book data
54 ratings,
4.15
average rating, 19 reviews
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published
September 4th 1994
by Ludwig Von Mises Institute
binding
Paperback, 158 pages
url
isbn
094546617X
(isbn13: 9780945466178)
description
The most powerful case against the American central bank ever written. This work begins with a mini-treatment of money and banking theory, and then pl
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avg 4.15
editions: all | this edition
editions: all | this edition
Read in January, 2009
I'm sure this was a very informative, but it was also extremely dry. Even though I haven't read something this boring, since my Palestinian Hamas textbook in my senior polsci research class, I was going to prove I could finish it. I didn't finish it since I have a newborn, and Kim wanted to pick it up. I didn't start reading it until it had been in my house for about a month. I read 3/4 of it in about a week before I ran out of time. It seemed to contradict the documentary, The Money Master...more
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Read in March, 2009
An "embezzler," is defined by Webster's as "one who appropriates fraudulently to one's own use what is entrusted to one's care and management." Our system of fractional reserve banking, whereby bankers create counterfeit deposit receipts without sufficient reserves to back them, is inherently fraudulent. Our government protects the monopoly power of the federal reserve to regulate our money supply and sanctions bank counterfeiting and embezzling, and we are are all so used ...more
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Read in December, 2008
The Mises Institute hosts this book as PDF and audio.
The first half of the book is a great introduction to how fractional reserve banking works and why it sucks.
Unfortunately, the later half is devoted to a dry and biased account of the history of the debate on central banking in the US and its culmination in the creation of the Federal Reserve. In it, the public are stupid, there are no legitimate arguments for central banking, and the tiny subset of pro-fed lobbyists a...more
The first half of the book is a great introduction to how fractional reserve banking works and why it sucks.
Unfortunately, the later half is devoted to a dry and biased account of the history of the debate on central banking in the US and its culmination in the creation of the Federal Reserve. In it, the public are stupid, there are no legitimate arguments for central banking, and the tiny subset of pro-fed lobbyists a...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
libertarians and people who think their money is "in" the bank
I mean sure, fractional reserve banking may not seem like a gripping plot line, and in truth it is not. I imagine most people have not even considered What constitutes money? Or what happens to their money when they deposit it at the bank. Certainly, fewer have wondered what is the Fed and what causes inflation.
This book rallies behind the forgotten, hard-money, political ideals of Jefferson and Jackson. These ideals are in strong support of a gold standard and 100% reserve banking. ...more
This book rallies behind the forgotten, hard-money, political ideals of Jefferson and Jackson. These ideals are in strong support of a gold standard and 100% reserve banking. ...more
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Read in November, 2008
The most important thing I learned in this book is that the private ownership of the Federal Reserve is not the most interesting part of its sneakiness. It is the control and power which the Federal Reserve can exert by expanding and contracting credit at will - totally unregulated, that makes it so pernicious. The issuance of high-powered money (money at stage 1 of the inflation process) to the Fed's friends and families makes it terribly powerful.
One more interesting tidbit was the...more
One more interesting tidbit was the...more
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12/29/08
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Read in December, 2008
A dry read...but interesting for money & banking or economics nerds. Fractional-reserve banking does appear inherently insolvent. However, it has pretty much worked for the past 70 years. The author, from a radically conservative school of economics, has some great points for further thought, particularly the Fed as the primary inflation-creator in our economy, but his suggestion that we return to the gold standard is unrealistic and extreme.
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
those interested in finance and monetary policy
Rothbard was in the Austrian school of economics. He explains our current system of fractional-reserve banking, by means of simple examples (that I have to re-read to firm up the concepts), and argues that it is a damaging and unhealthy way to run a nation's banks. Then he provides a coherent re-interpretation of American economic history, showing how such hallowed constructs as the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, as well as the Federal Reserve Act are not benevolent ...more
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Read in January, 2009
The thesis of this book is all the more troubling in the current economic climate. Basically says that the Fed is counterfeiting and causing inflation by printing fiat money with no backing.
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the first half of the book is very pertinent to our current economic situation and the second half exposes the in-bed-ness of industry and central banking.
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Murray Rothbard gives a withering rebuke of the institution that may have more impact on our daily lives than any other in the country.
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Read in November, 2008
Very thought provoking and an ominous look at this private institution. Picked it up after watching Zeitgeist. Excellent.
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Read in September, 2008
recommends it for:
Anyone who thinks they are free.
Ever since the creation of the Federal Reserve, the U.S. taxpayers have been hostages to the banking cartel.
This book simply explains how the Feds cause the cycle of boom and busts, and how they profit from it. It explains how inflation and fractional reserve banking works, also to their benifit at the expense of the taxpayer.
In summary the book expains how the Morgans and Rockerfellers have a monopoly on counterfieting the U.S. dollar with the "full faith and credi...more
This book simply explains how the Feds cause the cycle of boom and busts, and how they profit from it. It explains how inflation and fractional reserve banking works, also to their benifit at the expense of the taxpayer.
In summary the book expains how the Morgans and Rockerfellers have a monopoly on counterfieting the U.S. dollar with the "full faith and credi...more
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It was expalined in such a way that you could understand his point of view then he would come from a blind spot and sideline you with how it look sin regards to money but is not.
I had a hard time reading it though because I saw the principles that are supposed to be followed but are not and I would find myself very upset at our banking institutions.
Again the principle I was very quickly reminded of is to never borrow from the future. However if I do have o borrow money, ensure ...more
I had a hard time reading it though because I saw the principles that are supposed to be followed but are not and I would find myself very upset at our banking institutions.
Again the principle I was very quickly reminded of is to never borrow from the future. However if I do have o borrow money, ensure ...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
Economists with a sense of humor/General public for a history lesson of the Fed
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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Read in January, 2008
"The Fed wants people to use checks [debit] rather than cash as far as possible, so that it can generate bank credit inflation at a pace that it can control" -- what's this business?
"And then, should any maverick skeptic arise, who ... tries to dig more deeply into the economic motivations at work, he will be quickly and brusquely dismissed as an 'extremist' (whether of Left or Right), a malcontent, and, most damning of all, a 'believer in the conspiracy theory of hist...more
"And then, should any maverick skeptic arise, who ... tries to dig more deeply into the economic motivations at work, he will be quickly and brusquely dismissed as an 'extremist' (whether of Left or Right), a malcontent, and, most damning of all, a 'believer in the conspiracy theory of hist...more
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Such needed wisdom for today's financial atrocities. In short, the American people have permitted legalized counterfeiting, and have permitted a few bankers to gain control of the nation's financial affairs. The Federal Reserve must be abolished immediately.
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Murray Rothbard gives a withering rebuke of the institution that may have more impact on our daily lives than any other in the country.
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Amazing book that destroys the false God that is the FED and exposes modern banking as a fraud.
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