bill Bonner, February 15, 2011.</ref><ref>[http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1297199137.php China Inflation and Gold], Darryl Robert Schoon</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/store/Early-Speculative-Bubbles-P578.aspx Early Speculative Bubbles and Increases in the Money Supply], Doug French, Mises Institute ISBN: 978-1-933550-44-2</ref><ref>[http://dailyreckoning.com/a-word-of-advice-to-financial-authorities/ Advice to Financial Authorities], Bill Bonner</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article26325.html Bank Credit Ends in Catastrophe], Richard Daughty, The Mogambo Guru</ref> and there are a number of standard warning signs of impending depression or hyperinflation caused by a complete breakdown of trust in any [[monetary system]].<ref>[http://mises.org/store/Product.aspx?ProductId=435 Fiat Money Inflation in France], Andrew Dickson White, Mises Institute</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article25313.html Asset Speculation and Capital Destruction], Jim Willie</ref><ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/article/guest-post-economic-abyss The Economic Abyss], Brandon Smith</ref><ref>[http://lewrockwell.com/orig12/martenson8.1.1.html Argentina: A Case Study], Chris Martenson and FerFAL</ref> Just prior to the complete collapse of the [[pyramid scheme]] of public and private debt, the economic system tends to feed on itself, and in the past, where debt-created [[Depression (economics)|depression]]s or periods of [[hyperinflation]] have occurred in [[Europe]],<ref name="Bonner_Swan" /> the [[U.S.]] and [[China]], there has been a sustained spike in predatory economic behavior, as the heavily indebted central government and producers are forced to find more extreme (previously considered unethical) methods to extract any remaining wealth from increasingly desperate and impoverished [[consumers]], who are either unwilling or unable to go into further debt without forceful coercion.<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/article/guest-post-ethics-mortgage-loan-default The Ethics of Mortgage Loan Default], Greg Lemelson</ref><ref name="Bonner_Swan" /><ref name="http">{{cite book |last= Widdig |first= Bernd |title= Culture and Inflation in Weimar Germany |url= http://books.google.com/books/ucpress?id=kvKAATycUzIC |accessdate= 2007-12-16 |year= 2001 |publisher= University of California
Press |isbn= 0520222903 }}</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/3569 John Law and the Invention of Modern Finance], Doug French (Mises.org)</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/1690 The Saga of John Law and Richard Cantillon], Sean Corrigan (Mises.org)</ref> [[Long-term]] investment and sustained [[capital investment]] are almost impossible in this environment because the "measuring stick" of [[return on investment]] (the real value of [[money]]) is so uncertain at times of debt-induced [[credit crunch]], depression or hyperinflation.<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article25313.html Asset Speculation and Capital Destruction], Jim Willie</ref>

As potential new [[borrower]]s and international financiers are scared away from participating in the [[pyramid scheme]] of debt and borrowing further, the [[monetary system]] seizes up, starved of the fresh injections of [[debt money]] it needs for its survival, thereby precipitating economic [[anarchy]],<ref name="Bonner_Swan" /><ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/article/guest-post-economic-abyss The Economic Abyss], Brandon Smith</ref> widespread [[lawlessness]]<ref name="Bonner_Swan" /> and [[insolvency]] of the monetary and banking system.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPxYg6mgGpE Inflation is There], Peter Schiff</ref><ref>[http://www.oftwominds.com/blognov07/empire-debt1.html Empire of Debt]</ref><ref name="Landis_Reprieve" /><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article25313.html Asset Speculation and Capital Destruction], Jim Willie</ref><ref name="Bonner_Swan" /> Some have described the moment when governments cannot borrow any more from banks to keep up the growth in debt money as the "Keynesian Endpoint" or "Keynesian Endgame" or point of "Debt Saturation" - which is the point in time when ''in extremis ''"emergency" measures by the government to kick-start the economy by increasing total gross debt have no lasting positive effect on GDP.<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/article/guest-post-economic-death-spiral-has-been-triggered The Economic Death Spiral], Gordon T. Long</ref><ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/article/charting-ten-year-prelude-keynesian-endgame Keynesian Endgame], ZeroHedge</ref><ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keynesian_endpoint Keynesian Endpoint], Wikipedia definition</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article27801.html U.S. Debt Saturation and Money Illusion], Gordon T. Long</ref> Antal E. Fekete identifies this "crisis" point as the point when the marginal increase in total gross debt has no positive marginal effect on GDP.<ref>[http://www.professorfekete.com/articles/AEFGotterdammerung.pdf Gotterdammerung], Antal E. Fekete</ref> According to Professor Fekete, once the marginal productivity of debt turns negative, a disastrous depression is inevitable.<ref>[http://www.professorfekete.com/articles/AEFGotterdammerung.pdf Gotterdammerung], Antal E. Fekete</ref>

Recent studies have indicated that debt turns toxic at between 80 and 100 percent of GDP. Beyond this, further increases in debt reduce GDP rather than stimulate it.<ref>[http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/ambroseevans-pritchard/100011744/when-debt-levels-turn-cancerous/ When Debt Levels Turn Cancerous], Ambrose Evans-Pritchard</ref>

This final denouement is triggered when [[borrower]]s cannot be found to buy depreciating, already-indebted, assets, and international financiers reduce lending as they experience losses on pre-existing loans either through asset or currency [[depreciation]].<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPxYg6mgGpE Inflation is There], Peter Schiff</ref> Some analysts predict that the [[monetary system]] will seize up due to a [[deflationary]] depression<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/article/guest-post-heres-setup-con-decade The Con of the Decade], ZeroHedge</ref> or a sustained period of [[stagflation]]ary hyperinflation resulting in a "final and total catastrophe of our fiat monetary system."<ref name="Landis_Reprieve" /><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article25313.html Asset Speculation and Capital Destruction], Jim Willie</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPxYg6mgGpE Inflation is There], Peter Schiff</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article27402.html Deflationists Blind to Inflationary Storm], Jim Willie</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article27466.html Compounding Debt]</ref>

Examples of debt and monetary crises can often be found after failed wars, when international financiers realize the heavily indebted [[government]] they funded will not gain the resources it planned to seize as a result of the waging of aggressive war. When this pay-off does not materialize, the losing government is left with the debt of war without the ability to offset this government debt through the imposition of reparations on the defeated nation and the acquisition of the defeated state's resources, thereby boosting the victorious state's GDP and tax revenues. This sudden monetary collapse occurred to [[Germany]] after the [[First World War]] and [[Japan]] after the [[Second World War]].

Whatever the trigger, the key warning sign of any impending monetary crisis and economic [[anarchy]] is a sudden [[currency crisis]], or a sudden spike in domestic interest rates, or a sudden [[credit crunch]] or the announcement of a bank holiday.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/6400/Lessons-from-Cyprus Lessons from Cyprus]</ref><ref name="Landis_Reprieve" /> Early warning signs that the [[private banks]] themselves are aware of an impending breakdown in the [[solvency]] of the [[financial system]] would be any combination of some or all the following: a spike in the [[oil]] price (which is an internationally accepted, inherently limited, store of value, and therefore can act as a modern form of [[hard currency]], oil sometimes being referred to as "black gold"), "backwardation" in [[gold]],<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-22/gold-and-potential-dollar-endgame-part-3-backwardation-and-gold Gold and the Potential Dollar Endgame]</ref><ref>[http://www.minyanville.com/businessmarkets/articles/gold-spot-price-gold-prices-gold/5/10/2011/id/34441?camp=syndication&medium=portals&from=yahoo Permanent Gold Backwardation: Why a "Crack Up Boom" Is Inevitable], Keith Weiner</ref> and [[silver]]<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=021yEhjPDa0&feature=player_embedded#at=826 $400 Ounce Silver, $8000 Ounce Gold], James Turk</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPxYg6mgGpE Inflation is There], Peter Schiff</ref> and sudden price spikes in other stable, non-perishable, inherently limited [[natural resources]] essential for non-discretionary industrial production;<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article25313.html Asset Speculation and Capital Destruction], Jim Willie</ref> a spike in the [[futures contract]]s for vital agricultural [[commodities]]<ref>[http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fed-dictator-bernanke-needs-to-be-toppled-2011-02-15 Fed dictator Bernanke needs to be toppled], Paul B. Farrell</ref><ref>January 27, 2011 – ''Financial Times'' (Javier Blas and Chris Giles): “Governments across the developing world are stockpiling food staples in an attempt to contain panic buying, inflation and social unrest. But the hoarding is driving agricultural commodity prices even higher. The cost of wheat, the world’s most important staple, reached a fresh two-and-a-half-year high on Thursday, after countries from Algeria to Saudi Arabia announced extraordinary purchases. High food prices have been a contributing factor to the recent wave of social unrest across North Africa and the Middle East. In Algeria earlier this month, young rioters chanted ‘Bring us sugar!’ The cost of the sweetener in the wholesale market is at its highest in 30 years. Earlier this week, Algeria bought 800,000 tonnes of wheat – much more than usual – and Saudi Arabia announced plans to double the size of its wheat stockpile. Bangladesh and Indonesia joined the rush on Thursday, placing extraordinary on rice orders.”</ref> such as [[sugar]],<ref>[http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-15/portugal-tries-to-prevent-sugar-hoarding-amid-shortage-ft-says.html 2010 Portugal Sugar Crisis]</ref> [[corn]], [[wheat]], [[soybean]]s and [[rice]], as investors realize the debt-based monetary system has squeezed supplies of [[arable land]];<ref>[http://webofdebt.wordpress.com/2011/02/03/the-egyptian-tinderbox-how-banks-and-investors-are-starving-the-third-world/#more-1052 Banks and investors are starving the Third World], Ellen Hodgson Brown</ref><ref>[http://www.preparednesspro.com/blog/food-shortage-series-part-1/ Food Shortage Series],Kellene Bishop</ref><ref>[http://www.smh.com.au/environment/world-hungers-for-more-food-20110402-1csbh.html World hungers for more food], Sydney Morning Herald,</ref> a sudden flight of money ''to'' [[Treasury bills]] and/or a sudden spike in the [[interest rate]] differential between short-term [[Treasury bills]] and asset-backed corporate paper (or a sudden spike in the [[LIBOR]] rate in [[London]])<ref name="Landis_Reprieve" /><ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/12/03/cnrates103.xml&CMP=ILC-mostviewedbox Pleas for rate cut as interbank loans dive]</ref> - and then, in the very late stages of a credit crisis, a sudden and disorderly flight of money ''away from'' government bonds and a "shock" or "panic" collapse in government bond prices, as banks perceive that some governments will ultimately find it ''impossible'' to pay interest on their debt from coercively acquired taxes.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgNLTb58K_Y S&P Rating on US Sovereign Debt not Low Enough], Peter Schiff</ref><ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8190059/Global-bond-rout-deepens-on-US-fiscal-worries.html Global bond rout], Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, UK Telegraph</ref><ref>[http://www.prudentbear.com/index.php/thebearslairview?art_id=10480 When Will The U.S. Become Greece?], Michael Hutchinson</ref>

Shortly thereafter, some [[monetary reform]]ers predict that there would be desperate, but ultimately futile [[central bank]] intervention involving massive, repeated bouts of "quantitative easing",<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/article/did-fed-its-stealthy-synthetic-bet-keep-yields-low-become-next-aig Doubling Down], ZeroHedge</ref> then a [[currency crisis]],<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/article/jim-grant-inflation-there-will-be-lot-it-suddenly-because-our-interest-rate-structure-beyond Jim Grant on Inflation], ZeroHedge</ref> then a panic run on a number of marginal, [[insolvent]] [[banks]] and [[hedge funds]] as desperate wealthy investors try to get [[cash]] out before the [[pyramid scheme]]<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPxYg6mgGpE Inflation is There], Peter Schiff</ref> collapses to invest in inherently limited, non-perishable, in-demand commodities such as [[oil]] and [[gold]]<ref>[http://www.professorfekete.com/articles/AEFAmericanBasesGermanyGoldBasis.pdf The Gold Basis], Antal E Fekete]</ref><ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/article/golden-tipping-point-university-texas-takes-delivery-1-billion-physical-gold A Golden Tipping Point], ZeroHedge</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPxYg6mgGpE Inflation is There], Peter Schiff</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article25313.html Asset Speculation and Capital Destruction], Jim Willie</ref> (and undeveloped agricultural and industrial [[land]] in areas of the world with strong [[economic growth]]),<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/business/04farms.html?_r=1&hp Price of Farmland] NYTimes</ref> followed by a [[recession]] or [[depression]] in the broader heavily indebted economy as [[money supply|credit]] contracts but base money continues to rise exponentially.<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article27172.html Why QE has NOT brought back inflation], EWI</ref><ref name="Landis_Reprieve" /><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article25313.html Asset Speculation and Capital Destruction], Jim Willie</ref><ref>[http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/staff_reports/sr291.pdf Hedge Funds, Financial Intermediation and Systemic Risk]</ref><ref>[http://jsmineset.com/2011/02/24/in-the-news-today-791/ Collapse]</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article27596.html US Accelerating Inflation Mega-Trend], Nadeem Walayat</ref>

Historically, during periods of monetary disorder, a predator-prey mentality generally grips society, with parasitic or predatory activity being witnessed, eating away at the last vestiges of the middle class.<ref>[http://www.goldonomic.com/When%20Money%20Dies.pdf When Money Dies], Adam Fergusson</ref> In such circumstances the following activities continue to be profitable and proliferate during monetary disorder: international banking and financial services to the wealthy elite, to assist in secreting their assets outside the jurisdiction; drug trafficking and distribution to ease the psychological stress on those slipping down the social ladder into poverty and homelessness; security and protection services to the wealthy; entertainment services to the wealthy, including gambling, prostitution (male, female and child) and "exclusive" nightclubs and bars servicing the wealthy; luxury imported goods and services; military and defense contracting and procurement (as a form of high-level security services for elite government employees), propaganda and media services defending and glorifying and legitimizing the State; and all forms of coercive government activity generally (as the tendency towards fascist-style controls feeds on itself in a positive feedback loop around a triangle of increasing government employee numbers scared away from the shrinking private sector, a banking industry supporting government jobs and big business and defense contracting supporting and feeding both).<ref>[http://www.goldonomic.com/When%20Money%20Dies.pdf When Money Dies], Adam Fergusson</ref><ref>[http://books.google.com.au/books?id=kvKAATycUzIC&pg=PA197&lpg=PA197&dq=prostitution+modernism+weimar+germany+hyperinflation&source=bl&ots=DaJiHnllDu&sig=Acfme5660DBUC6Xw5XLdoke5IE4&hl=en&ei=fOB1Tor1BsXRmAWSoYn0DA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CD4Q6AEwBDgK#v=onepage&q&f=false Culture and Inflation in Weimar Germany], Bernd Widdig</ref><ref>[http://www.businessinsider.com/finance-guy-in-london-explains-how-to-order-cocaine-from-a-restaurant-2011-9#ixzz1Y2MQUyzJ London Banker explains how to order cocaine from London restaurant]</ref><ref>[http://www.alternet.org/story/152446/inside_the_trillion-dollar_underground_economy_keeping_many_americans_%28barely%29_afloat_in_desperate_times?page=entire Inside the Underground Economy]</ref>

