A Debate Over Monetary Reform
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The Rationale of Central Banking
THE RATIONALE OF CENTRAL BANKING A Liberty Press Edition Vera C. Smith THE RATIONALE OF CENTRAL BANKING and the Free Banking Alternative PREFACE BY LELAND B. YEAGER r . ,'7/ Liberty Fund Indianapolis LibertyPress is a publishing imprint of Liberty Fund, Inc., a foundation established to encourage study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals. The cuneiform inscription that serves as our logo and as the design motif for our endpapers is the earliest-known written appearance of the word °freedom" (amagiJ, or "liberty _It is taken from a clay document written about 2300 B (. in the Sumerian city-state of Lagash Reprinted by permission of A. Wilson-Smith. Prelate ©1990 by Leland B Yeager All rights reserved.All inquirms should be addressed to Liberty Fund, lnc, 8335 Allison Pointe Trail, Suite 300, Indianapolis, IN 46250-1687. This book was manufactured in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Smith, Vera C., 1912-1976 [Rationale of central banking] The rationale of central banking and the free banking alternative Vera C. Smith; preface by Leland B. Yeager p. cm. Reprint. Originally published" The rationale of central banking. Westminster, England: P.S King & Son Ltd., 1936 Includes bibliographical references 1. Banks and banking, Central 2. Banks and banking, Central-- Europe--History 3. Banks and banking, Central--United States-- History. HG1811.$5 1990 332.1' 1'094--dc20 90-30937 CIP ISBN 0-86597-086-6 ISBN 0-86597-087-4 (pbk) 1098765432 Contents Preface by Leland B. Yeager xiii Publisher's Note xxvii Foreword by Vera C. -
The Need for Monetary Reform
AMERICAN MONETARY INSTITUTE PO BOX 601, VALATIE, NY 12184 Tel. 518-392-5387, email [email protected] http://www.monetary.org Dedicated to the independent study of monetary history, theory, and reform “Over time, whoever controls the money system controls the society.” Stephen Zarlenga, Director The Need for Monetary Reform Monetary reform is the crucial missing element needed to move humanity away from a future dominated by fraud, warfare, and ugliness toward a world of justice, sustainability and beauty. The power to create money is an awesome power - at times stronger than the Executive, Legislative and Judicial powers combined. It’s the nation’s “magic checkbook,” where checks can’t bounce. When controlled privately it can be used to gain riches. More importantly, it determines the direction of society by controlling where the money goes – what gets funded and what does not. Will it be used to build and repair vital infrastructure - as Levees to protect major cities? Or will it go into real estate speculation, creating the real estate bubble? Will it fund sustainable industries with good jobs or go into Wall Street fueling stock market bubbles? Will it be channeled into warfare, leaving a trail of death, destruction and inflation? Thus the money issuing power should never be alienated from democratically elected government and placed ambiguously into private hands as it is in America in the Federal Reserve System today. In fact, the bulk of our money supply isn’t created by our government, but by private banks when they make loans. Through the Fed’s fractional reserve process what we use for money is issued as interest-bearing debt. -
Free Banking in America: Disaster Or Success?
Free Banking in America: Disaster or Success? Chris Surro December 17, 2015 Even among the strongest proponents of free markets, there is widespread agreement that there is a role for government in money. We can trust the invisible hand to organize pin factories, but not to issue currency. And in a world where central banks have come to dominate around the world, it becomes hard to imagine any system other than a government monopoly on money. But that wasn't always the case. History has seen many examples where banks freely competed, generating bank notes at their own discretion, usually backed by a commodity but not by a government. In the last thirty years, even as monetary systems have largely converged to centralization, there has been a resurgence in research surrounding alternative arrangements. Economic history has a large role to play in this resurgence. Studying past examples of banking systems, analyzing their strengths and weaknesses, could help us understand and improve modern banking institutions. The American \free banking era," which lasted from roughly 1836-1862, is one ex- ample of a monetary system that has generated substantial research and debate. Before 1836, banks in the United States required a charter from the state they were located in, giving them permission to issue currency. However, starting with Michigan in 1836, many states began to enact laws allowing free entry of banks and by 1860, the number of free banking states had grown to eighteen. Traditional accounts paint a picture of the free banking era as a period of monetary chaos. Lack of regulation allowed \Wildcat banks" to issue more currency than could ever hope to be redeemed, making banking panics frequent. -
Structural Reforms and the Exchange Rate Regime: a Panel Analysis for the World Versus OECD Countries
IZA DP No. 1798 Structural Reforms and the Exchange Rate Regime: A Panel Analysis for the World versus OECD Countries Ansgar Belke Bernhard Herz Lukas Vogel DISCUSSION PAPER SERIES DISCUSSION PAPER October 2005 Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit Institute for the Study of Labor Structural Reforms and the Exchange Rate Regime: A Panel Analysis for the World versus OECD Countries Ansgar Belke University of Hohenheim and IZA Bonn Bernhard Herz University of Bayreuth Lukas Vogel University of Bayreuth Discussion Paper No. 1798 October 2005 IZA P.O. Box 7240 53072 Bonn Germany Phone: +49-228-3894-0 Fax: +49-228-3894-180 Email: [email protected] Any opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and not those of the institute. Research disseminated by IZA may include views on policy, but the institute itself takes no institutional policy positions. The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn is a local and virtual international research center and a place of communication between science, politics and business. IZA is an independent nonprofit company supported by Deutsche Post World Net. The center is associated with the University of Bonn and offers a stimulating research environment through its research networks, research support, and visitors and doctoral programs. IZA engages in (i) original and internationally competitive research in all fields of labor economics, (ii) development of policy concepts, and (iii) dissemination of research results and concepts to the interested public. IZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. -
An Analysis of a Consumption Tax for California
An Analysis of a Consumption Tax for California 1 Fred E. Foldvary, Colleen E. Haight, and Annette Nellen The authors conducted this study at the request of the California Senate Office of Research (SOR). This report presents the authors’ opinions and findings, which are not necessarily endorsed by the SOR. 1 Dr. Fred E. Foldvary, Lecturer, Economics Department, San Jose State University, [email protected]; Dr. Colleen E. Haight, Associate Professor and Chair, Economics Department, San Jose State University, [email protected]; Dr. Annette Nellen, Professor, Lucas College of Business, San Jose State University, [email protected]. The authors wish to thank the Center for California Studies at California State University, Sacramento for their [email protected]; Dr. Colleen E. Haight, Associate Professor and Chair, Economics Department, San Jose State University, [email protected]; Dr. Annette Nellen, Professor, Lucas College of Business, San Jose State University, [email protected]. The authors wish to thank the Center for California Studies at California State University, Sacramento for their funding. Executive Summary This study attempts to answer the question: should California broaden its use of a consumption tax, and if so, how? In considering this question, we must also consider the ultimate purpose of a system of taxation: namely to raise sufficient revenues to support the spending goals of the state in the most efficient manner. Recent tax reform proposals in California have included a business net receipts tax (BNRT), as well as a more comprehensive sales tax. However, though the timing is right, given the increasingly global and digital nature of California’s economy, the recent 2008 recession tabled the discussion in favor of more urgent matters. -
Markets Not Capitalism Explores the Gap Between Radically Freed Markets and the Capitalist-Controlled Markets That Prevail Today
