From Karl Marx’s “10 Planks” to communizing a nation:
“Centralization of Credit in the Hands of the State, by Means of a National Bank with State Capital and an Exclusive Monopoly.”
Yes. Marx knew it was important. I think he said the same thing about education.
Thank you very much for the clarity: numbers six and seven in Marx' wish list. Most folks hadn't read past the first couple of evil ideas.
1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.When one extraordinarily misinformed Freeper started up with Paul Krugman "only need to service the debt" chatter, I saw full well that some Freepers, thinking themselves conservative, are either unread in these matters or worse.
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
5. Centralisation of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
6. Centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
8. Equal liability of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of all the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the populace over the country.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, &c, &c.Source: Chapter II. Proletarians and Communists Communist Manifesto
"On 15 August 1971 Marx's vision became true: The US administration single-handedly terminated the redeemability of the US dollar into physical gold – and so gold, the currency of the civilized world, was officially demonetized. Through this coup de main, in the United States of America, as well as all other countries in this world, an unbacked paper money — or fiat money system was established. Since then, all currencies around the globe represent fiat currencies: representing money creation by circulation credit expansion, not backed by real savings or deposits, monopolized by central banks.
"The fiat money system, the creation of money through circulation credit expansion, has brought about a new kind of debt slavery on a grand scale. Consumers, corporations and, of course, governments, too, have become highly dependent on central banks continuously churning out ever greater amounts of credit and money, provided at ever lower interest rates. In numerous countries, central banks have de facto become the real centers of power: Their monetary policy decisions effectively determine the weal and woe of economies and whole societies.
"By issuing fiat currencies, created out of thin air, a rather small clique of central bankers, together with their staffers, causes — to borrow from Friedrich Nietzsche — a "revaluation of values." Chronic monetary inflation, for instance, discourages savings; running into ever greater amounts of debt gets cultivated; by central banks' downward manipulation of the interest rate, the future needs get debased compared to present needs; the favoring of a sort of monetary 'Deep State' comes at the expense of demolishing civil and entrepreneurial liberties."
The quotes and references from Marx and Mises Wire are for any and all to read.