It should be noted that in 2011 banks started paying police directly, presumably to ensure protection from the public should widespread protests commence against their alleged [[embezzlement]] activities.<ref>[http://lewrockwell.com/wenzel/wenzel132.html Banksters Running Scared]</ref>

In 2010 Ireland and Greece experienced similar financial crises along the lines described above and many financial commentators and politicians expect more countries to go through the same debt crisis.<ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/12/video-fire-bombs-stones-fly-in-greek.html Greek protests]</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gm9q8uabTs "Who the Hell do you think you people are?"], Nigel Farage, UKIP leader</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article25313.html Asset Speculation and Capital Destruction], Jim Willie</ref> In 2011, Tunisia experienced a financial and political crisis that was almost identical to those already experienced on the poorer European periphery, except that in this case the pre-existing political establishment quickly fled the country in fear for their safety - with some allegations that the wife of the deposed leader, Leila Trabelsi, ordered the country's central bank to transfer 1.5 tonnes of [[gold]] to Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his family.<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article25636.html We are all Tunisians], Yvonne Ridley</ref><ref>[http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/tunisia-missing-15-tonnes-of-gold/story-e6frf7jx-1225992107457 Tunisia missing 1.5 tonnes of gold], Herald Sun</ref> The Egyptian uprising resulted in Hosni Mubarek fleeing after desperate attempts were made by him and his associates to preserve his family's wealth and power.<ref>[http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110212/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_egypt_mubarak_s_final_hours Mubarak's final hours], Associated Press</ref> Several newspapers have reported that, once again, appropriating the nation's gold reserves was a major priority for the fallen leader.<ref>[http://www.smh.com.au/world/mubaraks-lastminute-rush-to-hide-his-billions-20110213-1as1c.html Mubarak's Rush to Hide Billions], SMH</ref> Following the overthrow of the ruling elites in Tunisia and Egypt, other North African countries have experienced similar uprisings - all attributable to higher food prices, according to some noted commentators,<ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8492078/How-the-Fed-triggered-the-Arab-Spring-uprisings-in-two-easy-graphs.html How the Fed triggered the Arab Spring uprisings], Andrew Lilico</ref> who have accused Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke of literally having "blood on his hands" due to the encouragement of food price inflation via sustained inflationary loose-monetary policies.<ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/01/blood-on-bernankes-hands-riots-in-egypt.html Blood on Bernanke's Hands], MISH</ref><ref>[http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2011/4/6_Marc_Faber_-_Mr._Bernanke_is_a_Murderer_of_the_Middle_Class.html Marc Faber calls Mr Bernanke a Murderer of the Middle Class], King World News</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3NdUU1wWa4&feature=player_embedded#at=89 Max Keiser - Bernanke is a Murderer]</ref><ref>[http://dailyreckoning.com/lessons-from-egypt-for-the-american-people/ Lessons from Egypt], Charles Kadlec</ref><ref>[http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fed-dictator-bernanke-needs-to-be-toppled-2011-02-15 Fed dictator Bernanke needs to be toppled], Paul B. Farrell</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5050/QE2-Fuels-a-Global-Fury QE2 Fuels a Global Fury], Mark Thornton</ref><ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/article/bernanke-blame-rising-global-revolutionary-wave?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zerohedge%2Ffeed+%28zero+hedge+-+on+a+long+enough+timeline%2C+the+survival+rate+for+everyone+drops+to+zero%29 Is Bernanke To Blame?], Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge</ref> The central banker has denied that his inflationary loose-monetary policies have contributed to food inflation and Chicago Fed President Charles Evans has called for ''even more'' quantitative easing and inflation as a way out of the on-going crisis, despite previous attempts having failed to stimulate the economy.<ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/8302111/Fed-chief-Ben-Bernanke-denies-US-policy-behind-record-global-food-prices.html Ben Bernanke Denies US Policy Behind Food Price Inflation], UK Telegraph, 3 February 2011</ref><ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/evans-goes-full-qetard-tells-hilsenrath-fed-needs-do-much-more-easing Chuckie Evans Goes Full QEtard]</ref> Implicit in Mr Bernanke's and Mr Evan's argument is the assumption that the central bank can create "good" inflation in some markets and avoid "bad" inflation in others. This alleged central bank power to direct good inflation and abate bad inflation is derided by a number of commentators.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3NdUU1wWa4&feature=player_embedded#at=89 Max Keiser - Bernanke is a Murderer]</ref><ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/01/blood-on-bernankes-hands-riots-in-egypt.html Blood on Bernanke's Hands], MISH</ref><ref>[http://dailyreckoning.com/lessons-from-egypt-for-the-american-people/ Lessons from Egypt], Charles Kadlec</ref><ref>[http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fed-dictator-bernanke-needs-to-be-toppled-2011-02-15 Fed dictator Bernanke needs to be toppled], Paul B. Farrell</ref><ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/article/bernanke-blame-rising-global-revolutionary-wave?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zerohedge%2Ffeed+%28zero+hedge+-+on+a+long+enough+timeline%2C+the+survival+rate+for+everyone+drops+to+zero%29 Is Bernanke To Blame?], Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article28587.html QE2 Unmitigated Failure], James Quinn</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article28998.html The Great Misdiagnosis], Jim Willie CB</ref>

Noted British ''Telegraph'' commentator Ambrose Evans-Pritchard has called these the first Malthusian "Food Revolutions" of the modern era, as "agflation" causes political instability on the periphery of major economies worldwide - particularly those countries that have already denuded their agricultural base and have to import grain and other foods to survive.<ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/8291470/Egypt-and-Tunisia-usher-in-the-new-era-of-global-food-revolutions.html A New Era of Food Revolutions], Ambrose Evans-Pritchard</ref><ref>[http://jsmineset.com/2011/02/24/in-the-news-today-791/ Collapse]</ref>

It is also reported that very complex, delicate negotiations are taking place between debtor and creditor nations to swap government bonds with gold at prices far in excess of the declared "market price" of gold.<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article25878.html China Buys European Gold], Jim Willie</ref> These so-called "off-market" deals - and possible diversions of government-owned gold to corrupt bankers and political leaders - are signs the Keynesian Endpoint has arrived and the politicians and bankers recognize they have lost control of the economic system and must focus on saving themselves.<ref>[http://lewrockwell.com/wenzel/wenzel113.html Fort Knox Gold], Robert Wenzel</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article25878.html China Buys European Gold], Jim Willie</ref> Max Keiser reports that it appears powerful nations will negotiate repatriation of their gold and smaller nations will either have to accept their gold is lost or face war if they attempt to repatriate their own gold home.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lnslMWhOTw&list=SPC3F29DDAA1BABFCF&index=194 Welcome Home German Gold], Max Keiser</ref> Germany and other countries have started to slowly repatriate their gold in anticipation that gold may not be available at any price in future.<ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/spl5/fed-short-germanys-gold.html What if the Fed is Short Germany's Gold?]</ref><ref>[http://lewrockwell.com/thomas-jeff/thomas-jeff16.1.html The Disappearing Gold]</ref>

Finally, it should be noted that, with the collapse of Tsarist Russia, the establishment of the fifth and final central bank of the United States, the destruction of the fiat-issuing fascist regimes in Italy, Germany and Japan post-WWII, and the collapse of communism in the 1990s, there no longer exists any major economy where the banking system is fully government-owned or has any strictly enforceable social responsibilities beyond pure profit motive. All major world economies have now adopted essentially the same monetary system, with profit-driven private banks (government-licensed institutions legally permitted to engage in unlimited credit creation) able to pocket profits during upswings and socialize losses during downswings by use of central bank asset swaps. If critics are correct that all such systems are doomed to severe boom-bust cycles because of excessive expansion of speculative credit and endemic [[moral hazard]], it is to be expected that all major economies will also experience essentially the same kind of environmental and food crises, and even allegedly "strong" economies such as China will experience severe economic downturns at some stage.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5070/Bust-Looms-As-China-Booms Bust Looms], Markus Bergstrom</ref><ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/03/bloodstained-property-map-and-trampled.html Bloodstained Property Map], MISH</ref> However, equally, if critics are correct that fractional reserve banking, excessive credit expansion and artificially low interest rates are at the root of all financial crises, then higher reserve ratios and capital requirements for domestic banks (or the existence of heavily controlled nationalized banks) should reduce the severity of economic crises in those economies with higher reserve requirements for their own banks.<ref>[http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-18/china-increases-banks-reserve-ratio-for-second-time-to-curb-property-boom.html China increases bank reserves to curb inflation], Bloomberg</ref><ref>[http://video.ft.com/ Lex's John Authers and Richard Stovin-Bradford discuss how to regulate banks better and how to handle those that are just too big to fail]</ref>

===Potential solutions===
Many consider it too late to reform the financial system.<ref>[http://matterhornassetmanagement.com/2013/03/18/get-your-assets-out-of-the-banks-now/ Get Your Assets Out of the Banks - NOW], Egon von Greyerz</ref><ref>[http://news.goldseek.com/LewRockwell/1306767600.php Is Greece the Future of America?], Mike Rozeff</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article27739.html Financial Slaughterhouse], Ashvin_Pandurangi</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article27764.html The Big QE2 Shakedown], Mike Whitney</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GmBoJ7qHYg&feature=player_embedded Simon Johnson INET]</ref><ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/sep/14/banking-reforms-too-little-too-late Too Little Too Late], UK Guardian, 14 Sept 2010</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article27583.html Fed Reckoning Day Realities for Investor Pains and Gains], Deepcaster LLC</ref><ref>[http://maxkeiser.com/2013/02/02/kr401-keiser-report-fake-it-til-you-make-it-economy/ Fake It Till You Make It]</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article39037.html Fiat Currency Witches Brew], Ty Andros</ref> There is now so much debt in the system that any reduction in money supply growth would result in mass bankruptcies and business assets being transferred to the banking system. This is obvious when one observes that with no debt there is no money. With a slowing economy and reduction in money supply all assets subject to debt would inevitably transfer to the banking system as a mathematical necessity.<ref>[http://www.moneyasdebt.net/ Money as Debt]</ref> Therefore virtually all assets will ultimately end up under the control or ownership the banking system if the present system is allowed to continue, as slowing money supply growth is inevitable with slowing population and economic growth. This is not true in a true free market monetary system<ref>[http://lewrockwell.com/woods/woods225.html Greenbackers Are Nuts]</ref> but is true of our current government manipulated debt-based system.<ref>[http://www.moneyasdebt.net/ Money as Debt]</ref>

When debt levels are unsustainable there are only a limited number of possible scenarios. The debt is monetized, the debt is forgiven by the creditor, the debt is repudiated by the debtor and defaulted upon, the debt is postponed by temporary suspension of repayments, or the debtor finds unexpected or new ways to pay back the debt, which may include theft or confiscation from others.

The "Icelandic Solution" involved repudiation. Private banks were allowed to fail and social security measures for the poor and indebted were increased. However this option is virtually impossible given the power of the financial services sector over government.<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-26/only-3-minutes-worth-listening-davos Interview with Iceland's President Olafur Ragnar Grimson]</ref> The UK went so far as to trigger anti-terrorism legislation against Icelandic banks in a bid to pressure Iceland to pay out claims against its private banks.<ref>[http://reason.com/archives/2012/09/07/iceland-provides-a-blueprint-for-survivi Iceland Shows Other Europeans How to Survive Bankruptcy], ''Reason''</ref>

The simplest and cleanest solution for any debt-fuelled crisis is simply to [[default]] and not attempt to pay back the loans - particularly if the debt has been created unethically or fraudulently.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/6369/The-Ethics-of-Repudiation The Ethics of Repudiation]</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5476/ There Is Life After Default], Peter Klein</ref><ref>[http://www.oftwominds.com/blogsept11/Zeus-debt-forgiveness-9-11.html Endgame], Zeus Yiamouyiannis, Ph.D.</ref><ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/02/massive-rout-in-irish-elections.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MishsGlobalEconomicTrendAnalysis+%28Mish%27s+Global+Economic+Trend+Analysis%29 Default Best Option for Ireland], MISH</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5449/Defaulting-on-the-Feds-Bonds Defaulting on the Fed's Bonds], Robert Murphy</ref> If, as Paul Krugman and other Keynesians have argued<ref>[http://lewrockwell.com/anderson/anderson330.html Do We Really 'Owe It to Ourselves]</ref> "we owe it to ourselves", then there should be no problem repudiating that debt as it would merely involve an accounting adjustment.<ref>[http://bastiat.mises.org/2013/02/we-only-repudiate-it-to-ourselves/ We Only Repudiate It to Ourselves]</ref> This was the solution chosen by Iceland, even in circumstances which involved powerful international creditors. Despite enormous pressure from the UK government to try to force the Icelandic government to bail out its banks, it chose not to do so and allowed the private banks to default.<ref>[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1080233/Icelanders-hit-Brown-freezing-banks-assets-We-terrorists-campaign.html Icelanders hit back at Brown]</ref> The Greek government also partially defaulted on its debts in 2012.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17341381 Greek Default]</ref> David Graeber, author of ''Debt: The First 5000 Years'' has stated a global debt Jubilee is inevitable.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxZtfi2pYNo&list=SPPszygYHA9K2ZtV_1KphSugBB7iZqbFyz&index=6 Max Keiser Interview with David Graeber]</ref> However, particularly where government debt default is involved, bankers generally do everything to avoid this "inevitable" outcome because it (a) reduces the value of their asset (debt-based government bonds) (b) reduces or even destroys their income stream (interest on bonds) and therefore may affect their retained earnings in future (and their credit rating and compliance with Basel III rules on Tier 1 capital) (c) can result in a systemic crisis as many banks will be using that government debt to satisfy their liquidity requirements and reduce counterparty risk - even more so under Basel III (which requires a minimum proportion of "liquid" assets to be held by the banks - and those "assets" mainly consist of government bonds) and (d) signals to other countries that it is possible to escape debt without consequence and so potentially reduces the value of government debt in surrounding countries.<ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/05/trichet-goes-ballistic-walks-out-of.html Trichet Goes Ballistic], MISH</ref> Self-interested bankers are therefore often desperate to avoid government debt default, and generally much prefer an economy to be strangled by debt rather than be freed of it.<ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/05/trichet-goes-ballistic-walks-out-of.html Trichet Goes Ballistic], MISH</ref>

