Just finished reading the

[ALB]

Just finished reading the book of that New Economics Foundation video. Here are some of its more ridiculous claims:

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private banks can really create money by simply making an entry in a ledger.

and not just money but real wealth too:

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Those with the power to create new money have enormous power — they can create wealth simply by typing figures into a computer.

But it’s not just banks:

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Building societies and credit unions also have the right to create money through issuing credit.

Tell that to the management committee of a credit union.But not only that. Banks (and presumably credit unions too) create money and wealth not just when they make a loan but whenever they spend any money even to cover their own expenses, including on the salaries of their staff:

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the bank creates new money when it buys assets, goods or services on its own account, or pays its staff salaries or bonuses.

They can even create their own capital (though why they need any when they can create money simply by making an entry in a ledger and then spending it is unclear):

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in aggregate, banks are not constrained by capital, as they create the money that circulates and can be used to increase capital.

With banks’ possessing such magical powers it’s surprising that any capitalists invest in the non-banking sector.  And why don’t we all set up credit unions and pay ourselves the money we need instead of going to work for an employer?And there’s this:

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It is the ability of banks to create new money, independently of the state, which gave rise to capitalism.

Marx tells a rather different story in the section of Capital on “So-called Primitive Accumulation”. Earlier of course he had explained that the only way wealth can be produced is by humans applying their mental and physical energies to materials that originally came from nature.