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Showing posts with the label free banking

Free Market Keynesianism?

Let's say one admits that a general glut is possible . Furthermore, let's say one believes that prices are unlikely to fall fast enough to work off this problem swiftly, and one resists the idea that "the pain is good for us." Is the only answer government stimulus? Consider the following passage: "Unemployment develops, that is to say, because people want the moon; — men cannot be employed when the object of desire (i.e. money) is something which cannot be produced and the demand for which cannot be readily choked off. There is no remedy but to persuade the public that green cheese is practically the same thing and to have a green cheese factory (i.e. a central bank) under public control." -- J.M. Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money , Chapter 17 This, I think, is not quite right: money can be produced. Under free banking, it is produced by private banks, and their means of production is the careful management of their reser...