Confiscation or theft is often the desperate debtor's only option, if the creditors are so powerful the debtor cannot default. The sudden confiscation of part of "insured" bank depositors' savings in Cyprus is an extreme example of the last option and is the international bankers' and creditor governments' preferred "solution" as it means their debts get repaid, however unjustly.<ref>[http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/17/us-eurozone-cyprus-risk-idUSBRE92G0BG20130317 Cyprus bank levy]</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article39536.html Cyprus Haircut]</ref><ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-03-22/ecb-set-fair-cypriot-standard-living-capital-controls Capital Controls in Cyprus]</ref>

As an example of the consequences of the two alternatives, Iceland did not try to save its private bankers but instead permitted them to default on private bond payments.<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-26/only-3-minutes-worth-listening-davos Interview with Iceland's President Olafur Ragnar Grimson]</ref> Ireland on the other hand guaranteed private bank debt and in doing so subjected the taxpayers of that country to decades of payments for debts that were not incurred on their behalf or for their benefit. Many commentators have observed that in 2010 [[Iceland]] recovered much faster than other countries such as [[Ireland]].<ref>[http://www.smh.com.au/business/iceland-bounces-back-as-pain-leads-to-gain-20101208-18pvm.html Iceland Bounces Back]</ref><ref>[http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2011/03/michael-lewis-ireland-201103?printable=true When Irish Eyes Are Crying], Michael Lewis</ref> In his extensive analysis of the aftermath of the banking panic in Ireland, Michael Lewis wrote of his puzzlement that the timid Irish government thought it was beyond the bounds of acceptable political discourse to consider default on privately issued Irish bank bonds, when Iceland successfully defaulted and only after this did they nationalize their banking system.<ref>[http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2011/03/michael-lewis-ireland-201103?printable=true When Irish Eyes Are Crying], Michael Lewis</ref>

In the absence of outright default, some governments simply delay addressing the issues of debt and default, with the central bank buying government bonds and manipulating the stockmarket and other asset and commodity markets to keep solvency in the banking system and government alive.<ref>[http://lewrockwell.com/barnett/barnett39.1.html Are the Federal Reserve and Its Primary Dealer Banks Manipulating the Stockmarket?]</ref><ref>[http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_12/lundeen061712.html Market Manipulation]</ref> Time may allow re-inflation of the markets through the gradual injection of new [[debt money]] into the system through new borrowings. It is a rare "[[black swan]]" event for a cluster of private businesses or banks to default at the same time and governments often hope that this will not happen again once it has happened already. However, if the crisis is one of national solvency, waiting passively for recovery may only delay - and exacerbate - the final catastrophe as the debt-based monetary system pushes all businesses slowly towards the next crisis by confusing and misleading market participants with false price signals, particularly as they relate to interest rates. Once the next crisis hits because of even more confused price signals due to government interference in the market for money, time is something panicked financiers and investors are least likely to want to give up when the threat is never getting their [[money]] out of the imploding investment [[bubble]]. In extreme cases [[bank]]s could set up "independent" corporate investment vehicles to buy the assets associated with the [[bad debt]],<ref>[http://www.dealbreaker.com/2007/10/citigroup_looks_to_lend_money.php Citigroup looks to lend money]</ref> thereby allowing [[borrower]]s to liquidate their investments and allow time for the markets to re-inflate. Alternatively, these "sour" loans, that have gone bad through too much debt overwhelming the markets, could be dumped or "hidden" on the central bank's balance sheet, and swapped for more secure government debt (financed through compulsorily acquired taxes, which are immune from the risk of private bankruptcy). However the holding costs involved in these measures would be extremely high and would not guarantee that the losses could be averted if no new gullible investors could be found to offload these distressed assets.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8w6Nx2rfiE A Wikileaks for the Fed?]</ref> More fundamentally, these short-term "parachutes" used after bubbles burst do not save ordinary borrowers from [[foreclosure]] and [[bankruptcy]], nor do they address the pernicious long-term dysfunctional aspects of [[fractional reserve banking]] described above. These problems are temporarily averted, only to be dealt with yet again by the next generation of indebted governments and peoples.<ref>[http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18431.htm The Era of Global Financial Instability, by Mike Whitney]</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8w6Nx2rfiE A Wikileaks for the Fed?]</ref> Simply deferring the crisis and repeatedly bailing out the banks may simply entrench misallocation of resources within the financial and governmental sectors, starving private businesses of the savings needed to invest and produce.<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-26/only-3-minutes-worth-listening-davos Interview with Iceland's President Olafur Ragnar Grimson]</ref>

The preferred long-term free market solution (outright default and a return to free market money and the abolition of legal tender and central banks) is extremely unlikely.<ref>[http://seekingalpha.com/article/273466-4-reasons-the-u-s-will-never-return-to-a-gold-or-silver-standard 4 Reasons the US Will Never Return to a Gold or Silver Standard]</ref> In addition, given that bankers and central banks "stole" most of the people's gold, with mass confiscations dating back to the 1930s in the US<ref>[http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_08/nielson031411.html The Great Gold Bait-And-Switch] Jeff Nielson</ref> and earlier in Europe,<ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north107.html Buyers of Gold], Gary North</ref> an immediate and uncompensated<ref>[http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/10-things-that-would-be-different-if-the-federal-reserve-had-never-been-created 10 Things That Would Be Different]. Note: "uncompensated" in this context means "without allowing widespread debt default with minimal punishment" or "without the issuance of debt-free money to the general populace prior to a return to the gold standard"</ref> return to the gold standard now would simply further enrich bankers and impoverish workers through crushing deflation, as the value of the assets the middle class had previously saved in (housing and mutual funds) collapsed and gold (the "elite banker's money") suddenly soared in value,<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-26/central-banks-cannot-create-wealth-only-liquidity Central Banks Cannot Create Wealth]</ref> allowing bankers yet another generation of largesse from past theft. It should be noted that one of the principal financial assets of both the IMF and the US central bank is confiscated gold (the other being government bonds).<ref>[http://www.xat.org/xat/worldbank.html The History of Money]</ref> Less than 1% of all pension fund assets held by the general public are currently allocated to physical precious metals and many mutual funds have mandates effectively prohibiting them from holding physical precious metals.<ref>[http://sgtreport.com/2011/07/gold-silver-and-pension-funds-portfolio-diversification-myths/ Gold, Silver and Pension Funds]</ref> If the gold price were to soar, the very institutions most responsible for financial disorder would be those most likely to benefit from the chaos, having already positioned themselves to benefit from any price explosion in gold.

Given that both the Icelandic and radical free market solutions are effectively impossible to implement to any significant extent, some analysts of the current debt-based monetary system consider that, after decades of excess debt and fiat money, the current capital structure is so distorted and malinvested, the food supply so industrialized and vulnerable to shocks, and the environment generally so polluted from government-protected mining and mass industrialization that there is no hope for the vast majority of the middle class and indeed the mass of humanity in the coming decades as a combination of periodic confiscation and selective debt monetization destroys any stability in the world economy.<ref name="death"/>

Getting back to a market-based banking system would require, at minimum: (1) abolition of all deposit insurance; (2) eliminating the doctrine of "Too Big to Fail" by prohibiting the central bank from buying any assets from insolvent banks; and (3) allowing the market to set interest rates by removing this price fixing power from the central bank and allowing the real inter-bank market to set interest rates.<ref>[http://bastiat.mises.org/2012/06/misesians-in-mordor-the-video/ Misesians in Mordor]</ref> However, such changes to the global monetary system would likely trigger immediate bank runs on the weakest banking institutions and (most likely) a systemic crisis, resulting in a sudden deep depression in the short term and a period of minimal or no capital investment in the medium term as access to lending dried up from suddenly illiquid financial institutions. Although in the minds of many Austrians, the resulting system would be greatly preferable to the current dysfunctional and unsustainable system, the transition period would likely be so traumatic that no democratic government (or no government at all) would likely countenance such deregulation, nor would they likely be allowed to by the banks themselves.

Government and banking have become so intertwined there is virtually no difference between them, as banks bail out governments who in turn bail out banks in Ponzi scheme fashion.<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/mar/22/greece-european-banks-eurozone European banks saving Greece or themselves?]</ref>

Coercive, rule-bound government, by its very nature, can only perpetuate itself if it constantly maintains a monopoly of force and is widely respected as the final arbiter of disputes between any two parties within its jurisdiction.<ref>[http://www.dailypaul.com/140907/hans-hoppe-on-why-he-thinks-limited-government-is-impossible Hans Hermann Hoppe on why limited government is impossible]</ref> Governments do not obtain their revenue through donations or voluntary payments but rather either tax the populace or print fiat money to spend on projects the government deems worthwhile. There is therefore an inherently dangerous power in government spending. Good government exists to provide public goods, regulate externalities and protect and enforce property rights.<ref>[http://blog.mises.org/6546/james-wilson-on-the-purpose-of-government-and-the-constitution/ James Wilson on the purpose of government], James Galles</ref> However, if government force is used not for public purposes but to protect and enhance the power of a tiny political and financial elite, parasitic thieving forces can take over monopoly government and destruction of the economy can occur without the ability of the people to revolt or defend themselves against the depredations of government force.<ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig11/wile13.1.html One World Government], Hans Hermann Hoppe</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNcDu0z9UfQ Matt Tiabbi Interview on UBS Scandal]</ref> Destructive policies can therefore continue for longer than the survival of the economy itself, especially if people have been lulled into complacency by a long history of relatively benign government whilst parasitic forces slowly take over power from behind the scenes.<ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig11/wile13.1.html One World Government], Hans Hermann Hoppe</ref> Some consider that modern democracy has been subverted and that the two-party choices being presented today are a charade, with little real difference between duopoly political parties, which are just shams to cover the slow but inexorable takeover of the levers of power by the financial "elite", who do not respect nor care about the will of the people, who they consider too stupid or powerless to be treated seriously.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNcDu0z9UfQ Matt Tiabbi Interview on UBS Scandal]</ref><ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/06/vote-for-whoever-you-want-bailout.html Vote for Whoever You Want], MISH</ref><ref>[http://lewrockwell.com/wile/wile36.1.html Stop Clinging to False Hope], Anthony Wile</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article28949.html United States of Denial], James West</ref> Since the mid-1990s and even earlier it has been argued by many commentators that the gold default of August 15, 1971 would inevitably lead to economic disaster due to the distorting and parasitic effects unlimited fiat money and credit creation would have on the productive private economy.<ref>[http://dailyreckoning.com/armageddon-can-wait/ Armageddon Can Wait], Bill Bonner</ref><ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/01/business/deal-may-avert-default-but-some-ask-is-that-good.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hpw Deal May Avert Default, but Some Ask 'Is That Good?']</ref><ref name="Landis_Reprieve" /> The relentless exponential growth in retirement and welfare benefits will now be enough to bankrupt many Western governments (including the United States).<ref name="Landis_Reprieve" /><ref>[http://www.amazon.com/Boomergeddon-Deficits-Government-Devastate-Retirement/dp/1892538539/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305008253&sr=8-1 Boomergeddon], James A. Bacon Jr</ref> No one in power today appears willing to tackle either the corrupt banking industry or government largesse.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNcDu0z9UfQ Matt Tiabbi Interview on UBS Scandal]</ref><ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/06/vote-for-whoever-you-want-bailout.html Vote for Whoever You Want], MISH</ref><ref>[http://www.prudentbear.com/index.php/thebearslairview?art_id=10538 Sayonara, Washington], Martin Hutchinson</ref> Too many in power have a vested interest in the continuation of the system of spiraling inflation and debt to stop it, even if it could be stopped.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNcDu0z9UfQ Matt Tiabbi Interview on UBS Scandal]</ref><ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/article/guest-post-global-economy-burns-while-its-leaders-fiddle Global Economy Burns, While Its Leaders Fiddle], Nomi Prins, ZeroHedge</ref> Whilst the general economy suffers, old infrastructure collapses, man-made environmental crises abound, retailers go bankrupt, millions are foreclosed upon and are left homeless (whilst at the same time hundreds of thousands of houses lie empty and decaying) and real average incomes are decimated, perversely, banking bonuses and lobbyists' incomes have skyrocketed and the powers of the Fed and other central banks have increased because of increased regulatory duties despite their previous failures.<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/jan/10/banks-unlimited-bonuses-ministers Banks given go-ahead to pay unlimited bonuses], Guardian UK</ref><ref>[http://www.creditcrunch.co.uk/forum/topic/9253-banking-cheats-will-always-prosper/ Bank Cheats Will Always Prosper], CreditCrunch.co.uk</ref><ref>[http://dailyreckoning.com/the-expanding-industry-of-us-government/ The Expanding Industry of US Government], Bill Bonner</ref> Despite this obvious incompetence and despite repeated failures of policy at the highest levels, anyone advocating solutions beyond those approved within failed mainstream two-party thought is commonly labelled "insane", "crazy" or an "extremist".<ref>[http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/05/28/crazy Who are the real "crazies"?], Glenn Greenwald, Salon.com</ref><ref>[http://lewrockwell.com/orig11/mullen-t4.1.1.html Extremism is the New Race Card], Tom Mullens</ref><ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8669352/Global-slump-warnings-if-US-triggers-insane-default.html Global slump warning if US triggers 'insane' default], Ambrose Evans-Pritchard</ref> Noted gold investor, Jim Sinclair, has publicly stated that the chaos has one cause - bankers have bought governments around the world and today's bankers are little more than irredeemably shallow "sociopaths", unable to grow a conscience and unable to foresee or care about the broader societal consequences of their actions beyond their own incestuous social groupings.<ref>[http://jsmineset.com/2009/08/31/china-invokes-a-stop-loss-on-otc-derivatives/ OTC Derivatives], Jim Sinclair</ref><ref>[http://maxkeiser.com/2011/07/17/alex-jones-on-satanic-rituals-of-bohemian-grove/ Alex Jones on Bohemian Grove], RTTV</ref> Leading British specialists in the pathology of the psychopath, Professors Robert Hare and Paul Babiak suspect the banking industry does indeed attract psychopaths and probably has a much higher proportion of mentally unstable psychopaths as executives compared to other industry sectors, although their comprehensive test (determining the degree of psychopathology in the workplace) has yet to be applied to the banking sector or to senior government officials or politicians.<ref>[http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/41fe2882-9cbe-11e0-bf57-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1QH9AQOwG Alfred Hitchcock' 'The Bankers'], James Makintosh, FT.com</ref> Michael Price, co-director of the Centre for Culture and Evolutionary Psychology at Brunel University in London agrees that the characteristics that make for good traders and investment bankers are very similar to those that define psychopaths. Therefore, given their likely sociopathic mind-set and culture, provided they themselves are acquiring a greater share of gross national income, many bankers simply do not care about the consequences and will continue to label others as "crazy" or "insane" or "terrorists" for so long as it gives them cover to engage in their own [[embezzlement|criminal]] conduct and for so long as it permits the in-bred corruption to continue at the highest levels.<ref>[http://www.mises.org/daily/6314/Why-Bankers-Avoid-the-Public-Eye Banking and the State]</ref><ref>[http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner/100099341/joe-biden-compares-the-tea-party-to-terrorists-is-this-the-most-crass-and-nasty-white-house-in-modern-us-history/ Joe Biden compares the Tea Party to terrorists], Nile Gardiner, UK Telegraph</ref> If the charade collapses and the elite are threatened, they will simply kill anyone who threatens them, as they have proven to do repeatedly in the past.<ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/lewrockwell-show/2011/02/15/187-confessions-of-an-economic-hit-man/ Confessions of an Economic Hit-Man], John Perkins</ref>

