What is Money?
"you as an individual can run out of money but society can never run out of money and if the government has gone into debt it is because somebody has accumulated money; it's always in balance"
With regards to interest - Central Banks receive interest on the loans they make, and they also pay interest every day to the holders of money, so this balances out societally and does not take the monetary system out of balance.
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Spoken by Gary Stevenson
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TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Introduction to Money
01:00 - Does Money include Debt
04:00 - Money Creation
06:49 - The Total Amount of Money
10:34 - Our Concept of Money
13:24 - Governments & Money
15:59 - 2 Competing Concepts
18:00 - Inequality in Credit/Debt
21:50 - Money is NOT resources
I am getting some questions on this along the lines of "But doesn't interest throw this system out of balance?" The answer to that is no - the Central Bank charges interest on the loans it makes, but it also PAYS interest daily to the banks which are holding money - so interest balances out. More generally, interest can never unbalance the system as a whole - it is merely a transfer from one group of people (debtors) to another group of people (creditors) Hope that helps
Interest just adds to the money supply. Banks add interest to loan balances. So higher interest rates are actually in themselves inflationary and run counter to the disincentive of lowering aggregate demand. The outcome depends on the relative impact of each as determined by the current macro environment.
@@stokesbay2152 Interest does not add to the money supply. Central banks charge an interest, and Banks pay the Central Bank interest on borrowings. Debt created, debt paid = cancels out.
Yes but then ultimately how can the interest ever be paid off as it is asking for extra money not in the system?
@@naziphone7260 The money is in the system! Central bank creates debt. Banks loan out money as debt. Peons take on the debt, and pay it off. e.g. I take a loan for $100, with an interest of 1%. I pay back $101. Bank pays Central bank back $101. Where did that $1 come from? Debt. I now take on the $1 debt that the Central Government had created.
That explains the concept of "reducing the money supply" because the debt is often paid off from savings - reducing the amount of LIQUID cash in the system (don't confuse this with total money - that always stays the same).
Your voice is so much needed. I drive a taxi and have stuttered through a collective unawareness with hundreds of people trying to make sense of what doesn’t make sense. Most of us are vulnerable, in my mind you are changing this. I wish you well.
As a Uber driver I listen to you video's while taking passengers so we can wake the masses up.
All those years ago during A level Maths, I remember a really passionate and articulate teacher trying his best to get the concepts across to us, his students. Thank you Gary for doing the same again 40 years later, it will certainly make a difference to our understanding of this system that we’re in.
I'm not sure if he is changing it. He's trying and giving us the information we need but we need to pull our fingers out and to make the change.
@@rossdavison6526 My personal experience is, that people don't want to know really. Like with climate change... they don't even know how much CO2 is in the atmosphere but "SCIENCE!!!" . ^^
You're the teacher at school that I would have looked forward to being in your lesson so much. These videos are like a really good school lesson.
I'll be showing his videos to my students when we come to the finance unit of pshe.
Hope teacher doesnt go on strike.
Maybe Gary could become a teacher of Rishi Sunak's planned Remedial Maths for Arts Students. If I were teaching that course, I would go through the textbook and replace the names of people in the examples questions with those of Tory politicians.
Great video. Helps explain that we need to tax that money back.
Cheers for this, Gary. I'm training as an accountant and see exactly where you're coming from. It's basic bookkeeping applied to society as a whole.
Indeed, it really is as simple as that, but is surprisingly little understood.
A zero sum game not increasing the money supply. IN THEORY! BUT The Bank of England Q1 2014 Bulletin website tells us 97% of the UK money supply is now created out of nothing as “borrowing” by commercial banks with only 3% as cash. This means the money to “repay” loans was also created as debt hence debt must increase. In theory this debt can be ignored as it’s the mirror image of wealth but interest is demanded by it. Therefore debt is still an increasing problem. It’s a game of pretence that there is no magic money tree but there is because there has to be a money creation mechanism. The vital question is whether it should be in private hands for private profits or in public hands for the common good. The answer is obvious but the money power is extremely powerful and can buy people.
@@garyseconomics and when you work in accounts for a few years you find out quickly what is simple to us isn't to ALOT of people. I think numbers in general scare a significant proportion of society. Before you came along I watched a Mike Maloney's Hidden secrets of money series which was also enlightening.
