George Friedman of STRATFOR has some fascinating articles to describe reality:
Courtesy of "free article for non-members": http://web.stratfor.com/images/METHODOLOGY%20080526.pdf This is his best writing.
http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20100503_global_crisis_legitimacy And a cool video that shows how the monetary system works: http://vidego-http.multicastmedia.com/mm/flvmedia/3079/P/o/r/Portfolio_7.7.11_vp6_564K-721335.flv VLC Media Player plays it. The thing with libertarianism is that it is an idea, an ideology. George on the other hand descrives reality: fear and the nation state shapes our world. Libertarianism also does not have much to say on foreign affairs... George Friedman and STRATFOR does. What do you think about it? I hope it challanges some minds. -- On the other hand I'm looking for some good classic book to understand more central banking. Not from a paranoid perspective but from a realistic perspective. I thought of reading Free to Choose by Milton Friedman. Is it good for my purposes?
I don't know how much Free to Choose has to say about central banking.
And what do you mean by "not a paranoid perspective but a realistic one"? Judging by the fact you were thinking if reading a book by Friedman I assume you think Friedman is a realist, as opposed to us crazy conspiracy theorists?
If so why even ask?
I recommend searching 'central banking' on the LvMI store, something will pop up.
What has government done to our Money from Rothbard is best book for starter. Also Mystery of Banking from the same author might be just what you need.
I don't recommend Free to Choose. It's great book, but the very thing you are looking for(theory of central banking) is between terrible and horrible.
What a waste of time it was reading through BOTH of the linked articles. The guy is in dire need of reading some Mises (Human Action) and is completely oblivious to concepts such as central banking, fiat money, and the Austrian Business Cycle Theory without which he can only blindly poke into the dark about the drivers (causes) of the outcomes (effects) surrounding him.
As for recommendations on central banking, in addition to the ones already listed, I'd add the two which were instrumental in my own enlightenment:
1. The Case Against The Fed -- Rothbard
2. The Creature From Jekyll Island -- Griffin (video of the author's lecture here)
Thans for your recommendation Z1235! First I check the lecture then report back.
You didn't find George Friedman or STRATFOR insightful? Hm.
Anyways, I just read a good article on future demographic distribution and the effect on credit markets:
Free article for non-members:
http://www.stratfor.com/memberships/204104/geopolitical_diary/20111101-earth-population-seven-billion
Fair quote:
"The generation born between 1964 and 1979 — characterized by its low numbers — will be responsible for supplying capital. Not only will they have to fund the younger generations, they also will have to support the pensions and geriatric-support programs created by their predecessors. Since the developing world’s aging process lags about 30 years behind that of the developed world, this same generation will act as the primary capital suppliers to the entire world. (…) Such capital scarcity threatens to halt growth across the poorer parts of the planet. It will also make for strange bedfellows: The only hope the developed world’s ’64-’79 generation will have to meet their bills is to import more taxpayers. Perhaps the most unexpected outcome of population patterns is that the developed world will have a massive interest in attracting immigrants."
Have you read John Mauldin – The End of the Debt Supercycle, and How it Changes Everything? I'm planning that as a follow up.
http://blog.mises.org/16705/paul-krugman-it-is-all-ron-pauls-fault-that-people-are-questioning-the-fed/#comment-776137
Sounds interesting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB-xjZQy_4M
Btw. how do I insert links? It's non-intuitive.
I receive Mauldin's weekly (free) newsletter but haven't read any of his books. He's much better than the mainstream but he too is a central bank / fiat money apologist and accepts their jargon (GDP, growth, deflation, debt levels, cuts, austerity, etc.). I like (agree with) him less the more I learn about Austrian Economics. He is oblivious to the fundamental causes for the predicaments he's describing/predicting.
On my learning journey I'm converging to the same destination to which Ron Paul has arrived. Most of the problems that mainstream experts are trying to measure and solve through government force are created by the very weapon they intend to use to solve them: central and fractional-reserve banking. Any analysis that is oblivious to this interfering monopolistic power that decrees the price (interest rate) of the asset/good on one side of all transactions in the economy (money) is doomed to failure. Looked from this perspective, any economy that is under a regime of central banking is literally at least 50% centrally planned (socialistic).
liberation: Btw. how do I insert links? It's non-intuitive.
You seem to be doing a pretty good job inserting links in your posts. If you mean how to quote, just use:
[ quote user="z1235" ] quoted text [ /quote ]
or just
[ quote ] quoted text [ /quote ]
...without spaces after/before the brackets.
I know it's cumbersome, but one must suffer for knowledge.
liberation, one more very good and important book:
Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles -- Jesus Huerta de Soto (pdf in link, but definitely worth buying for keeps in hardcover)
Video of the author's recent and very entertaining lecture: