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Is fractional reserve banking legal?

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  • WellKnownSid
    WellKnownSid Posts: 2,219 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    the fact of the matter is that banks create money out of thin air, devaluing the economy

    No, I think you'll find the opposite is true
    and expecting us to pay back something we obtain through work

    Well, yes, that's the point isn't it? Your loan repayments are an asset on the bank's balance sheet.
    plus interest on top, something is inherently wrong here!

    No, they're providing a service. They're not a charity.
    the other interesting point in all this is that there is only sufficient money in circulation to pay the debt, if everyone paid back all that was borrowed there would be no money left. the money required for interest doesnt exist either. this is absolutely absurd!

    That's not true either. You'd just print more money. Which you can do because money is more fictional than the banks which handle it.
  • opinions4u
    opinions4u Posts: 19,411 Forumite
    it doesnt matter what it is, the fact of the matter is that banks create money out of thin air,
    If they could do this, how come banks can and do go bust?
  • John1993_2
    John1993_2 Posts: 1,090 Forumite
    opinions 4u and southend1, please look up how fractional reserve works, im not making this up. if its savers then where do they get the money from in the first place?

    Is that a serious question? If so...

    I first saved some of my pocket money, but in recent years tend to save money from wages.

    Bu seriously, where do you think savers money comes from?
  • John1993_2
    John1993_2 Posts: 1,090 Forumite
    all it can possibly achieve is what we have seen for years, the rich get richer and the poor poorer.

    That's obviously not true. 50 years ago the poor lived in tenements, had no entertainment, no cars, no modern appliances, and generally had a horrible time. The poor now often have televisions, shop-bought clothes, can afford enough food to live on (how many cases of adults starving to death through poverty have you seen recently), and can even afford to drink and smoke.

    The "poor" in the UK live in luxury that much of the world would kill for. They also be a free state education to 18, and government training and assistance to find a job after that, plus generous benefits if they can't or won't find work.

    No, the poor are richer than they have ever been, your statement is ridiculous.
  • Southend1
    Southend1 Posts: 3,362 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    John1993 wrote: »
    Is that a serious question? If so...

    I first saved some of my pocket money, but in recent years tend to save money from wages.

    Bu seriously, where do you think savers money comes from?

    Most of it is credit created by private banks, which when you pay your pocket money into the bank becomes the reserve for a larger loan, creating more pocket money then more loans then more......... Ad infinitum
  • Southend1
    Southend1 Posts: 3,362 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    John1993 wrote: »
    That's obviously not true. 50 years ago the poor lived in tenements, had no entertainment, no cars, no modern appliances, and generally had a horrible time. The poor now often have televisions, shop-bought clothes, can afford enough food to live on (how many cases of adults starving to death through poverty have you seen recently), and can even afford to drink and smoke.

    The "poor" in the UK live in luxury that much of the world would kill for. They also be a free state education to 18, and government training and assistance to find a job after that, plus generous benefits if they can't or won't find work.

    No, the poor are richer than they have ever been, your statement is ridiculous.

    So the drinkers depicted in Hogarth's Gin Lane of the 18th century were not poor?

    And there was really no entertainment for the less well off 50 years ago? Pubs, working mens' clubs, skittles, football - these were all the preserve of the upper classes?
  • Southend1
    Southend1 Posts: 3,362 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    John1993 wrote: »

    Bu seriously, where do you think savers money comes from?

    Out of interest, where do you think it comes from?
  • John1993_2
    John1993_2 Posts: 1,090 Forumite
    Southend1 wrote: »
    So the drinkers depicted in Hogarth's Gin Lane of the 18th century were not poor?

    And there was really no entertainment for the less well off 50 years ago? Pubs, working mens' clubs, skittles, football - these were all the preserve of the upper classes?

    You seem to be being deliberately obtuse. The point I made was that the poor in England today live like kings compared to the poor of centuries past. They live like kings compared to the poor in certain parts of the planet today, too.

    How you can possibly go from that to thinking that I was saying the opposite, I don't really know.
  • John1993_2
    John1993_2 Posts: 1,090 Forumite
    Southend1 wrote: »
    Out of interest, where do you think it comes from?

    Mine comes from trading interest rates in an investment bank. Yours?
  • Southend1
    Southend1 Posts: 3,362 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    John1993 wrote: »
    Mine comes from trading interest rates in an investment bank. Yours?

    Hmmm and you said I was being obtuse!

    So come on then, how does the money paid to you by the investment bank come into being?
This discussion has been closed.
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