Like taxation, government spending diverts resources from real wealth-generating ventures. Borrowed funds for continued spending must also be repaid, so current spending translates to future taxation.
One of the easiest ways of asserting control over the private sector is to manage the money supply with a central bank. Naturally, Marx was rather fond of the idea.
Italy’s problems are yet to descend into a Greek-style crisis, but that is the direction of travel. And Italy is far more serious than Greece because of its sheer size.
Japan's Shinzo Abe has turned to Europe in hopes of stabilizing Japan's fiscal and and monetary situation. But Europe is a shaky foundation on which to build anything.
"The main thing is that the government should no longer be in a position to increase the quantity of money in circulation and the amount of checkbook money not fully — that is, 100 percent — covered by deposits paid in by the public."
It's government — not markets — that intervene to "stimulate" ever greater amounts of spending and consumption. A healthy market economy, meanwhile, relies on both saving and spending.