individualist anarchism against bosses, inequality, corporate power, and structural poverty Edited by Gary Chartier & Charles W. Johnson Individualist anarchists believe in mutual exchange, not economic privilege. They believe in freed markets, not capitalism. They defend a distinctive response to the challenges of ending global capitalism and achieving social justice: eliminate the political privileges that prop up capitalists. Massive concentrations of wealth, rigid economic hierarchies, and unsustainable modes of production are not the results of the market form, but of markets deformed and rigged by a network of state-secured controls and privileges to the business class. Markets Not Capitalism explores the gap between radically freed markets and the capitalist-controlled markets that prevail today. It explains how liberating market exchange from state capitalist privilege can abolish structural poverty, help working people take control over the conditions of their labor, and redistribute wealth and social power. Featuring discussions of socialism, capitalism, markets, ownership, labor struggle, grassroots privatization, intellectual property, health care, racism, sexism, and environmental issues, this unique collection brings together classic essays by Cleyre, and such contemporary innovators as Kevin Carson and Roderick Long. It introduces an eye-opening approach to radical social thought, rooted equally in libertarian socialism and market anarchism. “We on the left need a good shake to get us thinking, and these arguments for market anarchism do the job in lively and thoughtful fashion.” – Alexander Cockburn, editor and publisher, Counterpunch “Anarchy is not chaos; nor is it violence. This rich and provocative gathering of essays by anarchists past and present imagines society unburdened by state, markets un-warped by capitalism. -
The Depression of 2008
The Depression of 2008 by Fred E. Foldvary The Depression of 2008 by Fred E. Foldvary Second edition, Sept. 18, 2007 Copyright 2007. All rights reserved. Permission to copy excerpts for publication is granted provided that full credit (author, year, title, publisher, page numbers) is given and a copy of the publication is sent to the Gutenberg Press. ISBN 0-9603872-0-X The Gutenberg Press PO Box 9597 Berkeley CA 94709 [email protected] 1 Recessions and depressions The U.S. economy as well as much of the global economy will very likely fall into a depression in 2008. This booklet will explain why there will be a recession and depression by the end of the decade of 2000- 2010, and why the most probable year is 2008. You will learn how you can minimize your losses or even gain from this depression, and how government policies need to change to prevent future depressions. We need to first be clear on the difference between a recession and a depression. A recession is related to the word “recede,” meaning to fall back. An economic recession is a fall in total output that lasts for a significant time interval. In the U.S., a recession is usually recognized when the gross domestic product, the total output of legally produced goods, falls during two consecutive quarters, i.e. for six months. An economy is depressed when output falls below the long-run trend. Therefore a depression begins during a recession when GDP falls below the long-run trend and ends in the recovery when GDP rises above that trend. -
Presenting the American Monetary Act (As of July 18, 2010) ©2010 American Monetary Institute, P.O
Presenting the American Monetary Act (as of July 18, 2010) ©2010 American Monetary Institute, P.O. Box 601, Valatie, NY 12184 [email protected] 518-392-5387 “Over time, whoever controls the money system controls the nation.” Stephen Zarlenga, Director Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) made history on December 17th, 2010 when he introduced a version of this Act as the National Employment Emergency Defense Act (NEED Act), HR 6550, which faithfully contains all of these monetary reforms. Introduction Dear Friends, The World economy has been taken down and wrecked by the financial establishment and their economists; and by their supporters in the media they own, and even by some in the executive and legislative branches, in the name of “free markets” and insatiable greed. Shame! Shame on them all! The American Monetary Act (the “Act”) is a comprehensive reform of the present United States money system, and it resolves the current banking crisis. “Reform” is not in its title, because the AMI considers our monetary system to never have been adequately defined in law, but rather to have been put together piecemeal under pressure from particular interests, mainly banking, in pursuit of their own private advantage, without enough regard to our nation’s needs. That is the harsh judgment of history as made clear in The Lost Science of Money, by Stephen Zarlenga (abbreviated LSM).* That book presents the research results of The American Monetary Institute to date and this Act puts the reform process described in Chapter 24 into legislative language. Chapters 1 thru 23 present the historical background and case studies on which Chapter 24 is based. -
Karl Marx: His Influence from and on Australia 53
the rise and fall of australian socialism about the book This book deals principally with socialism and how it affected, and was affected by, Australia. There are differences between the rise and fall of Australian socialism and that of other countries, but there are also similarities. Australia is chosen because it is here that socialism first found a strong grassroots following and where socialism was first practised, well before the Russian, Italian and German disasters. australian Join us on a journey through the theories and ideas of various philosophers and economists. Explore how these ideas affected socialism Australia over time and see how the socialist economy and state developed in Australia (a microcosm for the rest of the world), and how and why it ultimately collapsed. about the author by Joshua (Timothy) Smith holds a Bachelor of Economics degree from the University of New Joshua Smith England and is currently completing a Master of Business in International Marketing at the University of Technology, Sydney. Starting in sales at 17, to earn money to go to university, Joshua has been in sales all his life, mostly in the IT industry. He is Joshua Smith currently co-owner of an international software company with offices in Australia, USA and UK, and distributors in UK, USA and Germany. Joshua has been married for 35 years and has three children. His interests include doing up 1870’s houses in Balmain, Sydney, researching political propaganda, especially wartime propaganda, and travel. ISBN 0-9775586-0-6 THE RISE AND FALL OF AUSTRALIAN SOCIALISM Joshua Smith Copyright© Joshua Smith 2006 Sydney AUSTRALIA All rights reserved. -
