Pacioli's Gift or Bernanke's Curse?

By David Mint

In response to what has become known as the Financial Crisis of 2008, the Central Bankers of the world have employed nearly every form of monetary alchemy at their disposal in a desperate attempt to to maintain the status quo. The status quo, which in this case means that all commercial banks and sovereign governments remain both liquid and solvent, has become increasingly difficult to maintain as each attempt to stimulate economic growth via ultra low discount rates and quantitative easing has seen a diminishing marginal return in terms of economic growth. The longer the Central Banks of the world engage in these and other forms of financial alchemy, which in the end serve as futile attempts to defy immutable natural laws, the greater the danger of a complete economic collapse becomes.
The unconventional measures employed by the Central bankers of the world over the past five years are not only failing to achieve their stated goals of increasing employment and economic growth, they are triggering what is quickly becoming an unmitigated disaster in fixed income markets. These markets, once the bedrock of global finance, have now been conditioned, in the Pavlovian sense, to do nothing more than attempt to front run the actions of the Federal Reserve and other central banks up and down the yield curve.
As the chaos continues to unfold, it is important to examine and understand, to the extent possible, how humanity has arrived at this critical juncture in history. It is the aim of this volume to answer this question by exploring two of the oft overlooked elements that have, each in their own way, given rise to the system which enables a relatively small group of persons to the ability to destroy the accumulated wealth of mankind's 9,000 years of toil in just over 100. These elements are commonly known as Dual-entry accounting, which we refer to as mankind's greatest invention, and Central Banking, which we refer to as mankind's greatest catastrophe.
After exploring these elements, we present the concept of Free Banking as the antidote for the curse of Central Banking, and the ultimate solution to the current and future financial crises that the world will suffer at the hands of well meaning Central bankers who, it would appear, are oblivious to the destruction that their chosen profession mercilessly inflicts on humanity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: David Mint
• Release date: Mar 27, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301012619

David Mint

David is happily married with two children and lives in Portland, Oregon where he has pondered monetary theory and other less pressing but infinitely more entertaining matters since 2006. He has travelled extensively in the United States and has resided in Nebraska, Colorado, Spain, and Bolivia. He has a Bachelors degree in Business Administration from Colorado State University and an MBA from the Universitat de Barcelona, Spain with over 18 years of experience in Accounting, Finance, Treasury, and Information Systems Consulting positions both in the United States and Spain. He is the creator of The Mint, which presents fresh ideas on Economics, Monetary Theory, and Politics. You can read The Mint at http://www.davidmint.com and you may contact him at [e-mail].

Book preview

Pacioli's Gift or Bernanke's Curse?

How Mankind’s Greatest Innovation has

Enabled Its Greatest Catastrophe

Why what we use as Money Matters Volume V

By David Mint

Published by The Wilcox Trading Company

Copyright 2013 The Wilcox Trading Company

Portland, Oregon

Smashwords edition: March 2013

ISBN: 9781301012619

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the work of this author.

Cover design by David Mint at WDesign

Adaptation of the painting "Ritratto di fra' Luca Pacioli con un allievo (Guidobaldo da Montefeltro?)," (Portrait of Franciscan Luca Pacioli with a Student (perhaps Guidobaldo of Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, a fervent scholar to whom Pacioli's Summa was dedicated). tempera on panel likely painted by either Italian Renaissance artist Jacopo de'Barbari, though the portrait has also been attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, ca. 1500 (b.1470? d.1516?)

Table of Contents

An Introduction

Dual-entry Accounting: Pacioli's Gift to Humanity

The Presumption of a Monetary Constant

Irony: Dual-entry Accounting creates Central Banking's Architecture

The Role of Government as an Enabler of Central Banking

The Poisoned Money Supply: A Clear and Present Danger

Money or Credit: What's in your Wallet?

The Dawn of Modern Central Banking

Central Banking ushers in the Sunset of Civilization

The Absence of Natural Limitations on Human Actions

Free Banking: The Ultimate Solution

Free Markets need Free Banking: The Lakota Solution

Conclusion

Appendix A: Silver for Bitcoins: a trade for Digital Sound Money

About the Author

An Introduction

In response to what has become known as the Financial Crisis of 2008, the Central Bankers of the world have employed nearly every form of monetary alchemy at their disposal in a desperate attempt to to maintain the status quo. The status quo, which in this case means that all commercial banks and sovereign governments remain both liquid and solvent, has become increasingly difficult to maintain as each attempt to stimulate economic growth via ultra low discount rates and quantitative easing has seen a diminishing marginal return in terms of economic growth. The longer the Central Banks of the world engage in these and other forms of financial alchemy, which in the end serve as futile attempts to defy immutable natural laws, the greater the danger of a complete economic collapse becomes.

The unconventional measures employed by the Central bankers of the world over the past five years are not only failing to achieve their stated goals of increasing employment and economic growth, they are triggering what is quickly becoming an unmitigated disaster in fixed income