[patrickg_zill]

If any person, non-profit, or regular corporation, ran their business the way the Federal Reserve did, they would be in jail as soon as what they were doing was public knowledge.

The only reason we have this ridiculous system in place is because military force.

[Steko]

I miss the good old days when monetary cranks would always come right out and talk about the Rothschilds and 'international bankers' so the average reader knew they were bonkers.

Fiat money won everywhere because it outcompeted the alternatives. Fractional reserve banking too.

[gpvos]

So that means they followed the path of least resistance when they introduced it, instead of thinking it through. (Or they did think it through and it was the Rothschilds after all.)

In biological evolution, the competition winner is often a more complex organism. Fiat money is more complex than the gold standard, and apparently won. But in the case of the economy, we should keep things simple enough that a large chunk of the population can still understand it. Otherwise, a small number of very specialized people will have such an information advantage that they can, and will be economically forced to, exploit all the others. I'm not saying that fiat money and fractional reserve banking are a problem, but they need to be regulated rather strongly to prevent problems.

[patrickg_zill]

What part of having a gun pointed at your head, is "outcompeting"?