Libertarian Party at Sea on Land
Libertarian Party at Sea on Land To Mom who taught me the Golden Rule and Henry George 121 years ahead of his time and still counting Libertarian Party at Sea on Land Author: Harold Kyriazi Book ISBN: 978-1-952489-02-0 First Published 2000 Robert Schalkenbach Foundation Official Publishers of the works of Henry George The Robert Schalkenbach Foundation (RSF) is a private operating foundation, founded in 1925, to promote public awareness of the social philosophy and economic reforms advocated by famed 19th century thinker and activist, Henry George. Today, RSF remains true to its founding doctrine, and through efforts focused on education, communities, outreach, and publishing, works to create a world in which all people are afforded the basic necessities of life and the natural world is protected for generations to come. ROBERT SCHALKENBACH FOUND ATION Robert Schalkenbach Foundation [email protected] www.schalkenbach.org Libertarian Party at Sea on Land By Harold Kyriazi ROBERT SCHALKENBACH FOUNDATION New York City 2020 Acknowledgments Dan Sullivan, my longtime fellow Pittsburgher and geo-libertarian, not only introduced me to this subject about seven years ago, but has been a wonderful teacher and tireless consultant over the years since then. I’m deeply indebted to him, and appreciative of his steadfast efforts to enlighten his fellow libertarians here in Pittsburgh and elsewhere. Robin Robertson, a fellow geo-libertarian whom I met at the 1999 Council of Georgist Organizations Conference, gave me detailed constructive criticism on an early draft, brought Ayn Rand’s essay on the broadcast spectrum to my attention, helped conceive the cover illustration, and helped in other ways too numerous to mention. -
Peter J. Boettke
PETER J. BOETTKE BB&T Professor for the Study of Capitalism, Mercatus Center at George Mason University, & University Professor of Economics and Philosophy Department of Economics, MSN 3G4 George Mason University Fairfax, VA 22030 Tel: 703-993-1149 Fax: 703-993-1133 Web: http://www.peter-boettke.com http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=182652 http://www.coordinationproblem.org PERSONAL Date of birth: January 3, 1960 Nationality: United States EDUCATION Ph.D. in Economics, George Mason University, January, 1989 M.A. in Economics, George Mason University, January, 1987 B.A. in Economics, Grove City College, May, 1983 TITLE OF DOCTORAL THESIS: The Political Economy of Soviet Socialism, 1918-1928 PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE Academic Positions 1987 –88 Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, George Mason University 1988 –90 Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, School of Business Administration, Oakland University, Rochester, MI 48309 1990 –97 Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, New York University, New York, NY 10003 1997 –98 Associate Professor, Department of Economics and Finance, School of Business, Manhattan College, Riverdale, NY 10471 1998 – 2003 Associate Professor, Department of Economics, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030 (tenured Fall 2000) 2003 –07 Professor, Department of Economics, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030 2007 – University Professor, George Mason University 2011 – Affiliate Faculty, Department of Philosophy, George Mason University FIELDS OF INTEREST -
Max Hirsch (1875–1941): His Forgotten Fate and His Contributions to the Founding of Modern Rheumatology Wolfgang Keitel1, Leif Olsson2, Eric L
DOI: 10.5152/eurjrheum.2016.15101 Original Investigation Max Hirsch (1875–1941): His forgotten fate and his contributions to the founding of modern rheumatology Wolfgang Keitel1, Leif Olsson2, Eric L. Matteson3 Abstract Objective: To elucidate the connections between balneology and rheumatology in the founding period of the discipline of rheumatology, and describe the contributions of Max Hirsch, MD in the formation of professional rheumatology societies. Material and Methods: Historical documents from the medical history collection of Vogelsang –Gommern, Germany, and original person- al documents of the Hirsch family and information from the medical and historical period literature were used in developing this report. Results: The first efforts at organizing rheumatology as a recognized clinical and academic discipline took place in the 1920s. Many of the first proponents were balneologists who cared for patients with chronic arthritic conditions without the benefit of effective medications. Max Hirsch, MD was a major figure in the development of modern rheumatology as it emerged from the provenance of balneology and orthopedics as a recognized organized medical discipline, contributing to the founding of the German Society for Rheumatology and the International League Against Rheumatism. Conclusion: Max Hirsch made significant contributions to scientific and organized rheumatology in the early days of the discipline. His contributions to the field and his fate as a Jewish physician have only recently come to light. Keywords: Max Hirsch, history of rheumatology, balneology Introduction The leaders and founders of rheumatology as a formal academic discipline and the initiators of national and international professional rheumatology societies and organizations are well known and appreciated in the rheumatology and wider medical communities.