Exactly what I was thinking revising fundamentals of accounting - cash literally equals liquidity. To be able to create liquidity you need to *drumroll* liquidate an asset for the cash value (moving value from one account to another). The accounting equation applies to it 100%. Printing more money just reduces their value by increasing the supply.
That’s what I took from it. Double entry bookkeeping 😂
More explanatory videos are very welcome - a lot of this debate is inaccessible without this sort of foundational knowledge. Great work as always Gary & team.
Thank you from a 78 year old. I had to watch this twice, yes I am a little slow. But when I suddenly understood your argument, it was like a flash of lightning.
One of the things that drive me mad is this line that government push to try to equate public finances with a household budget (in line with your point about "money running out"). The magic money tree is alive and well!
I yesterday came across a video in which an economist called Tony Lawson was denouncing economics, he seemed to be saying it's in a mess because for the last 70 years it has almost entirely relied on mathematical modeling to describe social reality ie "using a hammer to cut grass", that economics as practiced by the top economists has divorced itself from the real world. At least, that's my basic understanding of what he said. Have you heard of him?
I have not heard of him, no, but that sounds like an analysis I would probably agree with
In a simplistic way not too dissimilar from what Ha-Joon Chang would say also.
A good argument. There's a real economy under it all about how we collectively supply each other with what we need & want to live. Growing food, building houses.... If some people are taking more & more wealth off us without doing any of that, it can't possibly end well for any of us.
@@garyseconomics kzhead.info/sun/fsmsacqKjoBmpq8/bejne.html
Physicists can teach Economists how to do their job
I never considered looking at global GDP per Capita before. It's a little scary. Almost $90k per person globally. The vast majority of people are getting a bad deal.
USA national debt is insane, $31 trillion. Capitalism is now plastic, not proper credit and debt. Divide 31 trillion by the population of USA, insane.
A quick google search and some references say's it's US $12,167 per person.
On average most people are getting a bad deal. But a few people are getting rich. This is why billionaires are built on mass exploitation. They do everything to prevent fair pay or reasonable sharing of profits in their businesses. If all their staff are doing really well then they won't be getting as rich as an individual. Ultimate selfishness= billionaire.
Interesting I heard it was half a million each!
@@ollydix that is too reassuring. That figure can be paid off in a decade on a personal debt. Those who run the system will never allow it to happen. They gather too much money into their personal accounts by keeping the majority on the negative side.
Economics is shrouded in language ordinary people find difficult to understand, same as many “professions”. This is deliberate, a way of dissuading others from engaging, however when broken down like this by Gary, it really is simple. Falling wages and higher house prices are indeed a symptom of the very same thing, currency devaluation.
Underated channel. As someone who came from hardship and managed with a lotta luck, and a heap of hard work to get out. I appreciate a voice like yours. I see the imbalances, and its very real, and it feeds off itself.
Thanks for this video Garry, i agreed with 95% with what you said, my only gripe is that central banks do not lend out reserves. they are simply a mechanism for settling interbank loans. Prof Steve Keen has some good descriptions of this. You are a great communicator and these complex ideas will spread widely thanks to your efforts. Keep up the good work !
Agree.
Right, Net Financial Assets are created when govts spend into the economy via the Central Banks #LearnMMT The £s in the economy sitting as reserves held by private banks at the Central Bank, or as cash in people's pockets, are just the money created by the govt which has not yet been taxed away.
This is Richard Werner's whole shtick as well. 97% of money supply is created by retail banks out of thin air when they write loans. No internal transfers occur at the bank.
this has been a burning question on my mind recently and I've tried understanding it from my own experiences and perspectives. They way you've analyzed and broke this understandingof money down into content form for me to digest was smoother than drinking water. Thank you for this ultimate perspective of money.
Brilliant Gary. Thanks so much for your clear explanations, that Governments don't want us to know.
I don't necessarily understand everything (I don't have a mathematical brain unfortunately) but I absolutely love your videos and what you're doing and your passion. Xxx
Brilliant background info on money to explain the economy in general and also what's happened recently. Gonna need to rewatch some sections to fully grasp it!
Wow, first video by this Guy I have watched and I already know I am going to binge watch this content.
