Post
Topic
Board Bitcoin Discussion
Re: Why There Should Be A Bitcoin Central Bank
by
jbreher
on 08/09/2014, 00:05:12 UTC
This is exactly correct.

No, this is incorrect. Most of the money that banks loan out (i.e. That above the reserve ratio - the vast bulk of it) is new money created by the very act of making the loan.

Quote
This is why banks need to keep a certain percentage of their money either on deposit at the federal reserve or in their cash vaults, so when depositors want to withdraw their money to another bank or want to withdraw cash fiat they are able to do so.

While true, it does little to illuminate the wealth-stealing scam by which most money comes into existence. The germane part that you seems to be glossing over is the 'certain percentage' part. First, this is a vanishingly small percentage. Historically, 10% was a number often used. I don't know what the current reserve ratio is. However, the 10% is misleading. When the bank loans out the $90 of a $100 deposit, what form is it in? Cash? No. It is in the form of a check. This check will most assuredly be deposited upon another account, adding to that bank's reserves. This bank then loans out $81 of the incoming $90, which is deposited in another bank, who then loans out $72, deposited in...

The ugliness is that this creates a situation in which a bank is overleveraged as a matter of course. If a significant number of depositors show up asking for their money, the bank cannot accommodate them. Indeed this is why the FED exists. If there is a run on the bank, the FED steps in and socializes the losses by printing yet more new money. At the very real cost of stealing more wealth -- in the form of purchasing power -- from each and every person holding dollars before the bailout.