It should be noted that average bankers still earn around US$370,000<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jan/14/jp-morgan-bankers-share-10bn Anger as JP Morgan bankers get $10bn pay and bonus pot]</ref> (or around £236,000 in the UK)<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/feb/15/barclays-capital-average-pay-236000-pounds Barclays investment bankers see average pay rise to £236,000]</ref> and this has steadily increased even in the aftermath of the financial crisis. Those who head up the "Too Big To Fail" banks earn around US$18 million per year, with some executives doubling their own pay in 2010.<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/apr/02/lloyd-blankfein-executive-pay-bonuses Goldman Sachs CEO's pay nearly doubles despite slump in profits]</ref> Lawyers who service and support the international banking and business community are reported to be earning up to US$2 million a year even in small peripheral countries such as Australia.<ref>[http://www.afr.com/p/national/legal_affairs/talent_war_pushes_star_lawyers_pay_ZDlK7zEXWaISbNy1QCtIUO Anger as JP Morgan bankers get $10bn pay and bonus pot]</ref>

Given many of these people are not actually producing services people would voluntarily pay for in a genuine free market economy, many of these service providers associated with the issuance and distribution of monopoly currency would be made redundant or be rendered unemployable almost immediately upon a return to a true free market gold standard. It is to be expected that these people would be violently opposed to any change in the ''status quo'' given the dramatic change in lifestyle that this would necessitate. In particular, it is to be expected that these people would specifically oppose the abolition of legal tender laws and fight against any formal declaration by any government that fractional reserve banking is a form of [[embezzlement]] or counterfeiting, or that the current financial system is a [[Ponzi scheme]] (which are generally illegal in most Western countries if they are not government-supported).

Jim Sinclair suggests that many senior participants in the international banking and derivatives industry should be jailed<ref>[http://jsmineset.com/2010/10/31/jims-mailbox-573/ Debt Burden Being Transferred], Jim Sinclair</ref> to protect the public from repeatedly being "raped"<ref>[http://jsmineset.com/2010/11/21/in-the-news-today-713/ EU Ministers Said To Plan Meeting Over Ireland], Jim Sinclair</ref> by their scams and has the following conclusion on his website:<ref>[http://jsmineset.com/2010/11/09/in-the-news-today-701/ There is no practical solution], Jim Sinclair</ref>

{{quote|For years I have been telling you that there is NO PRACTICAL SOLUTION to the total of all the mistakes that have been made since Roosevelt, in a depression, started it all.}}

Jim Sinclair considers it too late to save the system<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF24atvNkSo&feature=player_embedded Jim Sinclair Interviewed by James Turk] Quote: "Who needs enemies when we have the financial leadership we have?"</ref> and recommends people become self-sufficient and buy gold to await the inevitable collapse of the political and economic system and the associated breakdown in the division of labor.<ref>[http://jsmineset.com/2011/04/07/the-system-has-failed/ The System Has Failed], Jim Sinclair</ref>

Max Keiser has stated that the culture of actual ''physical'' sexual coercion and harrassment allegedly exhibited in the financial services industry is simply symptomatic and an outgrowth of a culture of ''financial'' rape and exploitation.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skwj6e9xvH8&feature=player_embedded#at=102 Savers vs Speculators] Quote: Max Keiser: "Munich Re, a financial terrorist responsible for creating ghettos. Financially disadvantaged folks who are on the short end of the 'ghettoization' of the financial terrorist schemes...are forced to wear ''yellow armbands'' and be ''sex slaves'' for their German hosts." Stacy Herbert: "Yes. And be stamped on their arms afterward to prove that they were used." Max Keiser: "Yes. Let's not forget the little serial code-stamp on the wrist as part of the package." Stacy Herbert: "But Max, the story here is that this goes from the very bottom. These are just agents going door-to-door selling insurance products in the financial services industry. The top of the pyramid of the banking Establishment is Dominique Strauss-Kahn." Max Keiser: "This is a culture. Dominique Stauss-Kahn is part of the banking ''culture''. There's Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Lloyd Blankfein, Jamie Dimon, this guy Pandit over at Citigroup, the CEO just paid himself $42 million for stealing $420 million - they have a culture of predator behavior where once you - like a serial killer - once you steal money from people with mortgage fraud or with banking fees that are illegitimate or with collateralized debt obligations you get a taste for serial financial killing. You graduate to these higher crimes and you become a Dominique Strauss-Kahn or a Lloyd Blankfein or a Jamie Dimon where serial financial murder is part of your day-to-day life. That's the culture you live in."</ref> In order to be part of the system, you must be blind to its consequences. Therefore, no one with a conscience can become powerful enough within the system to fundamentally change trajectory from its current catastrophic path.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqyCjR9JEMA&feature=player_embedded Nothing Stops Banks], Matt Taibbi</ref>

Ironically, many victims of rape and abuse come to blame themselves and never fight back, preferring to adapt to a life of abuse or enslavement. This is called "learned helplessness" in psychological terms. Doug French finds a direct analogy between the dynamics of ''physical'' rape and ''financial'' abuse, with many indebted individuals ''blaming themselves'' for their predicament and refusing to default on their debts, even though it would be in their clear financial interest to do so.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5409/BatteredHomeowner-Syndrome Battered Homeowner Syndrome], Doug French. Quote: 'Lenore Walker is the pioneer in the field of battered-spouse syndrome, with her book The Battered Woman. She believes that experiencing the repeated cycles of violence can result in a spouse developing "learned helplessness," a psychological state identified by psychologist Martin Seligman. The abused believe they lack control over their situation and are convinced escape is impossible. Their motivation to escape diminishes as they become increasingly passive.

Walker explains that the constant cycles of violence and reconciliation result in the following beliefs:

The abused

believes that the violence was his or her fault,
has an inability to place the responsibility for violence elsewhere,
fears for his/her life and/or the lives of his/her children, and
has an irrational belief that the abuser is omnipresent and omniscient.

These beliefs are strikingly similar to what underwater homeowners feel.

The abused believes that the violence was his or her fault. "It was my own fault for buying a house at the top of the market in the first place and borrowing too much money to do it." "I made my bed, now I must sleep in it, no matter how much financial pain it causes me."

The abused has an inability to place the responsibility for violence elsewhere. "It's nobody's fault but my own," say people with 20/20 hindsight. "Nobody made me sign the mortgage. I'm so stupid. The bank doesn't have to negotiate with me."

The abused fears for his/her life and/or the lives of his/her children. "My credit will be ruined. I won't be able to rent an apartment. My low credit score may keep me from getting a job. I don't want to uproot the kids and have to admit that daddy and mommy made a financial mistake."

The abused has an irrational belief that the abuser is omnipresent and omniscient. The abuser in this case is the lender or owner of the mortgage. The borrower fears that these lenders can take everything they have, leave them with nothing, and make their lives miserable forever.

At the same time, default moralizers reinforce these feelings. They have no sympathy for those making a poor housing and mortgage choice. A person must suffer the consequences of their actions, it's claimed.'</ref>

John Perkins, author of ''Economic Hitman'', has openly stated that the U.S. government is merely a front runner for major corporate interests and has brutally assassinated leaders of countries where reform has been attempted.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmU9R-BaFIQ Max Keiser Interview with John Perkins]</ref> The zealotry and extremism against genuine and honest monetary reformers on the one hand and the payoffs and largesse given to unprincipled and corrupt supporters of the current monetary regime on the other ensure there is no path of reform left for those potential leaders with a conscience.<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/article/more-political-capture-goldman-hires-top-republican-fed-transparency-foe-spends-more-time-se More Political Capture], ZeroHedge</ref>

Dimitry Orlov, author of ''Reinventing Collapse'', has written extensively about the striking similarities between the collapse of the USSR and the multiple environmental, economic and social crises facing the USA. He also predicts economic, political and social collapse in much of the West and in particular predicts that peak oil will result in some countries being cut off completely from oil supplies resulting in sudden social upheaval and starvation and believes that it is too late for any kind of meaningful reform:<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLdwzcA9ZdM&feature=player_embedded#at=997 Dimitry Orlov Interview with Max Keiser - ''Reinventing Collapse'']</ref>

{{quote|(US military adverturism overseas) is just a very striking example of being unable to stop, even though what you're doing isn't actually working...

By demolishing as much of the social infrastructure as exists in the country... you will end up with an even less literate population that will be unable to oppose the government, unable to stand up for themselves and demand that their rights and needs be met...

People who think they can somehow skirt the financial system are wrong. They will be dominated by the Bernankes of this world and others. There isn't really a way out except to make do without money. And that's kind of what I try to explain to people is: Reduce your needs for any kind of interaction with the official economy and you will do better.}}

Given these repeated financial crises arising from the fiat monetary system, many [[monetary reform]]ers predict that there will inevitably be widespread default or hyperinflation or depression - or most likely all three simultaneously in what Ludwig von Mises predicted would be a "final and total catastrophe" of our unsustainable, Ponzi-like, fiat monetary system.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5041/Whats-Behind-the-Currency-War What's Behind the Currency War], Anthony Mueller</ref> After this "catastrophe"<ref name="Landis_Reprieve">[http://www.goldensextant.com/SavingtheSystem.html Fiat's Reprieve: Saving the System, 1979-1987], Robert K. Landis, August 21, 2004.</ref> in which a significant proportion of the population may die through starvation or war<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/article/20-signs-horrific-global-food-crisis-coming?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zerohedge%2Ffeed+%28zero+hedge+-+on+a+long+enough+timeline%2C+the+survival+rate+for+everyone+drops+to+zero%29 20 Signs], ZeroHedge</ref><ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/adams-m/adams-m15.1.html US Agriculture Collapse]</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article26605.html Population Reduction], Chris Kitze</ref><ref>[http://www.rickackerman.com/2011/03/getting-the-jump-on-a-possible-food-shortage/ Getting the Jump on Food Shortages], Marilyn Ackerman</ref><ref>[http://www.goldismoney2.com/archive/index.php/t-524.html?s=d418ff253326772a09e1a8d992da7753 Venetian Bankers and the Dark Ages]</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/6142/The-Apocalyptic-Vision-of-The-Road The Road], Ben O'Neill</ref> a spontaneous market-induced return to the [[gold standard]] is anticipated to be the most likely result.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMngK0t5WkY Mike Maloney interview with Max Keiser], The Keiser Report</ref><ref name="Landis_Reprieve" /><ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/02/us-dollar-about-to-lose-reserve.html US Dollar About to Lose Reserve Currency Status: Fact or Fiction?], MISH</ref> Other possible solutions following the catastrophe include a return to legally enforced full reserve banking combined with the issuance government-issued debt-free [[fiat currency]], or [[free banking]] and the issuance of private coinage and private money. If these solutions are not initiated soon, it can be expected that a complete financial "meltdown" will ensue at some stage, as environmental crises and destruction of arable land slow GDP growth in developing nations and fewer young people in developed economies can be found who are willing to go into debt in sufficient magnitude to pay off the debts that have already been accumulated.<ref name="Bonner_Swan" /><ref name="Landis_Reprieve" /> As extreme inequality increases, [[foreclosure]]s mount and financial crises repeatedly erupt, many believe a political crisis will eventually result in calls for revolution and fundamental [[monetary reform]].<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV_gwvSibmM&feature=player_embedded#at=510 Max Keiser on Alex Jones]</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMngK0t5WkY Mike Maloney interview with Max Keiser], The Keiser Report</ref><ref name="Landis_Reprieve" /> However, as noted above, some commentators consider that it is already too late to avoid a combined financial, environmental and demographic catastrophe even if reform is now attempted.<ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/03/oil-prices-are-double-edged-sword-peak.html Peak Everything?], MISH</ref><ref>[http://www.population-security.org/28-APP2.html NSSM 200 Directive], Henry A. Kissinger, April 24, 1974</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KInB2rvgaY&feature=fvsr Eco Eco Disaster], Keiser Report</ref>

Even if worldwide economic catastrophe cannot be averted at this stage of the metastasizing financial crisis, choices will still need to be made by each government in response to the crisis. On-going, worsening, [[debt]]-created crises in the economy and society (and the unsustainable damage to the [[environment]] caused by debt-created [[overconsumption]]) are likely to turn monetary and economic policies either to the extreme left or to the extreme right, as there are a number of competing solutions to the debt-based monetary "problem".<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqjyk2cx5WU&feature=player_embedded#at=696 Taste of Freedom E126], Max Keiser, Keiser Report</ref> It should be noted that some commentators consider that Western governments have in recent years chosen a combination of the "worst" of all possible options: bailing out banks and increasing government spending and indebtedness whilst periodically trying to enforce austerity against the middle class and the ordinary working class.<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-26/daniel-hannan-destroys-3-unquestionable-myths-our-crisis Daniel Hannan Oxford Speech]</ref> Some have called Western government policy reactions to the financial crisis as a decisive move towards "Crony Capitalism" that is neither "free market" nor "socialist" but rather the last desperate acts of a corrupt banker-government cabal of "counterfeiters".<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-06/guest-post-all-well All Is Well], Jim Quinn</ref><ref>[http://www.mises.org/daily/6314/Why-Bankers-Avoid-the-Public-Eye Banking and the State]</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article37021.html Why We Are Bailing Out the Banks], Jesse</ref><ref>[http://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21565142-how-america-bailed-out-banks-rather-its-citizens-crisis-mismanagement How America bailed out the banks rather than its citizens] ''The Economist''</ref><ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/frb.html Fractional Reserve Banking], Murray Rothbard</ref> If this is correct, the destruction of economic capital in those countries adopting the Crony Capitalist model in response to the financial crisis will likely result in the descent into quasi-Third World status.<ref>[http://seekingalpha.com/article/309501-how-the-u-s-is-quickly-becoming-a-third-world-country-part-1 How the US is quickly becoming a Third World Country], Seeking Alpha</ref><ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/spl2/us-becoming-third-world.html 10 Signs the US is becoming a Third World Country]</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDKvSMZNgjc Peter Schiff Rips Paul Krugman on Economy]</ref>

