To Whom Do We Owe This Money, Exactly?

Positive Money was mentioned in Guardian, 26th July 2011, in a letter from Martin Hyams:

If all countries from the richest to the poorest are operating on borrowed money, to whom is it all owed?

Mainly, the most powerful institutions in the world own the debt: the banks and finance industry, private equity companies and asset strippers, pension funds, governments, insurance companies, etc.

Interestingly, if all the world’s debts were repaid, there would be less than no money left. That’s because our dysfunctional, debt-based money system has been privatised. Each year our noble government issues only 2% or 3% of new money. All the rest is issued (in parallel with an equal amount of debt, ie loans) by private banks. Thus about £120bn in the UK every year (the profits of seigniorage) accrue to private banks, instead of the state (or taxpayers, you and me).

Funny old world: the Positive Money campaign offers a rare glimmer of sanity. Join us!