Live data from Hacker News

Central Banking for All: A Public Option for Bank Accounts (2018) [pdf]

greatdemocracyinitiative.org

21–30 of 106 posts

Re: Central Banking for All: A Public Option for Bank Accounts (2018) [pdf]

#21
post #17

Banks as private middlemen providing society with a payment system is an outdated and baroque system. Today, the whole payment system of an average nation can work over a single cluster of computers in the basement of the central bank, there is absolutely no reason not to provide this service for free to all citizens and businesses since it's a critical part of living in a society. The whole superstructure of banks,…

So the central bank can ride a financial storm by blanket buying paper with fresh money and let the market discover the winners

How can the market determine the winners if the central bank is propping up the losers by buying their paper?

Re: Central Banking for All: A Public Option for Bank Accounts (2018) [pdf]

#22
post #17

Banks as private middlemen providing society with a payment system is an outdated and baroque system. Today, the whole payment system of an average nation can work over a single cluster of computers in the basement of the central bank, there is absolutely no reason not to provide this service for free to all citizens and businesses since it's a critical part of living in a society. The whole superstructure of banks,…

I wonder why everyone is downplaying the moral and technical hazard of having a single entity controlling all the issuance and payments in a country? At least right now if some bank sucks I can take my money elsewhere.

Well, the payment system facet of the banking sector is so tightly regulated by laws and central bank regulations that you could as well consider it controlled by a single entity - the government. Nothing much changes, and in fact you can provide by law some basic rights of access to the financial system. Currently, in most countries it is conceptually possible for an individual to be rejected by all commercial banks without compelling legal reasons.

Re: Central Banking for All: A Public Option for Bank Accounts (2018) [pdf]

#23
post #21
post #17

Banks as private middlemen providing society with a payment system is an outdated and baroque system. Today, the whole payment system of an average nation can work over a single cluster of computers in the basement of the central bank, there is absolutely no reason not to provide this service for free to all citizens and businesses since it's a critical part of living in a society. The whole superstructure of banks,…

So the central bank can ride a financial storm by blanket buying paper with fresh money and let the market discover the winners How can the market determine the winners if the central bank is propping up the losers by buying their paper?

Because the buying would be indiscriminate, while the market can (and will, to an extreme degree) discriminate.

Re: Central Banking for All: A Public Option for Bank Accounts (2018) [pdf]

#24
So "Great Democracy" is how they are going to wrap this, huh. "This" being helicopter money AKA digital dollars AKA direct fiscal injection into private Americans' bank accounts.

Been a long time coming.

Who is The Great Democracy Initiative, and where does their funding come from?

Re: Central Banking for All: A Public Option for Bank Accounts (2018) [pdf]

#25
This is an obvious trojan horse for totalitarian central planning. Easier to enact negative interest rate policy when everyone is holding an account at the Fed and no one can take out their money since cash is either banned or made severely inaccessible (like in some EU countries).

In my opinion private banks are perfectly fine, the problem isn't the idea of independent banks, the problem is government and central banks subsidising losers by bail-outs and the "lender of last resort" mandate while also enacting enormous regulatory barriers that make it impossible for new banks/financial institutions to compete with incumbents.

Re: Central Banking for All: A Public Option for Bank Accounts (2018) [pdf]

#26
post #16
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I probably wouldn't consider Zerohedge a reliable source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_Hedge

The direct quotes from this article can been found elsewhere on the internet. They collate them to provide a coherent narrative which is backed up by the OP article. This is an ad hominem argument and not compelling in this case.

It's really hard to convince ZH detractors. A naive perusal of the site is definitely packed with of, at its most charitable interpretation, a bunch of gobbledegook, and at its least charitable, pure propaganda. But between the lines there is a lot of truth, and importantly, many facts and analysis that you will never find in any mainstream sources, neither NYT nor Fox News nor the Atlantic nor whatever else. It takes real critical thought and an open mind to pull the value out of it - and it is there. I read it every day.

Re: Central Banking for All: A Public Option for Bank Accounts (2018) [pdf]

#27

this seems like the wrong direction. I'd prefer to get rid of the Fed. No reason for the Federal Govt to borrow money it can print itself. Opening up what it means to be a bank makes sense though.

I agree with you on getting rid of the Fed. Borrow money from future generations to print today's money. Totally not ever going to be a problem, I plomise. ;)

Re: Central Banking for All: A Public Option for Bank Accounts (2018) [pdf]

#28
post #5

Commercial banking, together with the Intellectual Property system, is one of the greatest Rentier swindles of all time. We are literally renting the money we use, for extortionate prices [1]. "The dollar as a reserve currency transfers wealth from the rest of world to the USA One final way in which money works today that has a substantial effect on the workings of the global political economy is the use of the US do…

The USA is not, in percentage of their economy, the largest debtor nation. The dollar have a special status, because of the importance (economic and geopolitic) of the USA, but that's not what explain the untroubled existence of a big public debt. If that theory was true how they explain Japan?

37% of USA debt is held by foreigners, while it's just about 9% in Japan.

Re: Central Banking for All: A Public Option for Bank Accounts (2018) [pdf]

#29
post #25

This is an obvious trojan horse for totalitarian central planning. Easier to enact negative interest rate policy when everyone is holding an account at the Fed and no one can take out their money since cash is either banned or made severely inaccessible (like in some EU countries). In my opinion private banks are perfectly fine, the problem isn't the idea of independent banks, the problem is government and central ba…

The horse is out of the barn there.

Many forms of credit are basically government lons anyway. The current model of thousands of retail and commercial banks isn’t sustainable. Most bank business could be done at a post office or gas station counter. They exist as a sales funnel.

Re: Central Banking for All: A Public Option for Bank Accounts (2018) [pdf]

#30
post #23
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the central bank can ride a financial storm by blanket buying paper with fresh money and let the market discover the winners How can the market determine the winners if the central bank is propping up the losers by buying their paper?

Because the buying would be indiscriminate, while the market can (and will, to an extreme degree) discriminate.

If this was true, "zombie companies" wouldn't be a term bandied around as much lately.
Post reply on HN