===Libertarians, Austrians and commodity money===

[[Libertarians]] and [[Austrian School]] supporters envision a voluntary society of free markets (where banks - however large - are allowed to fail if they cannot perform their obligations),<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-26/daniel-hannan-destroys-3-unquestionable-myths-our-crisis Daniel Hannan Oxford speech]</ref> small government<ref>[http://www.prudentbear.com/index.php/thebearslairview?art_id=10473 Models of Capitalism], Michael Hutchinson</ref> and the abolition of monopolistic legal tender laws,<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5562/The-Real-Solution-to-the-Debt-Problem The Real Solution to the Debt Problem], David D'Amato</ref><ref>[http://lewrockwell.com/paul/paul766.html Legalize Currency Competition], Ron Paul</ref> allowing money backed by a ''free market''<ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/94712.html Subcommittee Explores Sound Money]</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5562/The-Real-Solution-to-the-Debt-Problem The Real Solution to the Debt Problem], David D'Amato</ref> [[gold standard]] or [[silver standard]] to come back in circulation (or some other free market money system such as Bitcoin).<ref>[http://www.salon.com/2013/03/22/a_libertarian_nightmare_bitcoin_meets_big_government/ Bitcoin]</ref><ref>[http://lewrockwell.com/north/north1009.html Counterfeit Gold Standards], Gary North</ref><ref>[http://lewrockwell.com/orig11/krolman5.1.1.html Accidentally Conceived in 1971], Arthur M.M. Krolman</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article27532.html Why Monetary Expansion Must Stop], Patrick Barron</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article26339.html Silver and Opium], Antal E. Fekete</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article25212.html The Faults of FRB], Thorsten Polleit</ref> It should be noted that even a partial return to the gold standard (allowing foreign central banks to redeem US government bonds in US gold) would result in the gold price having to rise to approximately $20,000 per ounce.<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-26/central-banks-cannot-create-wealth-only-liquidity Central Banks Cannot Create Wealth]</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rJspP6q3g8 Mike Maloney Interview with Max Keiser]</ref>

It must be emphasized that a ''necessary'' pre-condition in establishing a true free-market order would be the complete abolition of all legal tender laws<ref>[http://www.nysun.com/opinion/ron-paul-upping-the-ante-in-his-campaign/87502/ Ron Paul Upping the Ante]</ref> and the abolition of monopolistic central banking, including repeal of the [[Federal Reserve Act]] of 1913.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5562/The-Real-Solution-to-the-Debt-Problem The Real Solution to the Debt Problem], David D'Amato</ref><ref>[http://www.drschoon.com/articles%5CSilverGoldAndTheLastAmericanHeroJFK.pdf Silver, Gold and the Last American Hero JFK], Darryl Robert Schoon. Extracted quote from Ron Paul: "The United States Constitution grants to Congress the authority to coin money and regulate the value of the currency. The Constitution does not give Congress the authority to delegate control over monetary policy to a central bank. Furthermore, the Constitution certainly does not empower the federal government to erode the American standard of living via an inflationary monetary policy." Note: Another argument – that the power to "coin" money precludes issuance of paper money, and that the government must redeem paper money with "precious metal" – was dismissed as frivolous in ''Milam v. United States'', citing the Legal Tender Cases.</ref><ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/73833.html End the Fed], Freedom Watch</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/4860 Money: Sound and Unsound], Mark Thornton commentary on Joseph Salerno's book</ref><ref>[http://www.prudentbear.com/index.php/thebearslairview?art_id=10471 Gold Standard Renaissance?]</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article24632.html The Gold Standard Never Dies], [[Lew Rockwell]]</ref><ref>[http://www.prudentbear.com/index.php/thebearslairview?art_id=10471 Gold Standard], Michael Hutchinson</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/store/Money-Bank-Credit-and-Economic-Cycles-P290C0.aspx Money, Bank Credit and Economic Cycles], Jesus Huerta de Soto, Mises Institute ISBN: 978-1-933550-39-8</ref><ref>[http://radio.goldseek.com/griffin04.10.10.php Goldseek interview] with [[G. Edward Griffin]]</ref><ref>See also these [[Murray Rothbard]] articles: [http://www.mises.org/money.asp What Has Government Done to Our Money?], [http://www.mises.org/story/1829 The Case for the 100% Gold Dollar]; [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/cartelization.pdf The Fed as Cartel], [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard191.html Private Coinage], [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard190.html Repudiate the National Debt]; [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard181.html Taking Money Back], [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard163.html Anatomy of the Bank Run], [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard128.html Money and the Individual]</ref> "Capitalism" or "the free market" cannot be blamed or held responsible for current dire economic conditions given this coercive government prohibition against competition in currency creation.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5562/The-Real-Solution-to-the-Debt-Problem The Real Solution to the Debt Problem], David D'Amato</ref> Some Libertarians would also support experimentation with [[full reserve banking]],<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/4860 Money: Sound and Unsound], Mark Thornton commentary on Joseph Salerno's book</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/store/Money-Bank-Credit-and-Economic-Cycles-P290C0.aspx Money, Bank Credit and Economic Cycles], Jesus Huerta de Soto, Mises Institute ISBN: 978-1-933550-39-8</ref><ref>[http://www.mises.org/Books/mysteryofbanking.pdf Murray Rothbard, ''The Mystery of Banking'']</ref> recognizing that when fractional-reserve banking is combined with the gold standard a strong cyclical bias (and the systematic transfer of real wealth to the banking system) is normally inevitable.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5174/Life-with-the-Fed-Sunshine-and-Lollipops Life With The Fed], Thomas Woods</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/5185/The-Need-for-100-Reserves The Need for 100% Reserves], Frank D. Graham</ref> Those Libertarians who support full reserve banking would strongly support more flexible and forgiving bankruptcy laws in a fractional reserve banking environment, recognizing that no stigma should be attached to bankruptcy given the anti-Libertarian "unjust acquisition" of real wealth implicit in central banking, compulsory legal tender laws, fractional reserve banking and taxation.<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/4860 Money: Sound and Unsound], Mark Thornton commentary on Joseph Salerno's book</ref><ref name="Repudiating the National Debt">[http://mises.org/article.aspx?Id=1423 Repudiating the National Debt], Murray Rothbard</ref><ref>[http://www.mises.org/Books/mysteryofbanking.pdf Murray Rothbard, ''The Mystery of Banking'']</ref><ref>[http://gonzalolira.blogspot.com/2010/12/want-to-ruin-your-own-country-assume.html Want to Ruin Your Country?]</ref>

In the absence of sound money, over time large private corporations become mere extensions of powerful government and banking fiat.<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-04-03/david-stockman-keynesian-endgame The Keynesian Endgame], David Stockman</ref><ref name="death"/><ref>[http://mises.org/rothbard/newlibertywhole.asp For A New Liberty], Murray Rothbard</ref><ref>[http://news.goldseek.com/EuroCapital/1313178959.php The Fix is In], Peter Schiff</ref> David Stockman has stated the following:.<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-04-03/david-stockman-keynesian-endgame The Keynesian Endgame], David Stockman</ref>

{{quote|It not only shows that the so-called recovery is tenuous and highly skewed to a small slice of the population at the top of the economic ladder, but also that statist economic intervention has now become wildly dysfunctional. Largely based on opulence at the top, Wall Street brays that economic recovery is under way even as the Main Street economy flounders. But when this wobbly foundation periodically reveals itself, Wall Street petulantly insists that the state unleash unlimited resources in the form of tax cuts, spending stimulus, and money printing to keep the simulacrum of recovery alive.

Accordingly, the central banking branch of the state remains hostage to Wall Street speculators who threaten a hissy fit sell-off unless they are juiced again and again. Monetary policy has thus become an engine of reverse Robin Hood redistribution; it flails about implementing quasi-Keynesian demand–pumping theories that punish Main Street savers, workers, and businessmen while creating endless opportunities, as shown below, for speculative gain in the Wall Street casino.

At the same time, Keynesian economists of both parties urged prompt fiscal action, and the elected politicians obligingly piled on with budget-busting tax cuts and spending initiatives. The United States thus became fiscally ungovernable. Washington has been afraid to disturb a purported economic recovery that is not real or sustainable, and therefore has continued to borrow and spend to keep the macroeconomic “prints” inching upward. In the long run this will bury the nation in debt, but in the near term it has been sufficient to keep the stock averages rising and the harvest of speculative winnings flowing to the top 1 percent.

The breakdown of sound money has now finally generated a cruel endgame. The fiscal and central banking branches of the state have endlessly bludgeoned the free market, eviscerating its capacity to generate wealth and growth. This growing economic failure, in turn, generates political demands for state action to stimulate recovery and jobs.

But the machinery of the state has been hijacked by the various Keynesian doctrines of demand stimulus, tax cutting, and money printing. These are all variations of buy now and pay later—a dangerous maneuver when the state has run out of balance sheet runway in both its fiscal and monetary branches. Nevertheless, these futile stimulus actions are demanded and promoted by the crony capitalist lobbies which slipstream on whatever dispensations as can be mustered. At the end of the day, the state labors mightily, yet only produces recovery for the 1 percent.}}

Libertarians such as Murray Rothbard argue that in such a toxic monetary environment resource allocation is perverted by some or all of the following factors: corrupt alliances between so-called "private corporations" (which are often extensions of government or banking interests) and regulators; increasingly intensive business structures to suit the needs of a concentrated and cartelized banking system; and the constant overriding of small communities and local government planning with central government directives to satisfy the needs of big business.<ref>[http://news.goldseek.com/EuroCapital/1313178959.php The Fix is In], Peter Schiff</ref><ref name="death"/> In such a corrupted monetary system, libertarians argue that financial and man-made environmental crises cannot legitimately be blamed on "private" corporations but rather blame must fall squarely on the true source of the problem - centralized government control of credit and money, which in turn dilutes private property rights (especially in relation to traditional owners and farmers) and creates massive distortions in scarce resource allocation, with financial ''and'' environmental crises being the predictable consequence.<ref name="death"/><ref>[http://mises.org/rothbard/newlibertywhole.asp For A New Liberty], Murray Rothbard</ref><ref>[http://maxkeiser.com/2011/06/11/ote114-on-the-edge-with-peter-schiff/ Peter Schiff Interview with Max Keiser]</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article29029.html Getting Used to Life without Food], F. William Engdahl</ref>

Regarding the current accumulation of government bonds and private debt, many Libertarians believe that the creation of the [[Federal Reserve System|Federal Reserve]] under the [[Federal Reserve Act]] of 1913 was unconstitutional and consider that at least some of this accumulated debt should be canceled or forgiven ''prior'' to a return to the gold standard in recognition of its fundamental illegitimacy.<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-post-federal-debt-criminal-scam-federal-reserve-criminal-syndicate Federal Debt As Criminal Scam], Charles Hugh Smith</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article29433.html The Never-Ending Economic Depression], Washington Blog</ref><ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/article/antal-feketes-open-letter-ron-paul-impeach-bernanke Antal Fekete's Letter to Ron Paul]</ref><ref name="Repudiating the National Debt"/><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zMv4Offm_8&feature=player_embedded#at=1341 Max Keiser Interview with Alex Jones]</ref><ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-post-federal-debt-criminal-scam-federal-reserve-criminal-syndicate Federal Debt As Criminal Scam], Charles Hugh Smith</ref><ref>[http://blog.mises.org/18590/roubini-thoroughly-confused-by-austrian-economics/ Roubini Confused], Justin Ptak</ref> Arguably this would be supported by the "just acquisition" jurisprudence of legal philosopher [[Robert Nozick]] and Libertarian advocate [[Murray Rothbard]].<ref name="Repudiating the National Debt"/> As Murry Rothbard states:<ref>[http://angloaustria.blogspot.com/2010/05/quote-of-day-on-repudiation.html The Ethics of Liberty], Murray Rothbard</ref>

{{quote|Many libertarians fall into confusion on specific relations with the State, even when they concede the general immorality or criminality of State actions or interventions. Thus, there is the question of default, or more widely, repudiation of government debt. Many libertarians assert that the government is morally bound to pay its debts, and that therefore default or repudiation must be avoided. The problem here is that these libertarians are analogizing from the perfectly proper thesis that private persons or institutions should keep their contracts and pay their debts. But government has no money of its own, and payment of its debt means that the taxpayers are further coerced into paying bondholders. Such coercion can never be licit from the libertarian point of view. For not only does increased taxation mean increased coercion and aggression against private property, but the seemingly innocent bondholder appears in a very different light when we consider that the purchase of a government bond is simply making an investment in the future loot from the robbery of taxation.}}

In late 2010, financial commentator Max Keiser started the [[Buy Silver Crash JP Morgan Campaign 2010]] in an attempt to expose the flaws underlying the [[fractional reserve banking]] system.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zMv4Offm_8&feature=player_embedded#at=1341 Max Keiser Interview with Alex Jones]</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IKbAmsGey0&feature=player_embedded#at=66 Bob Chapman Silver Predictions]</ref><ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/02/jp-morgan-silver-short-selling-crash Want JP Morgan to crash? Buy silver], Max Keiser</ref>

Spontaneous protests against the Federal Reserve and the current financial system commenced in September 2011 across the United States and current protests can be found on the [http://www.occupytogether.org/ OccupyTogether.org] website.

====Free Banking and Full Reserve Banking====

On the issue of the required level of bank reserves, Austro-libertarians are sharply divided on the optimal solution to eliminate the parasitic and destructive forces inherent in fractional reserve banking.<ref>[http://mises.org/journals/qjae/pdf/qjae13_4_2.pdf Fractional Reserve Free Banking: Some Quibbles], Philip Bagus and David Howden</ref><ref name="Cochran_Free">John P. Cochran. [http://mises.org/daily/4898 ''Free Banking''], ''Mises Daily'', review of ''Free Banking: Theory, History, and a Laissez-Faire Model'' by Larry Sechrest</ref>

Some Austrian scholars advocate "free banking", where banks are legally permitted to engage in fractional-reserve banking activities ''provided'' they comply with the standard laws against fraud and are not supported in any way against the possibility of bank runs and are forced into bankruptcy should they not be able to pay their debts as and when they fall due.<ref name="Cochran_Free" /> Provided depositors are clearly made aware that their demand deposits are being lent out and are not universally available for immediate withdrawal and provided there is no way in which such banks are propped up in the face of bank runs, free banking advocates do not support outlawing fractional reserve banking as embezzlement ''per se''.

