Reddit reviews Money (The Art of Living)

Sort of. Lets say a bank has $100 in deposits. They assume that not everyone is going to withdraw their money at the same time. So there's a bunch of money sitting around. They take some fraction of that money and lend it to people. So the money isn't coming from "thin air," it's depositors' money, and in some ways it remains depositors' money even when the bank lends it out. The government can (to some degree) control the fraction of deposits that can be lent out to people. This is what allows you to earn interest on your savings account, and what allows you to take out a mortgage, etc. Other commentors here are saying really negative things about this system, but that seems ridiculous to me. The banking system is amazing! It makes our economy so much more functional, it creates opportunities for entrepreneurship, saving, easier transactions, etc. Debt is not an inherently negative thing. It's one of the most brilliant human inventions. Seriously. Sometimes people need more or less money than they have right now (of course!), and facilitating the exchange of loans for interest is hugely beneficial-- to both parties. I'm nerding out a little bit here, sorry.

Basically, please talk to an economics professor or even take a basic Macroecon class before you create a thesis on it. Please. There are a lot of strange ideas about debt and fiat currency and so forth floating around the internet (and real life), and while there is some basis for some these beliefs, they're generally unfounded. It's very hard to wrap your head around the idea that money is worthless pieces of paper, or even just numbers in a computer (until we imbue them with value), but that fact doesn't take away from the value that we've given to those pieces of paper. Don't forget that this sort of banking system has been working for thousands of years, because, in the end, it's brilliant, simple, beneficial, and efficient. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_banking)

The best book about banking and money that I've ever read is "Money" by Eric Lonergan. It has some slightly technical language, but I think you'd still get the gist of what he's saying, and it will help you understand the banking system.


edit: I hit submit before I finished!