Comment Re:What a bunch of hooye, total garbage (Score 1) 91
Governments do have a role in money systems. The Dutch Central Bank is celebrating its 200th anniversary this year, and it's interesting to note that the first 30 years were spent trying to establish faith in paper money. Once this had happened it opened the way for some much needed liquidity in the economy and a lot more economic activity happened as a result of that.
In the 11th century the Vikings raided the monasteries. This provided a much-needed economic boost once the gold came into circulation again. With paper money you NEVER have an end to circulation: you can always print more as needed. So it is very useful if you want to have some influence over the economy to have a currency that you can control. And this has very little to do with "governments being evuhl" and a lot with governments being the "management board of capitalism".
Crises, finally, are not caused by misallocation of funds, but by a lack of return on investment in every sector. *This* causes misallocation of funds as capitalists (sorry: investors) then become desperate for ROI and start to invest in tulips, bad loans and Zynga shares. Eventually that collapses, leaving everyone with worthless stuff, companies go bankrupt and the system is rationalized once again. ROI is restored by companies that are able to buy out their competitors for an apple and an egg, and things start anew.
I do have disagreements with the author - money and contracts are not the same, for instance, and while the choice of distribution of money is political most countries have a central bank that does this, usually outside direct political control - invalidating at least part of the thesis as I see it. But I doubt its complete nonsense.