Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Prologue
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 The History of Money
- Chapter 2 Central Bankers: The Alchemists of our Time
- Chapter 3 The History of the Dollar
- Chapter 4 A Planet of Debt
- Chapter 5 The War on Gold
- Chapter 6 The Big Reset
- Epilogue
- Appendix I Demonetized Currencies (1700-2013)
- Appendix II Wall Street Fines (2000-2013)
- Bibliography
- Register
Chapter 2 - Central Bankers: The Alchemists of our Time
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 December 2020
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Prologue
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 The History of Money
- Chapter 2 Central Bankers: The Alchemists of our Time
- Chapter 3 The History of the Dollar
- Chapter 4 A Planet of Debt
- Chapter 5 The War on Gold
- Chapter 6 The Big Reset
- Epilogue
- Appendix I Demonetized Currencies (1700-2013)
- Appendix II Wall Street Fines (2000-2013)
- Bibliography
- Register
Summary
The Bank hath benefited of interest on all monies which it creates out of nothing.
– William Paterson, one of the founders of the Bank of England (1697)Gold still represents the ultimate form of payment in the world. Fiat money in extremis is accepted by nobody. Gold is always accepted.
– Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve (1999)If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and the corporations which grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.
– Thomas Jefferson, third President of America and drafter of the Declaration of Independence (1808)It is a sobering fact that the prominence of central banks in this century has coincided with a general tendency towards more inflation, not less. [I]f the overriding objective is price stability, we did better with the nineteenth-century gold standard and passive central banks, with currency boards, or even with ‘free banking.’ The truly unique power of a central bank, after all, is the power to create money, and ultimately the power to create is the power to destroy.
– Paul Volcker, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve in the foreword of The Central Banks (1995)INTRO
The very first form of banking started well over 5,000 years ago, while fractional and fiat money systems began appearing almost 1,000 years ago. The first central bank appeared some 500 years ago. (Central) bankers, the alchemists of our time, have a monopoly on the creation of money, just like the police and army have a monopoly on violence. In the last century, central bankers have succeeded in turning paper into gold and gold into paper. The bank notes of the European Central Bank (ECB) no longer refer in any way to any intrinsic value, although the ECB still owns some 660 tonnes of gold. We have all become used to seeing unbacked paper money as value, which is precisely what our central bankers have been conditioning us to believe for over a century. Our entire monetary system is built on trust.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Big ResetWar on Gold and the Financial Endgame, pp. 48 - 62Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2015