[lbo-talk] Kucinich on money

[John Thornton]

Shane Mage wrote:
>
> On Sep 30, 2008, at 2:09 AM, John Thornton wrote:
>> Shane Mage wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Nationalizing the Fed COULD be a fine idea (but this is really 
>>>> dependent on many things) but abolishing fractional-reserve banking 
>>>> is nuttery.
>>>
>>> Not the least little bit.  My venerable Keynesian professor of 
>>> monetary economics at Columbia 60 years ago, J. W. Angell, was a 
>>> long-time advocate of what, back in the day, was called "100% 
>>> money."  By eliminating fractional-reserve banking, the amount of 
>>> credit provided to the economy is determined by the sum of voluntary 
>>> savings, long-term investment in bank capital, and credit provided 
>>> by the central bank.  Thus the central bank could at will limit 
>>> credit expansion in inflationary conjunctures and increase the 
>>> supply of credit in deflationary ones.  This mechanism is vital to 
>>> any real economic planning and supremely so to socialist economic 
>>> planning.
>>
>> With all due respect to J.W.Angell eliminating fractional-reserve 
>> banking in the real world is nuttery.
>> More than the least little bit I might add.
>
>
> For me, "nuttery" is accepting the unchangeability of the capitalist 
> financial system. In this sense, talking about the "real world" is the 
> sign of nuttery (C. Wright Mills called it, more elegantly, "Crackpot 
> Realism.")
>
> Shane Mage

So in your mind one cannot have socialism and fractional-reserve banking?
Odd.
Why would that be?
Why do you imagine by the term real world I mean the capitalist 
financial system is unchangeable?
I don't and nothing in my post suggests otherwise. That is completely a 
construct of yours.
Perhaps your idea of fractional-reserve banking is a bit incomplete if 
you think it can only serve capital?

John Thornton