Advocates of this system of banking include Lawrence White, Steven Horwitz, George Selgin, and Kevin Dowd, amongst others.<ref name="Cochran_Free" /> F.A. Hayek also advocated the de-nationalization of money production and implicitly supported a free banking financial system in some of his works on monetary reform.<ref>[http://www.mises.org/store/Free-Market-Monetary-System-A-P553.aspx?AFID=14 ''Free Market Money System''] by [[F.A. Hayek]]</ref>

Other Austrian scholars advocate "[[full reserve banking]]", considering fractional-reserve banking and the associated issuance of irredeemable paper money to be inherently fraudulent, unethical, unjust, disruptive and dysfunctional, akin to embezzlement and counterfeiting.<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/article/citizen-sues-atlanta-fed-based-allegation-its-issuing-federal-reserve-notes-it-has-no-intent Citizen Sues Atlanta Fed], ZeroHedge</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/journals/qjae/pdf/qjae13_4_2.pdf Fractional Reserve Free Banking: Some Quibbles], Philip Bagus and David Howden</ref><ref>See for example these [[Murray Rothbard]] articles: [http://www.mises.org/money.asp What Has Government Done to Our Money?], [http://www.mises.org/story/1829 The Case for the 100% Gold Dollar]; [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/cartelization.pdf The Fed as Cartel], [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard191.html Private Coinage], [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard190.html Repudiate the National Debt]; [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard181.html Taking Money Back], [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard163.html Anatomy of the Bank Run], [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard128.html Money and the Individual]</ref> [[Full reserve banking]] would require banks to retain in reserve all deposits that are legally available for immediate withdrawal, and permit lending only from longer-term deposits.

Advocates of this system of banking include [[Murray Rothbard]],<ref name="The Mystery of Banking">[http://www.mises.org/Books/mysteryofbanking.pdf ''The Mystery of Banking''], Murray Rothbard</ref><ref name="The Case for a 100% Gold Dollar">[http://mises.org/story/1829 The Case for a 100% Gold Dollar], Murray Rothbard</ref> [[Jesus Huerta de Soto]],<ref>[http://www.mises.org/books/desoto.pdf ''Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles''], Jesus Huerta de Soto, First English edition (2006), pp. 98-114</ref> [[Jörg Guido Hülsmann]],<ref>[http://mises.org/media/4014 The Economics of Legal Tender Laws], and [[Jorg Guido Hulsmann]] (includes detailed commentary on [[central banking]], [[inflation]] and [[fractional reserve banking|FRB]])</ref><ref name=FBFB>[http://mises.org/journals/rae/pdf/RAE9_1_1.pdf Free Banking and the Free Bankers], Jörg Guido Hülsmann, Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics (Vol. 9, No. 1)</ref><ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/lewrockwell-show/2011/01/04/181-hyperinflation-ahead/ Interview with Jörg Guido Hülsmann], The Lew Rockwell Show</ref> amongst others.<ref>[http://mises.org/journals/qjae/pdf/qjae13_4_2.pdf Fractional Reserve Free Banking: Some Quibbles], Philip Bagus and David Howden</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/4880 The Faults of Fractional-Reserve Banking], Thorsten Polleit</ref>

Commentators David Stockman and Michael Shedlock also support the creation of full reserve postal savings banks that do not lend out money from checking accounts.<ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/stockman-fires-back-at-krugman-labeling.html David Stockman Fires Back At Krugman]</ref> According to Michael Shedlock:<ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/stockman-fires-back-at-krugman-labeling.html David Stockman Fires Back At Krugman]</ref>

<blockquote>And the solution is so easy too. Open a bank that charges nominal fees for checking and makes no loans. Such a bank would not need loan officers or other high-priced personnel. It would offer safekeeping of money and simple checking accounts for a fee.

Those who want interest on their money should have to take a risk, the risk of a possible loss.

Finally, and as I have pointed out before, lending of checking accounts is outright fraud. Checking accounts are supposed to be money available on demand, but since Greenspan authorized Sweeps in 1994, almost none of it is.</blockquote>

Most recently, in late 2010, two British MP's, Douglas Carswell and Steven Baker, sought to introduce legislation into the British Parliament that would allow depositors to decide if their money should be lent out and for what period.<ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/8004540/The-radical-reform-that-would-end-boom-and-bust-in-banking.html ''The Radical Reform in Banking''], Toby Baxendale, ''Daily Telegraph'', 15 Sept 2010</ref> If this legislative reform were to pass, British depositors would have the option to elect to save their money in full reserve bank accounts.

====Gold and Silver====
In the absence of reform, many Austrians and libertarians are actively buying gold and silver.<ref>[http://goldinvestingnews.com/26510/peter-schiff-gold-money-fiat-currency-price-outlook-central-banks-investing.html Peter Schiff on Gold and Money]</ref><ref>[http://www.ronpaul.com/on-the-issues/fiat-money-inflation-federal-reserve-2/ Honest Money]</ref><ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul125.html Fiat Paper Money], Ron Paul</ref><ref>[http://www.mogamboguru.com/writings.html Mogambo Guru]</ref> Many Austrians believe gold and silver and other essential commodities are ideal investments during this period of fiat money expansion and experimentation, as no government in the history of the world has ever escaped economic catastrophe and debasement of the currency after adopting a pure fiat money<ref>[http://historysquared.com/2012/06/26/fiat-currencies-trend-towards-their-intrinsic-value-often-rather-quickly/ Fiat Currencies Trend Towards Their Intrinsic Value]</ref><ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-04-05/guest-post-more-monetary-quackery More Monetary Quackery]</ref><ref>[http://goldinvestingnews.com/26510/peter-schiff-gold-money-fiat-currency-price-outlook-central-banks-investing.html Peter Schiff on Gold and Money]</ref><ref>[http://www.ronpaul.com/on-the-issues/fiat-money-inflation-federal-reserve-2/ Honest Money]</ref><ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul125.html Fiat Paper Money], Ron Paul</ref><ref>[http://www.professorfekete.com/articles/AEFFiatMoneyInDeathThroes.pdf Fiat Money in Death Throes], Antal E Fekete</ref><ref>[http://www.professorfekete.com/articles%5CAEFAmericanBasesGermanyGoldBasis.pdf American Bases], Antal E Fekete]</ref> and keeping money in bank deposits is becoming increasingly risky as governments renege on promises to keep depositors' money safe.<ref>[http://truthingold.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/the-frightening-truth-about-cyprus-bail.html?showComment=1365106177301 The Truth About the Cyprus "Bail In"]</ref><ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-04-02/ron-paul-great-cyprus-bank-robbery The Great Cyprus Bank Robbery], Ron Paul</ref>

===Neo-Chartalism and Modern Monetary Theory===

Neo-Chartalists and associated advocates of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) also accept that the current bank-dominated monetary system is dysfunctional, but advocate reform ''within'' the strictures of a fiat monetary system rather than looking to return to a commodity-based monetary system.<ref>[http://www.cnbc.com/id/45795986/Modern_Monetary_Theory_and_Austrian_Economics Modern Monetary Theory and Austrian Economics], John Carney</ref>

Most advocates of MMT support deficit spending to support the economy, believing governments can never go bankrupt in a fiat monetary system.

Austrians and sound money advocates criticize supporters of MMT not in their description of the current monetary system (which many Austrians consider reasonably accurate) but for their "shallow" understanding of the dangers of unfettered government spending through fiat money creation and their "naive" support of deficit spending and inflationary policies as an "easy" way out of economic crises.<ref>[http://www.soundmoneyproject.org/?p=4881 The Upside-Down World of MMT], Robert Murphy</ref><ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/sean-corrigan-crucifies-mmt Sean Corrigan Crucifies MMT], ZeroHedge.com</ref>

===Debt-free money===

The concept of debt-free money is most notably represented by [[Michael Rowbotham]], [[Stephen Zarlenga]] of the American Monetary Institute, Bill Still producer of the well-known ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXt1cayx0hs Money Masters]'' videos and [[Ellen Hodgson Brown]].<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MKjlPmVVK4 Bill Still on gold reserves]</ref> They advocate various forms of "pure" fiat money issuance by government, without the need for the government to issue a bond to print or issue the fiat money. More recently, mainstream economists have begun to seriously consider the issuance of debt-free money as a policy solution to the current ongoing crisis.<ref>[http://blogs.reuters.com/anatole-kaletsky/2013/02/07/a-breakthrough-speech-on-monetary-policy/ A Breakthrough Speech on Monetary Policy], Anatole Kaletsky</ref><ref>[http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/07/be-ready-to-mint-that-coin/ Be Ready To Mint That Coin], Paul Krugman</ref><ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/9970294/Helicopter-QE-will-never-be-reversed.html Helicopter QE will never be reversed], Ambrose Evans-Pritchard</ref>

Currently virtually all money issued in modern economies is initially sourced from debt; in other words, it is "debt money" because it is created via some entity (government or business or individuals) borrowing fiat money into existence. "Debt money" is money created in parallel with debt or [[Credit (finance)|credit]] via the process of [[fractional reserve banking]].

"Debt-free money" is a "true" or "pure" fiat currency issued by the [[Treasury]] of a [[central government]], where there is no requirement for its eventual return as a condition of its creation (except by way of payment of taxes).<ref name="death"/> It is argued by Rowbotham and others that this would allow for the substantial lowering of tax rates, would allow public works projects to be funded cheaply, and would stimulate economic development, if the fiat money is spent sensibly on inflation-lowering long-term capital projects.<ref name="death"/>

[[Michael Rowbotham]] seeks the cancellation of "unjust" debts (such as [[third world debt]]), and, crucially and most importantly, a [[social security]] [[safety net]] involving a guaranteed minimum [[social credit|debt-free income]] (sourced from government-issued debt-free money independent of any central bank) for all citizens in the debt-based economy. Under this proposal, every adult citizen would be given a livable debt-free income transferred electronically into their [[bank account]], simply by virtue of their [[citizen]]ship. They could then use this debt-free money to pay off their [[mortgage]]s or to live, debt-free, without being compelled to work as a [[wage slavery|wage slave]] in the market economy if they chose not to. The government would finance these payments simply by ordering the private banks to accept their electronic instructions as legal tender. It would therefore not result in the expansion of [[government debt]].<ref name="death"/>

Ex-U.S. Treasury Department analyst Richard C. Cook also supports the issuance of debt-free money and zero-interest credit by the central government and has provided a detailed blueprint of monetary reform recommendations to transition to a debt-free money supply.<ref name="marketoracle.co.uk"/>

Some commentators have speculated that the issuance of massive amounts of debt-free pure fiat money is already happening, and we are currently living in a massive money printing experiment, as so-called "quantitative easing" will never be reversed.<ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/9970294/Helicopter-QE-will-never-be-reversed.html Helicopter QE will never be reversed], Ambrose Evans-Pritchard</ref> Ambrose Evans-Pritchard has warned:<ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/9970294/Helicopter-QE-will-never-be-reversed.html Helicopter QE will never be reversed], Ambrose Evans-Pritchard</ref>

{{quote|If Lord Turner's helicopters are ever needed, we can be sure that the Anglo-Saxons and the Japanese will steal a march, while Europe will be the last to move. The European Central Bank will resist monetary financing of deficits until the bitter end, knowing that such action risks destroying German political consent for the euro project.

By holding the line on orthodoxy, the ECB will guarantee that Euroland continues to suffer the deepest depression. Once the dirty game begins, you stand aside at your peril.

A great many readers in Britain and the US will be horrified that this helicopter debate is taking place at all, as if the QE virus is mutating into ever more deadly strains.

Bondholders across the world may suspect that Britain, the US and other deadbeat states are engineering a stealth default on sovereign debts, and they may be right in a sense. But they are warned. This is the next shoe to drop in the temples of central banking.}}

====Properties====
According to its proponents, government-issued debt-free fiat currency (such as debt-free notes and coins) can circulate perpetually in the economy as "stable" money and although not as secure as [[hard currency]], government-issued debt-free notes and coins (such as United States Notes and silver certificates) do not have the same effects of debt-based money (which require pertpetual interest payments to be tied to the creatin of new money).<ref>[http://www.entrewave.com/freebooks/docs/a_pdfs/gnhm.pdf Honest Money]</ref> It should be noted however that fiat currency can be a source of [[hyperinflation]] if its production is not controlled, as the government has the potential to issue unlimited amounts of fiat currency - ''provided'' it is accepted as "money" by the private banking system.<ref>[http://mises.org/books/shorthistorypapermoney.pdf A Short History of Paper Money in the United States], William M. Gouge, Mises Institute</ref> Notably, the Federal Reserve reportedly threatened not to recognize the trillion dollar platinum coin should the Obama Administration try to mint one.<ref>[http://www.buzzfeed.com/zekejmiller/the-trillion-dollar-coin-was-killed-by-the-fed Trillion Dollar Coin Killed By Fed]</ref><ref>[http://webofdebt.wordpress.com/2013/01/18/the-trillion-dollar-coin-joke-or-game-changer/#more-5323 The Trillion Dollar Coin], Ellen Hodgson Brown</ref> Debt-free notes and coins in circulation (being defined as [[Money supply#M0|M0]]) now account for a tiny fraction of the total debt-based M3 [[money supply]] in all modern debt-based economies (and debt-free M0 is also generally less than 10% of the total [[Money supply#M2|M2]] money supply in most developed economies).<ref>[http://www.dollardaze.org/blog/?post_id=00216 Global Money Supply Ratios]</ref>

Instead of [[money]] being created "indirectly" and "furtively" at the point of loan creation by the private banking system, with periodic bailouts to already-rich bankers and a "boomerang" boom-bust cycle as debt levels expand and contract, this debt-free "pure fiat" money would be created directly and openly by the democratically elected government and permanently issued to its citizenry by way of instruction to the private banking system. An example would be the coining of a trillion dollar platinum coin by the US government to pay off some of the Federal debt and continue its deficit spending in times of recession or depression. There would be no requirement for this money to returned (plus interest) and be extinguished as a condition of its creation, which is the central feature of all debt money systems.

Michael Rowbotham and Ellen Hodgson Brown both argue in their books that this system of "debt-free" money issuance would not dramatically raise consumer prices (or at least would not be as inflationary or as dysfunctional as the current compounding debt-based system).<ref>[http://www.webofdebt.com/articles/hyperinflation.php Weimar Hyperinflation], Ellen Hodgson Brown</ref> They argue that this would also reduce overconsumption and the associated environmental damage associated with debt-based consumerism. It would also give individuals the free time to engage once again in non-marketable religious, artistic and recreational activities if they chose to do so.<ref name="death"/>

It is acknowledged by both writers that, in the absence of tax rates which ensure the return of this "pure" fiat to government coffers, this would be "inflationary" in the traditional sense, but they argue that if this "pure" government spending is directed to capital works projects and other long-term projects, this "pure" fiat money issuance would not result in excess price inflation, although it would dramatically increase base money. Michael Rowbotham argues that if bank reserve and capital ratios were increased and bank regulations on derivatives were imposed ''at the same time'' as the increase in "pure" base money was occurring, the two policies would balance each other out and no appreciable price inflation would be felt by the public at large.<ref name="death"/> The increase in base money would be inflationary, but the increase in reserve requirements would be deflationary, resulting in no significant net increase in the total money supply (assuming the government was sufficiently skilled in balancing these forces through the transition to a predominantly debt-free monetary system).

