Message-Id: <v01510103ab4996dfb4fc@DialupEudora> This came to me from the Laissez Faire mailing list. Looks like this book might present a good case for non-government e-cash. Ken ---------------------------------------------- A powerful case for "free banking"-- government failure far worse than market failure MONEY AND BANKING The American Experience George Edward Durell Foundation introduction by Clifford F. Thies (reviewed by Jim Powell) This comprehensive history of American banking helps show why the most serious monetary crises occur because of government failures, not market failures. Consequently, we need less government intervention in banking, not more. Ultimate objective: "free banking" which would enable everyone to be best-protected by open competition. Contributors here include many leading lights of "free banking" scholarship and central bank criticism: Kevin Dowd, Jeffrey Rogers Hummel, Dwight Lee, J. Huston McCulloch, Joseph T. Salerno, Anna J. Schwartz, George A. Selgin, Richard Timberlake and Lawrence H. White. Their papers--10 altogether--were originally presented at the 1990 Durell Conference on Money and Banking. They cover the entire history of banking in the United States. They show why, contrary to conventional dogmas, "free banks" were remarkably dependable and gained widespread acceptance for their banknotes... how private bank clearinghouse associations helped maintain overall stability while disciplining bad bankers. The authors go on to make clear why banking crises resulted from government intervention... how states undermined "free banks" by forcing them to load up with state government debt, often defaulted on... four ways Civil War era federal banking laws hobbled the U.S. banking system... how government-enforced unit banking (no branches permitted) promoted bank failures, especially in agricultural and mining regions... why government deposit insurance triggered conflagrations of corruption and banking crises... why U.S. banking was decidedly more stable before the advent of the Federal Reserve System--and how it caused chronic inflation as well as crushing depression. This book shares many other revealing insights as well. For example, why the Supreme Court once ruled that legal tender laws violate the Fifth Amendment... how, despite their wretched failures, Federal Reserve officials successfully lobbied for even more power over banking and the economy. Excellent material here. "Virtually all major monetary and banking problems in U.S. history appear to have their root cause in government interference of some sort. The major historical banking problems-- banking instability before the Civil War, banking instability, recurrent financial crisis, the inelastic currency, and the stunted growth of U.S. banking after the Civil War; the banking instability of the 1920's and the banking collapses of the 1930's, and the failures of historical and contemporary liability insurance schemes--can all be traced to a great or lesser extent to government interference in banking." --Kevin Dowd in *Money and Banking* Book No. CB6245 (hardcover) 271p. publisher's price $59.50 LAISSEZ FAIRE PRICE ONLY $29.95 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Please send this review to anyone who you think might be interested ------------------------------------------------------------------- *Money and Banking* will be available from Laissez Faire this week. 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