27 Apr 2014

Bernard Maris reveals the truth about how banks create money out of thin air

If you want to hear the truth about how Banks work, I strongly recommend listening to what Bernard Maris has to say. Maris is a very well-known French economist, who appears regularly on France Inter (a sort of equivalent of Radio 4). He is also a member of the Governing Board of the Banque de France - so he is well place to know what he is talking about.

In a documentary called "La Dette", produced by Nicolas Ubelman and Sophie Mitrani, he was asked
  “Where do banks get the money that they lend out?”. His reply was mind blowing. Here's a translation.

"They create it themselves with the permission of the central bank. For example .... you're buying a property worth say... € 500,000. Well, the bank will create € 500,000 out of thin air. You say it does not actually manufacture € 500,000 in bank notes. But in fact - it really does create €500,000 - that it can give you. Except that it is done in writing, because you won’t try to buy the property using €500,000 in bank notes - you’ll pay by check. But it's the same thing. If you wanted to pay with banknotes, it will give you £ 500,000 in banknotes that they can get from the Central Bank, by saying - Look, I’ve got a claim on this person worth €500,000 - what will you give me in return? And the central bank says “I'll give you €500,000 in banknotes". Except that, as those banknotes are never required, the money transits in digital form. But you have to understand that. When you have understood that, you have understood everything about money. Banks create money out of nothing. It’s the bankers trade. The bank creates money out of thin air. It is something that is very difficult to understand."

Here's a clip from the film (in French, but with English captions)
 
Enjoy!!

What I find really odd is that Bernard Maris has never (to my knowledge) said this on the air. Why wait for a relatively low budget documentary to reveal the true nature of money creation?

Bernard - if you read this, can you please say the same thing again on France Inter? You would make my day!

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