It is to be expected that these policies would be violently opposed by the private banking "elite", as it would render impotent their control over the money supply, dissipating this crucial decision-making power away from its current power base, from private banks to elected governments.<ref>[http://www.thenewamerican.com/economy/economics/item/14238-obama%E2%80%99s-trillion-dollar-coin-exposes-federal-reserve-scam Obama’s Trillion-Dollar Coin Exposes Federal Reserve Scam], Alex Newman, ''New American''</ref><ref>[http://webofdebt.wordpress.com/2013/01/18/the-trillion-dollar-coin-joke-or-game-changer/#more-5323 The Trillion Dollar Coin], Ellen Hodgson Brown</ref> It would also be likely to reduce [[economic growth]], dramatically increase the cost of labor and, potentially, result in an exacerbation of price inflation and malinvestment.<ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/12/fatally-flawed-end-fed-proposal-from.html Fatally Flawed End the Fed Proposal], MISH</ref> However, Rowbotham, Zarlenga, Brown and Still all argue that this proposal would address the problem of inequality inherent in a debt-based monetary system and reduce the devastating impact of personal [[bankruptcy]] and allow individual citizens to quickly recover from financial hardship.<ref name="death"/> They also argue that this social security measure (and government spending in general) would not have to be paid for by future generations from future streams of [[income tax]].<ref name="death"/>

====Criticism of "Greenbacker" debt-free money issuance====
In late 2010, [[Ellen Hodgson Brown]] and Austrian School commentator [[Gary North]] engaged in an intense debate over the direction of [[monetary reform]], with gold-standard supporter [[Gary North]] accusing Brown of going down a path that inevitably leads to the economics of fascism and hyperinflation.<ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north908.html Criticism of Ellen Hodgson Brown]</ref><ref>[http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north912.html Ellen Betrays], Gary North</ref> Government deficit spending funded with either paper money or compliant public bank lending is not a substitute for private consumption due to the inability of coercive goverment to invest rationally long-term, given the [[economic calculation problem]] inherent in socialized economies and the interests of governments and politicians being very different from the average consumer.<ref>[http://dailyreckoning.com/downside-after-the-returns-stop-diminishing-part-ii/ Nazi Germany], Bill Bonner</ref> North argues that it is not possible to trust a coercive, non-market entity - government - to limit its spending in circumstances where pure fiat money is in the hands of politicians and that [[inflation]], being an invisible tax, is much harder to resist than regular taxes. Greedy, corrupt, short-sighted politicians could buy off special interest groups to get elected and the general public could only watch on the sidelines as the purchasing power of their dollars steadily declines; this decline would be blamed on currency speculators and eventually foreign currencies (including "natural" monies such as gold and silver and copper) would have to be banned and confiscated from the public to ensure continued use of depreciating fiat.<ref name="North_Congress">Gary North. [http://www.garynorth.com/public/7030.cfm "Economic Error #15: Congress Can Safely Be Trusted to Manage the Money System Without Any Price Inflation."]. Referenced 2011-02-24.</ref> The fundamental error of Brown's analysis, according to North, is that Brown expects the source of the problem - corrupt governments bought and paid for by bankers - to be the source of the solution. She calls for a move away from war spending, whilst recoginizing that the current fiat monetary system favors government spending on war.<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article28831.html More Efficient Ways to Stimulate Economy], Ellen Hodgson Brown</ref> To date, she has yet to reconcile these inconsistencies in her writings.

[[Mike Shedlock]] agrees with the abolition of fractional reserve banking, but criticizes the concept on similar grounds as North. Commenting on a bill to end the Fed introduced by Representative [[Dennis Kucinich]], he wrote: "Neither sound money nor the free market comes from printing money into existence. Arguably the only thing worse than the Fed printing money out of thin air is Congress printing money out of thin air for the purpose of full employment and/or any other absurd ideas Congress has."<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article25175.html Kucinich's End the Fed campaign fatally flawed], Mike Shedlock.</ref>

Peter Schiff also believes getting rid of the Fed and returning money issuance to Congress would be worse than the current system.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEDmj3qocag Doug Casey Interview with Peter Schiff]</ref>

Austrians criticize leftists' inability to see that printing money and spending distort the capital structure and does not result in lasting economic growth.<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article28831.html More Efficient Ways to Stimulate Economy], Ellen Hodgson Brown</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDKvSMZNgjc Peter Schiff Rips Paul Krugman]</ref> They also avoid or ignore the fact that historically governments have often acted in their own self-interest and concentrated power in themselves and their corrupt associates and families rather than benignly ruling for the benefit of the populace and their long-term interests. Every sovereign - without exception - that has been given the unfettered power to print fiat money has eventually printed too much debt-free money and in the end had to ban competing currencies (such as foreign currency or metallic money), and face revolt, revolution, hyperinflation or other social catastrophe.<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article39762.html Fiat Currency Collapse]</ref>

====Debt-free money issuance: Support from free market Austrians====
In contrast to Gary North's attacks on "Greenbacker" Ellen Hodgson Brown, and Mike Shedlock's criticism of debt-free money printing by Congress as the worst of all choices, noted Austrian monetary economist Joseph Salerno has voiced his support for the idea of debt-free money issuance ''in comparison to the current debt-based system'', if a choice is to be made between the two.<ref>[http://www.mises.org/daily/6350/The-Flipside-of-the-Trillion-Dollar-Coin The Flipside of the Trillion Dollar Coin]</ref> In his defense of the trillion dollar coin idea, he states the following:<ref>[http://www.mises.org/daily/6350/The-Flipside-of-the-Trillion-Dollar-Coin The Flipside of the Trillion Dollar Coin]</ref>

{{quote|Let me be clear: my intention is not to deny that the trillion-dollar coin is a ludicrous and dangerous idea; it is rather to point out that the Fed is a more ludicrous and dangerous idea.}}

In relation to the "dangers" of Congressional control of the money supply, Salerno responds as follows:<ref>[http://www.mises.org/daily/6350/The-Flipside-of-the-Trillion-Dollar-Coin The Flipside of the Trillion Dollar Coin]</ref>

{{quote|Obviously, congressional control of the fiat money supply is far from the ideal monetary system, which involves the complete separation of government and money through the establishment of a commodity money, such as gold, the supply of which is determined exclusively by market forces. Nonetheless, there is much merit in replacing the opaque and pseudo-scientific control of "the money supply process" by the entrenched bureaucrats of the Fed with overtly political control of money by elected officials and partisan Administration appointees.}}

===Nationalized Public Banks===

[[Stephen Zarlenga]] and [[Ellen Hodgson Brown]] also call for the nationalization of the private banking system once the full losses on the banks' portfolios are recognized.<ref>[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ellen-brown/restoring-economic-sovere_b_823697.html Restoring Economic Sovereignty], Ellen Hodgson Brown</ref><ref>[http://www.webofdebt.com/articles/new_theory.php Time for a New Theory of Money]</ref><ref>[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/01/steve-keen-responds-to-world-economic.html Exponential Growth], MISH</ref><ref>[http://www.webofdebt.com/articles/force_nationalization.php Foreclosuregate could force bank nationalization]</ref><ref>[http://webofdebt.wordpress.com/2010/12/22/austerity-fails-in-euroland-time-for-some-%e2%80%9cdeficit-easing%e2%80%9d/ Austerity Fails in Europe], Ellen Hodgson Brown</ref> Ellen Hodgson Brown has repeatedly called for the creation of publicly-owned banks similar to the North Dakota model, where the interest earned by these state government-owned banks could be ploughed back into local economies financing public works and local government services instead of being sucked out of local communities into the major commercial banks.<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article29338.html Why Aren't Banks Lending], Ellen Hodgson Brown</ref> <ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article39053.html Why Bankers Rule the World]</ref>

Brown also supported "[[Quantitative easing|QE2]]" - which she described as a necessary and desirable funding of government spending via money printing rather than by the indirect means of issuing of interest-bearing government bonds, which simply allows private bankers to profit from costless money creation.<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article24443.html QE2 and the Looming Threat of a Crippling Debt Service]</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article24719.html QE2 and Hyperinflation], Ellen Hodgson Brown</ref>

Many monetary reformers who call on the government to take back the money creation function from debt-supplying private for-profit banks also call for full reserve banking to remove the bank's alleged "embezzlement" and "counterfeiting" abilities.<ref>[http://www.thenewamerican.com/economy/economics/item/14238-obama%E2%80%99s-trillion-dollar-coin-exposes-federal-reserve-scam Obama’s Trillion-Dollar Coin Exposes Federal Reserve Scam], Alex Newman, ''New American''</ref><ref name="marketoracle.co.uk"/><ref>[http://www.monetary.org/ AMI website, calling on full-reserve banking]</ref>

It should be noted that if Austrian claims that [[fractional reserve banking]] produces [[Austrian business cycle theory|business cycles]] is correct, public ownership of banks will not stop periodic economic crises from occurring, ''unless'' strong controls and very high reserve ratios are imposed on those publicly-owned banks.

===Left-leaning ideas===
The highly successful "Icelandic Solution" of debt relief for the poor and criminal sanctions against corrupt bankers was implemented by a left-wing government<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-26/only-3-minutes-worth-listening-davos Interview with Iceland's President Olafur Ragnar Grimson]</ref> although some question whether the policies truly reflected left-wing ideas given the constraints on Icelandic policy-making at the time.<ref>[http://reason.com/blog/2012/04/17/why-iceland-presidents-left-wing-critiqu Why Iceland President Left-Wing Critique is Right], ''Reason''</ref>

Some left-leaning [[social democrats]] would also support additional longer-term measures such as ''raising'' minimum wages immediately after a financial crisis (rather than reducing wage rates - which they argue only prolongs the depression through reduced spending), taxing the banking system and the implementation of strongly redistributive income and [[land tax]]es to ensure the financially dispossessed are "replenished" with income. They would also support a [[social security]] [[safety net]] involving the provision of unemployment benefits and government-supplied free medical care, education and other essential services and [[public goods]].<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4yVhxDTom0 Steve Keen interview with Max Keiser]</ref> It is to be expected however that this coercive regulatory regime would result in the systematic destruction of the entrepreneurial class as profits are squeezed by rising costs. In addition, without the issuance of debt-free [[fiat currency]] the result of these programs would be the persistent, exponential, accumulation of [[government debt]], financed by the [[private banking]] system by the issuance of [[government bonds]]. If not properly managed, this could result in a progressively higher tax burden and may result in higher [[interest rates]] in the long term, as financiers require higher [[interest rates]] to lend to the increasingly indebted central government. Without the issuance of [[debt-free money]] these policies can be self-defeating, with the net result simply being that a larger stream of guaranteed income goes to the [[private bank]]ing system via the issuance of interest-bearing [[government bonds]] (which are purchased by the [[private banks]] "out of nothing" through [[fractional reserve banking]] techniques). This [[government debt]] must then be financed in perpetuity by compulsorily acquired [[tax]]es from future generations.

It could be argued that the early success of extreme so-called "right-wing" (but socialist government-guided) [[fascism]] in [[Nazi Germany]] and [[Italy]] in the period after [[World War I]] was a response to the economic chaos created by the debt-based monetary system in early 20th century [[Europe]]. Some of the economic policies introduced by [[Hitler]] and [[Mussolini]] were in direct response to the economic collapse and social [[anarchy]] caused by soaring government and personal debt levels in both countries in the post-[[Versailles Treaty]] era, and (indirectly) arose from the writings of [[Silvio Gesell]] and others on the nature of the problems associated with a debt-based [[monetary system]]. Although many [[historian]]s justifiably criticize many of the non-economic policies of the [[fascist]] governments of [[Germany]] and [[Italy]] during this period, the [[economics of fascism]] seemed to provide a degree of [[prosperity]] to the populace, and arguably achieved the government's stated objective of restoring economic and social order during the pre-[[World War II]] era.<ref>[http://www.webofdebt.com/articles/bankrupt-germany.php How a Bankrupt Germany Solved its Economic Problems], Ellen Hodgson Brown</ref> These economic policies and their results are the subject of vigorous debate even today.<ref name="North_National_Great">Gary North. [http://www.garynorth.com/public/7009.cfm "Historical Error #27: Hitler's National Socialist Economic Policies Ended the Great Depression in Germany."], ''GaryNorth.Com''. Referenced 2011-02-24.</ref> (See also [[Inflation in Nazi Germany]].)

Similarly it could be argued that [[socialism]] and [[communism]] were movements inspired by the inequalities caused by the intense (and in [[Karl Marx]]'s view unsustainable) concentrations of monetary wealth, power and influence inherent in the practice of [[fractional reserve banking]] in a [[laissez-faire]], [[monopoly]] [[capitalist]] environment (particularly when [[fractional reserve banking]] is combined with a [[gold standard]] or other [[hard currency]] [[monetary system]]).<ref>[http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2009/02/steve-keen-roving-cavaliers-of-credit.html ''Roving Cavaliers of Credit'', Steve Keen, with commentary from Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism]</ref>

The [[communist]]/[[socialist]] solution to the problem of [[fractional reserve banking]] is simple: re-enfranchising workers through widespread organization and unionism, complete removal (and if necessary, violent non-democratic removal) of the allegedly "parasitic" financial, capitalist and upper classes, wholesale repudiation of [[government debt]] resulting in complete debt [[default]]; forced [[expropriation]] of [[land]] and wealth from the [[upper classes]] to the dispossessed and needy [[working classes]]; [[nationalization]] of the [[private banks]] (which has required armed [[coup]]s by the [[military]] in some past [[revolution]]s); and the return of the banking function from a dominant, speculative to a subordinate, administrative institution, where the banking system is reduced to a subservient arm of the centralized [[Leviathan]]. In this system, government-owned banks are directed by government policy; often provide different kinds of loans to different industry sectors at different interest rates depending on the perceived "needs" of the economy and the community; normally have a significant proportion of [[non-performing loan]]s due to weak or non-existent [[bankruptcy]] laws; and periodically "forgive" failed debts in recognition of the impossibility of some businesses in paying this debt money back. In addition, individuals are prohibited from possessing large property holdings, in excess of their individual needs.

It is to be expected that the [[profitability]] of the government-owned banking system would be more stable - but dramatically lower - than that in a debt-based [[capitalist]] economy. It is also to be expected that a significantly higher misallocation of resources could occur in this system, where lending decisions are "infected" by political considerations and are not made on the basis of expected [[return on investment]]. The risk of [[corruption]] in the banking system is also expected to be higher where there is no separation between the political and monetary systems in an economy. Market-oriented [[monetary reform]]ers and [[neo-classical]] economists therefore do not support [[nationalization]] of the [[private banking]] system.

