A History of Central Banking in Great Britain and the United States (Studies in Macroeconomic History)

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Yanis Varoufakis, the proud radical leftist Greek economist and former minister of finance in Greece, calls ‘them’ the bankruptocracy in his book, Adults In The Room: my battle with Europe’s deep establishment. He has written several other books on the topic as well, including The Global Minotaur: America, Europe and the Future of the Global Economy and Modern Political Economics: Making Sense of the Post-2008 World. He is a popular and internationally well-known writer, author, and professor of economics. The book, published in 2016, goes to lengths to understand Mr Greenspan’s psychology, not only his adventures in the halls of power. He was once a jazz musician, loves tennis and counts Ayn Rand as a major intellectual influence—Mr Greenspan introduced her to President Gerald Ford. It assesses what Mr Greenspan’s career might tell us about the Fed’s response to the mortgage bubble of the 2000s. Contrary to common perception, he was not married to simple economic models and had no fantasies about “efficient markets” or “rational behaviour”. Instead he had a keen eye for economic data and stressed the importance of finance to the economy before it became vogue after the crisis. His mistake, then, was in miscalculating how risks in the mortgage market could be systemically harmful. The book offers an explanation for this: over his career he had been able to prevent many bubbles from causing widespread harm, such as in the panic of 1987, so he paid less attention to the buildup of risks in the 2000s. However, he was less than decisive in quelling the risks he was aware of. As Mr Mallaby puts it: “Greenspan was the man who knew. He was not the man who acted.” Read a longer review by Martin Wolf published in The Economist. The cultural and material progress of a civilization will often relate to the degree by which it is free from the influence of debt, and the degradation that results when the money-lenders are permitted to abuse their power. Hence, Goodson shows that both World Wars, the Napoleonic wars, the American Revolution, the rise and fall of Julius Caesar, the regicide of Charles I of England, the overthrow of Gaddafi in Libya and the revolution against Tsar Nicholas, among much else in history relate to this “Hidden Hand”. Around 600BC Latium came under the control of the Etruscans. This lasted until the last king, Tarquin the Proud, was expelled in 509BC and the Roman Republic was established. The Etruscans, a people of Aryan origin, created one of the most advanced civilisations of that period and built roads, temples and numerous public buildings in Rome.

Also included were these words: “Goodson was a remarkable economist, reformer, researcher and author. Stephen provided a tremendous service for future freedom and prosperity by lifting the veil of secrecy of so many facts and facets of the history of central banking and the enslavement of mankind.” Before I read this book I almost didn't think there were any new revelations for me to uncover. Little did I know I was about to open my eyes to a worldview-crashing overview of history from an economic perspective. It's depressing to think of how much time I wasted studying economic and philosophical theories meant to paralyze me and rationalizing their contradictions, when in reality the principles of power are so few, so simple, and utterly supplant the garbage we're taught about markets and freedom. The Hidden Origins of the Bank of England ...all great events have been distorted, most of the important causes concealed…If the history of England is ever written by one who has the knowledge and the courage, the world would be astonished. - Benjamin Disraeli, Prime Minister of Great Britain Central banks learned to be lenders of last resort and provide financial stability but the pursuit of “too big to fail” led to the development of fiscally resolved banking crises. The Global Financial Crisis was a major departure from the post–Great Depression experience for many advanced countries, but the lessons learned then prevented another financial crisis in 2020. However, the expansion of banks’ toolkits to include credit policy, a form of fiscal policy, threatens central-bank independence. The 'scam' of the money-lenders is the ability to literally create money from nothing, and then lend and accumulate interest on "credit," and then re-lend that interest for further interest, in perpetuity, that creates pervasive, worldwide debt, from the individual, to the family, to the entire state.This work provides not only a broad sweep of the history of economics over almost two millennia, but insights into how the problems of usury have been confounding and enslaving mankind since its civilized existence first began. Money Creation in the Modern Economy. By Michael McLeay, Amar Radia and Ryland Thomas of the Bank’s Monetary Analysis Directorate. Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin. Q1, 2014.

To help understand the central-banking landscape of today, it might be of value to revisit how such banks and monetary policy evolved through history. Up to 300BC there was an unsurpassed increase in public and private wealth of the Romans. This may be measured in the gain in land. After the conclusion of the Second Latin War in 338BC and the defeat of the Etruscans, the Roman Republic increased in size from 2,135 square miles (5,525 sq km) to 10,350 square miles (26,805 sq km) or 20% of peninsular Italy. In tandem with the expansion of its land area the population rose from about 750,000 to one million with 150,000 persons living in Rome itself. The approach taken is a fresh one and will be useful, especially to scholars who are interested in specific areas where central banks have played an important role in economic development over time.” (Pierre Siklos, EH Net, eh.net, November, 2019) For those of us who were convinced that wars were only caused by geo-political and perhaps ideological forces, Stephen Mitford Goodson conclusively documents the insidious role of international bankers.If we are to achieve real freedom, it is imperative that monetary reform be pursued with the same vigour and intensity as was displayed towards political reform during the struggle years. But that requires understanding the complex issues of how money is created, whom it belongs to and whose interests it serves.