Thursday, February 07, 2013

Monetary reform: Lord Turner - A promise not to pay back. Justin Welby: Skinning live bankers

Dr Vince Cable, UK Business Minister is to be the keynote speaker at the second European Conference on Banking and the Economy, Wednesday 6th March 2013 at the Guildhall, Winchester, UK (ECOBATE 2013).


Other notables include Mr Georg Fahrenschon, President of the German Savings Bank Association, who will speak on the Local Bank theme which is attracting a growing following in the UK.  Professor Charles A. E. Goodhart, CBE, FBA is coming again. He addressed a plenary at ECOBATE 2011 - and is always good value as an elder statesman among economists. A newcomer is Professor Brian Lucey, Professor of Finance, Trinity College, Dublin.

Lord Turner gave the keynote speech at ECOBATE 2011 and yesterday (6 Feb 2013) in an FT article by Chris Giles Turner defends permanent printing of money , Lord T shows he is very much on the theme of his contribution at the ECOBATE 2011 event where he spoke of managing credit creation to deliver social optimality. He thinks that current measures including QE are nearing the end of their effectiveness. The FT report says he advocates 'monetary financing of deficits, which involves the central bank financing a deficit permanently without having to sell government bonds',  and: 'to pump money directly from the authorities into the real economy with the promise that it does not have to be paid back'.

Lord Turner's theme seems right in line with Prof Richard Werner's statements on the YouTube 'Debt-Free and Interest-Free money'. He says: 'many politicians think, that governments need to borrow and get indebted in order to fund government expenditure. That's not actually true... The government can spend money into circulation, money that it has issued.'

Local Banks, that is local, community, not-for-profit banks, are ordinary and accepted in Germany, Switzerland, the US and elsewhere. The UK is bereft of them. Handelsbanken prides itself on local decision-making and access for customers to managers but it is a privately owned bank that feeds shareholders with profits that others, such as Sparkassen, recycle, 'fulfilling public interests' to the communities they are in. 

The new Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, less than a week into the role, is still skinning live bankers with gusto at the Parliamentary Commission on Banking  Standards. In The Times today: Archbishop takes a stand against the moneylenders  he is narked that they want both high salaries and high bonuses,

'what is it essentially about bankers...that they need skin in the game? 
We don't give skin in the game to civil servants, to surgeons.' 

Obviously an insightful man, with a nice turn of phrase. Quite odd really, a top prelate espousing themes found in the book The Free Lunch - Fairness with Freedom.  Nice though. 

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