It should be noted that partial [[nationalization]] of the [[private bank]]ing system would only be temporary, as any remaining [[private banks]] could still engage in unlimited [[fractional reserve banking]] and facilitate the eventual acquisition and control of any strategic assets in a partially socialized economic system. It is to be expected that in the absence of complete [[nationalization]] of the banking system, the [[private bank]]ing system would eventually dominate the financial system in any nominally [[socialist]] society.

===Crony Capitalism and Confiscation: A continuation of current trends===
Assuming current trends continue, "Rigged Market Capitalism"<ref>[http://maxkeiser.com/tag/rigged-market-capitalism/ Rigged Market Capitalism]</ref> or so-called "Crony Capitalism"<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-10/guest-post-note-fed-giving-banks-free-money-wont-make-us-hire-more-workers Note To Fed]</ref> will continue.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbQq33iTsrw Rigged bank rates]</ref> This means ongoing "immunity" for market manipulating banks on the basis that they are "too big to jail",<ref>[http://moneymorning.com/2012/12/28/too-big-to-jail-its-a-dark-day-for-the-rule-of-law/ Too Big To Jail]</ref><ref>[http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/gangster-bankers-too-big-to-jail-20130214 Gangser Bankers: Too Big to Jail], Matt Taibbi. Extract: 'At HSBC, the bank did more than avert its eyes to a few shady transactions. It repeatedly defied government orders as it made a conscious, years-long effort to completely stop discriminating between illegitimate and legitimate money. And when it somehow talked the U.S. government into crafting a settlement over these offenses with the lunatic aim of preserving the bank's license, it succeeded, finally, in making crime mainstream. UBS, meanwhile, was a similarly elemental case, in which the offenses didn't just violate the letter of the law – they threatened the integrity of the competitive system. If you're going to let hundreds of boozed-up bankers spend every morning sending goofball e-mails to each other, giving each other superhero nicknames while they rigged the cost of money (spelling-challenged UBS traders dubbed themselves, among other things, "captain caos," the "three muscateers" and "Superman"), you might as well give up on capitalism entirely and just declare the 16 biggest banks in the world the International Bureau of Prices. Thus, in the space of just a few weeks, regulators in Britain and America teamed up to declare near-total surrender to both crime and monopoly. This was more than a couple of cases of letting rich guys walk. These were major policy decisions that will reverberate for the next generation. Even worse than the actual settlements was the explanation Breuer offered for them. "In the world today of large institutions, where much of the financial world is based on confidence," he said, "a right resolution is to ensure that counter-parties don't flee an institution, that jobs are not lost, that there's not some world economic event that's disproportionate to the resolution we want." In other words, Breuer is saying the banks have us by the balls, that the social cost of putting their executives in jail might end up being larger than the cost of letting them get away with, well, anything. This is bullshit, and exactly the opposite of the truth, but it's what our current government believes. From JonBenet to O.J. to Robert Blake, Americans have long understood that the rich get good lawyers and get off, while the poor suck eggs and do time. But this is something different. This is the government admitting to being afraid to prosecute the very powerful – something it never did even in the heydays of Al Capone or Pablo Escobar, something it didn't do even with Richard Nixon. And when you admit that some people are too important to prosecute, it's just a few short steps to the obvious corollary – that everybody else is unimportant enough to jail. An arrestable class and an unarrestable class. We always suspected it, now it's admitted.'</ref> and the continued collusion of central banks with private banks to manipulate an increasing number of financial and commodity markets in a futile effort to control capitalism for their own survival, eventually destroying any semblance of functioning capitalism and resulting in an increasingly volatile banking system.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbQq33iTsrw Rigged bank rates]</ref> Some believe we have already reached this point where world financial markets are completely artificial and prices in many markets no longer reflect reality.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbQq33iTsrw Rigged bank rates]</ref><ref>[http://www.gata.org/node/7096 Fed's blueprint for market manipulation]</ref> Ongoing purchases of government bonds by central banks continue every month, keeping interest rates artificially low and allowing government spending to continue to expand, along with a volatile heavily indebted private economy.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1l7DY8kdz0 The Fed Unspun]</ref> If these "emergency" QE measures continue indefinitely this will eventually result in indefinite depression as markets are manipulated beyond the control even of the central banks, prohibiting market "clearing" and prohibiting the reallocation of resources away from the government and financial sectors.<ref>[http://prudentbear.com/index.php/guestcommentaryview?art_id=10742 Bernanke's Balance Sheet Ensures Disaster], Michael Pento</ref><ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-26/only-3-minutes-worth-listening-davos Interview with Iceland's President Olafur Ragnar Grimson]</ref><ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-06/guest-post-all-well All Is Well], Jim Quinn</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbQq33iTsrw Rigged bank rates]</ref> Recent events in Cyprus and Greece are an indication of what will happen in other countries should the current system continue - periodic financial crises and bank runs from capital controls on marginal economies resulting in impoverishment of the general populace.<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article39809.html Greece vs Iceland]</ref><ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-03-22/ecb-set-fair-cypriot-standard-living-capital-controls Capital Controls]</ref> Without debt relief, "following the rules" of debt will mean that the government will have to steal simply to pay back creditors.<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article39732.html Cyprus Wealth Confiscation Scheme]</ref> Ultimately, with a compliant populace, bankers and governments will periodically, without warning, "steal", "tax" or otherwise confiscate deposits, savings and wealth to keep the financial system alive, whilst continuing to try grow the money supply through fractional reserve banking.<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-03-22/ecb-set-fair-cypriot-standard-living-capital-controls Capital Controls]</ref>
Without reform or revolution, this perverted Keynesian<ref>[http://mises.org/journals/fm/January2013.pdf Two Sides of the Same Debased Coin], Hunter Lewis</ref> "upside down" combination of "socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor" will inevitably result in chronic cascading "supply" crises in commodity markets as price signals no longer "work" due to market manipulation and price "smoothing" stifling price rises that must occur for production of essential commodities to remain profitable, thereby ultimately resulting in actual supply and demand mismatches in many essential commodity markets (such as the gold and silver markets).<ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article38893.html Shock Year 2013]</ref><ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-09/guest-post-us-economy-now-dangerously-detached-reality US Economy Detached From Reality]</ref> This will ultimately produce a tiny (but massively wealthy) speculative banker class,<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-04-03/david-stockman-keynesian-endgame The Keynesian Endgame], David Stockman</ref><ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-06/guest-post-all-well All Is Well], Jim Quinn</ref> a bloated and ineffective government sector, a private sector that mainly services lucrative government contracts (or is otherwise starved of capital and funding) and the complete destruction of the middle class, resulting in a steadily increasing disenfranchised, desperate, intergenerational underclass.<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-06/guest-post-all-well All Is Well], Jim Quinn</ref><ref>[http://www.globalresearch.ca/western-civilization-and-the-economic-crisis-the-impoverishment-of-the-middle-class/18386 Western Civilization and the Economic Crisis]</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVxyGxEcMqQ Max Keiser on the UK Economy]</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/journals/fm/January2013.pdf Two Sides of the Same Debased Coin], Hunter Lewis</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbQq33iTsrw Rigged bank rates]</ref><ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-04-03/david-stockman-keynesian-endgame The Keynesian Endgame], David Stockman</ref><ref>[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article39449.html An Orwellian America], Gordon T Long</ref>

David Stockman has the following comments in relation to the current monetary system:<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/6397/The-Keynesian-Endgame The Keynesian Endgame]</ref>

<blockquote>Accordingly, the central banking branch of the state remains hostage to Wall Street speculators who threaten a hissy fit sell-off unless they are juiced again and again. Monetary policy has thus become an engine of reverse Robin Hood redistribution; it flails about implementing quasi-Keynesian demand–pumping theories that punish Main Street savers, workers, and businessmen while creating endless opportunities, as shown below, for speculative gain in the Wall Street casino.

At the same time, Keynesian economists of both parties urged prompt fiscal action, and the elected politicians obligingly piled on with budget-busting tax cuts and spending initiatives. The United States thus became fiscally ungovernable. Washington has been afraid to disturb a purported economic recovery that is not real or sustainable, and therefore has continued to borrow and spend to keep the macroeconomic “prints” inching upward. In the long run this will bury the nation in debt, but in the near term it has been sufficient to keep the stock averages rising and the harvest of speculative winnings flowing to the top 1 percent.

The breakdown of sound money has now finally generated a cruel endgame. The fiscal and central banking branches of the state have endlessly bludgeoned the free market, eviscerating its capacity to generate wealth and growth. This growing economic failure, in turn, generates political demands for state action to stimulate recovery and jobs.

But the machinery of the state has been hijacked by the various Keynesian doctrines of demand stimulus, tax cutting, and money printing. These are all variations of buy now and pay later—a dangerous maneuver when the state has run out of balance sheet runway in both its fiscal and monetary branches. Nevertheless, these futile stimulus actions are demanded and promoted by the crony capitalist lobbies which slipstream on whatever dispensations as can be mustered. At the end of the day, the state labors mightily, yet only produces recovery for the 1 percent.</blockquote>

Paul Krugman has criticized David Stockman's analysis of rising debt levels.<ref>[http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/03/debt-and-david-stockman/ Debt and David Stockman]</ref> Others have criticized Paul Krugman's analysis.<ref>[http://lewrockwell.com/anderson/anderson362.html Should Government Try to Extend Booms Indefinitely?]</ref> Paul Krugman's argument (essentially) is that debt does not matter because we (mostly) owe it to ourselves, but he never advocates repudiation or cancellation of the debt on the same basis.

===Status under current systems===
Whatever their political leanings, nearly all [[monetary reform]]ers agree that the current financial and economic system imposed on the populace by governments worldwide, involving coercive legal tender laws,<ref>[http://lewrockwell.com/paul/paul766.html Legalize Currency Competition], Ron Paul</ref> the perpetuation of government-protected private banks (organizations legally permitted to engage in unlimited and inherently speculative fractional-reserve banking activities during boom times, with recourse to monopoly central banks - and in some cases corrupt governments<ref>[http://www.prudentbear.com/index.php/thebearslairview?art_id=10513 The Evils of Crony Capitalism], Martin Hutchinson</ref><ref>[http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/ambroseevans-pritchard/100008812/irelands-debt-servitude/ Ireland's Debt Servitude], Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, UK Telegraph</ref> - to provide bail outs of fiat money during downturns), "deregulated" labor markets (which have the effect of increasing the marketization and commodification of human activity), strictly enforced bankruptcy laws (which permit the periodic transfer of assets from failed bankrupt investors caught at the end of "Ponzi-scheme" cycles to the private banks and their associates) and personal income tax (which, combined with periodic economic collapses, dispossesses the majority of the populace from their accumulated income and wealth and transfers this wealth to the owners of illicit government bonds) amounts to an inherently unstable, unjust and dysfunctional financial system resulting in environmentally damaging over-consumption and massive worldwide [[malinvestment]]s, the systematic and irredeemable destruction of fertile arable land,<ref>[http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/09/27/natural-resources-being-e_n_982576.html Natural Resources Being Exhausted]</ref> and the government-sponsored (and ultimately unsustainable) oppression of the indebted, impoverished and economically enslaved majority.<ref>[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-06/guest-post-all-well All Is Well], Jim Quinn</ref><ref>[http://www.thenewamerican.com/economy/economics/item/14238-obama%E2%80%99s-trillion-dollar-coin-exposes-federal-reserve-scam Obama’s Trillion-Dollar Coin Exposes Federal Reserve Scam], Alex Newman, ''New American''</ref><ref>[http://mises.org/daily/4893 ''The Ethics of Money Production''], Jorg Guido Hulsmann</ref><ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3Mtjsjfk98 Stacy Herbert and Max Keiser: Flaming Banks] Max Keiser Quote: "Well, ''it's slavery''. You know, they had slavery, then they outlawed slavery but in its place were the Jim Crow laws: 'Coloreds Only. Whites Only.' Then the banks got involved and they have ''financial'' Jim Crow laws. If you're black and living in the ghetto, you are charged 40, 50, 60% to borrow money. If you're white and you work on Wall Street, you're charged ''negative'' 5% to borrow money. That's a ''financial'' Jim Crow law that goes down color lines. Now the big corporations who realize America's becoming a new ''plantation of slaves'' - they're saying, 'Forget it! We don't even make a pretense that there's a "middle class". Here's a product for those living on the plantation. And here's the product for the man livin' in the Big House!'"</ref><ref>[http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2013/3/25_Sinclair_-_Cyprus%2C_Gold%2C_Russia_%26_A_New_Monetary_System.html Jim Sinclair Interview]. Quote: "He [Paul Craig Roberts] spoke about the banks moving to enslave humanity, and he said the Cypriots had to do whatever it took to put a stop to this."</ref>

==See also==
* [[Austrian Business Cycle Theory]]
* [[Central bank]]
* [[Monetary reform]]
* [[Murray Rothbard]]
* [[Ron Paul]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|4}}

==Links==
* [http://www.thefreemanonline.org/features/taking-money-back-part-i/ Taking Money Back: Part I] by [[Murray Rothbard|Murray N. Rothbard]], September 1995
* [http://www.thefreemanonline.org/features/fractional-reserve-banking-part-ii/ Fractional Reserve Banking: Part II] by Murray N. Rothbard, October 1995 (reprinted at [[LRC]] [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard239.html here])

*[http://econpapers.repec.org/paper/wpawuwpma/0203005.htm Fractional Reserve Banking as Economic Parasitism]
*[http://www.prosperityuk.com/prosperity/links/links.html Monetary Reform websites]
*[http://www.relfe.com/plus_5_.html I want the Earth Plus 5%]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqvKjsIxT_8 Money As Debt (videoplay animation)]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swkq2E8mswI&feature=like-suggest&list=UL The Secret of Oz (documentary video)]
*[http://dailyreckoning.com/ Daily Reckoning]
*[http://www.financialarmageddon.com/ Financial Armageddon]
*[http://jsmineset.com/ Jim Sinclair's MineSet]
*[http://www.lewrockwell.com/ LewRockwell.com]
*[http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/ Market Oracle]
*[http://maxkeiser.com/ Max Keiser]
*[http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/ MISH]
*[http://www.prudentbear.com/ PrudentBear.com]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx5Sc3vWefE 12 Year Old Victoria Grant's Speech]
*[http://www.webofdebt.com/ Web of Debt]
*[http://www.zerohedge.com/ Zero Hedge]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Criticism Of Fractional-Reserve Banking}}
[[Category:Argumentation]]
[[Category:Money]]