Readers, this is a long article, and in my opinion well worth the effort. Liu's essays are usually well written and well researched historically. This particular essay seems exceptionally lucid. He covers both the historical and theoretical economic details. To a large extent his conclusion is in the title. In effect the use of the US Dollar as the international reserve currency was a bad idea driven by an ideologically based economics.

The flight from reason that now marks American public discourse came home for me last Friday when I found myself on public radio debating whether Barack Obama is anti-business. The “news hook” for KCRW’s “Left, Right & Center” show, which I have co-hosted for 15 years, was an absurd spate of charges from Obama’s former big-business allies that he had become their enemy. If only it were so.

Readers, I will comment on this a bit later. I believe that Dick has the basics right if not the details, Tadit Anderson

Burlington, Iowa. June 16, 2010.

Warren Buffet recently said, “There is a class war going on and my class is winning.” He is certainly correct. In September of 2008 when the greed and recklessness of the “too-big-to-fail” banks caused millions of U. S. citizens to lose their jobs, their homes, much of their savings, even their pensions, who did our government bail out, the big banks or the American people?

Readers, this article is a bit dated in its opening, and its coverage of the Chicago Plan of 1933 which pre-dated Keynes's "The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money" by three years. The particular group that put this together was only centered in Chicago and included notable economists who taught at other universities. It is probably a good thing to look over their plan to address similar conditions.

Readers, this a relatively basic article on one aspect of monetary reform. It is effectively a discussion of how money relies upon sovereign authority to assign value to money. Moving from a specie based economic model to a fiat based monetary system is in effect a process of seigniorage, and who controls the benefits derived from that process becomes very important. The term seigniorage is generally not used very often in the US, and been more of a European way of expressing why we need restoration of the sovereign power to create money along side the power to tax.

Readers, for the record I personally disagree with Paul Krugman a lot, but for the sake of some diversity here is Dean Baker's analysis of the situation. This place Baker as a variety of moderate, in my opinion. One reason is that he does not at all address the necessity of fundamental monetary reform, only the hope for authentic regulation by way of reducing the size of individual banking corporations, which at some level seems naive. The flaws in the basic economic model are only weakly addressed.

The best opportunity for immediate reform of our financial sector was missed at the start of the Obama administration. As Larry Summers and Tim Geithner know very well -- e.g., from their extensive experience around the world during the 1990s (see Summers's 2000 Ely lecture) -- when a financial system is in deep crisis, you have an opportunity to fix the most egregious problems. Major financial sector players are always good at blocking reform -- except when they are on the ropes.

This is a review of Understanding Modern Money by L. Randall Wray copyright 1998, as published by Edward Elgar Limited. The intent of this review is to add to the reviews of books available which cover monetary reform and related topics. As a side benefit, the people who read these reviews may be less confused and more informed about the potentials of monetary reform.

If the economy deteriorates in the L-shaped “hockey-stick” rut that many economists forecast, what political price will President Obama and the Democrats pay for having returned the financial keys to the Bush Republican appointees who gave away the store in the first place? Reappointing Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke may end up injuring not only the economy but also the Democratic Party for years to come. Recognizing this, Republicans made populist points by opposing his reappointment during the Senate confirmation hearings last Thursday, January 27 – the day after Mr.

Today, President Obama finally took meaningful action toward financial reform, apparently prodded by his disaster in Massachusetts. Heck, if the Democrats cannot retain Teddy’s seat, there is no safe refuge. The Republicans and Tea Partiers will take the next election in a landslide unless Obama changes course, and fast.