I think history has proved pretty well by now that if you try to govern your economy or your population with systems that go against the grain of human nature, you're on to a loser.
The collapse of the Soviet Union and the shift of China towards a highly-controlled form of capitalism showed that whatever you thought of the ideals of communism, in practice, it didn't work ownership and profiting from your own work is important to people.
In the West, we're also waking up to the futility of trying to buck human nature with the creeping retreat from the war on drugs'. Prohibition of booze didn't work, and we're realising it doesn't work for narcotics either. With the US steadily legalising the use of marijuana, it's hopefully only a matter of time before these very lucrative criminal markets are shut down for good.
Subscribe to MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE
Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Now, it seems, the race is on to seriously rethink the financial system. This week, Martin Wolf wrote a piece in the Financial Times, calling for an end to fractional reserve banking.
Before you start thinking the FT has gone all Austrian economics' on us, Wolf was suggesting that money creation should be strictly controlled by the state, not outlining plans for a gold-backed currency or a system of competing versions of Bitcoin.
His basic point is that the most money creation is actually done by the commercial banks, not the central bank. By reining in their power to print money almost at will, we'd avoid destabilising financial crises like the one we endured in 2008.
I'd agree something needs to be done. But I think Wolf's argument misses the point. It's not so much the process of money creation that's the issue. It's human nature, and the failure of our system to work with it.
During the boom, banks weren't forcing credit onto investors investors were desperately chasing yield. The banks were just creating products to meet demand. The real problem is that old chestnut, moral hazard' if you create an environment where you protect people from the consequences of their actions, then they'll take full advantage. And that boils down to the very central banks that Wolf would like to see monopolise credit creation.
Long experience had taught both banks and investors to expect the Federal Reserve and other central banks to step in with lower interest rates to prop up asset prices. Until the financial system basically choked on dodgy debt, there was virtually limitless demand for credit.
If the Fed hadn't been as accommodating through the 1990s and early 2000s, then perhaps investors would have been warier of the downsides of capitalism bankruptcy and the 2008 crisis would never have happened.
Instead, we're perpetuating the moral hazard with money printing, and governments are reduced to introducing ad hoc credit controls, such as the Mortgage Market Review. But perhaps we shouldn't be surprised as Bill Bonner notes, nobody really wants capitalism.
-
Why CEOs deserve a pay riseOpinion The CEOs of big companies often come under fire for being grossly overpaid. But the truth, as per some economists, is the opposite. Do they merit a pay rise?
-
Europe prepares to stand alone as Trump turns on UkraineSupport for old military alliances is wavering in the US under Donald Trump. Europe’s leaders are rushing to fill the void. Simon Wilson reports
-
How capitalism has been undermined by poor governanceEditor's letter Capitalism’s “ruthless efficiency” has been undermined by poor governance, a lack of competition and central banks’ over-enthusiastic money printing, says Andrew Van Sickle.
-
The biggest change in the last 17 years – the death of the “Greenspan put”Editor's letter Since I joined MoneyWeek 17 years ago, says John Stepek, we’ve seen a global financial crisis, a eurozone sovereign debt crisis , several Chinese growth scares, a global pandemic, and a land war in Europe. But the biggest change is the death of the “Greenspan put”.
-
Things won't just return to normal – that's not how inflation worksEditor's letter You might think that, if inflation is indeed “transitory”, we just need to wait and everything will return to “normal”. But this is a grave misunderstanding of how inflation works, says John Stepek.
-
Car hire and the strangeness of the post-pandemic economyEditor's letter A global shortage of hire cars and unusually high hotel occupancy rates sum up the post-pandemic global economy in a nutshell, says Merryn Somerset Webb, with enhanced demand meeting restricted supply.
-
Everything is getting more expensive – including moneyEditor's letter Investors are about to start feeling rather more pain, says Merryn Somerset Webb – from the rising price of money.
-
We may be heading for recession – and it will be no ordinary recessionEditor's letter Just as the downturn in 2020 was not a typical recession. the next downturn could be very different too, says Merryn Somerset Webb.
-
What companies should be prioritising this decadeEditor's letter In a world beset by uncertainty, companies should be prioritising slack over efficiency, says Merryn Somerset Webb.
-
Inflation could soon start to hurtEditor's letter Inflation is not going away. And with people's wages not keeping up, things are going to start to hurt, says Merryn Somerset Webb.