Dude, these explainer videos are super valuable. Please make more of them! 💰🧐👌
Thank you for your brilliant explanations. I have been looking for this level of communication for a long time. I think a lot of people are yearning for real understanding which calls out our politicians and shows them (not all of course) to be ignorant and themselves easily manipulated by lack of understanding. We need real knowledge and informed non-ideologues, moral leaders with brave and radical ideas. Please continue to educate us and especially the Labour party.
Never heard money explained like this before and I dont know why! Great vid Gary
Brilliant! This is the most simple and clear explanation I have ever heard and now I feel better informed. Thank you Gary. 👊
Thank you Gary! I think I am beginning to understand, after watching 100s of economic programmes!
Really good Gary. A crystallising and clear 101.
Great talk. Thanks for putting it together
Gary, you are brilliant. You put it all in simple terms. Thank you
Well said . Brilliant explanation . Hope people get it ...Gary.. Paul 🇮🇪
The problem with private banks creating debt is that by the simple tool of charging interest, the wealth will always be transferred from the poor to the rich. ALWAYS. Charging interest on borrowings is one most dishonest actions against the poor. Because money has no intrinsic value, as Gary says rightly.
There are perhaps three forms of currency; money, energy and time. The poor pay the wealthy with their energy and time. It's straight up Boxer from Orwell's Animal Farm.
@Blindstagehand if only. We also pay them with money, our health and very often, lives. Time is one commodity that we never get back, just like our life, and health.
first good teacher ive had in my life tbh
the best video I have watched recently! Thanks you!!
Finally someone has summed up money creation with words I can understand! I love the bit about there being no such thing as governments running out of money, it's just a distributional problem.
Money is actually a ledger. Without it, there is no existence of money.
Excellent video. Can't wait for the next one. Thank you!
Thank you once again. Very informative.
I noticed you connecting the dots of public sector workers and pay unbalance. I think this is a very important message that needs to get across especially as mainstream media are covering this and will help Gary's message keep growing
Best channel working now. Keep it up.
Great work again Gary.
Genius explanation!
Awesome!!! Keep it up Gary!!!
Thanks, this is a really useful video. Strange how the economy is treated as the key policy in many GEs, yet our education system, our media and our government all do such a poor job of teaching us what money actually is.
Control of the ideas that are regarded as "common sense" is a key basis for the maintenance of hegemonic control of a society by the rich and powerful. This control is exercised through education, the media and political orthodoxy. It's no accident that classical economics is so dominant. It's dominant because it serves the status quo and is ruthlessly enforced as the hegemonic common sense throughout capitalist societies. If you want to learn more about this process, check out work by Chomsky on manufacturing consent. The idea of hegemonic common sense is explained there, though the concept was actually invented by an Italian communist, Antonio Gramsci.
@@michaelrch I agree Noam is the man
Here's the reason why the establishment doesn't teach economics more universally: it is rumoured when Warren Beatty was directing Reds, he taught his crew about the tenants of communism - they then promptly downed tools and demanded equal pay to the rest of the production. If the reality of modern economics was taught more broadly, considerably more people would realise they are getting a raw deal and something similar would happen
I like Gary's definition of money as the commodity we use to determine the distribution of all other commodities. But, I would expand on this. Consider that human society is not possible without the real material goods & services (commodities) required for it to function, and we currently have a capitalist & profit-driven political economic system. So, I would flip Gary's definition on it's head and say money is also how we determine where to allocate labor in production as well. I think both of these are true about the role of money in our current society, but one aspect might be more relevant than the other depending on the perspective of your analysis. (I am very deliberately restricting this analysis to how money works within our current capitalist political economy as that's what is the most relevant to us and all of these definitions above break down once you try to apply them to a transhistorical definition of money.) Anyway, I'm a big nerd that started reading Marxian, MMT, & econophysics books/papers almost 2 decades ago out of frustration with how divorced from reality mainstream economics is. I really appreciate Gary's commentary as he is able to cut directly through both the fake mathism of mainstream econ and liberal moralist bullshit around money/debt and clearly explain how our current day economic system really works. Keep it up!
Excellent presentation of basics. Thanks, Gary
Thanks Gary.
Great explanation Gary. Cheers.
Thanks Gary for breaking this down, I wish we teach financial concepts with such clarity in our school years to make financially literate citizens. All we learn is, work hard to get good grades, work hard to get good job but we miss some very essential concepts of money, how it can work for you and how you should handle it.
Thank you Gary 😊
These education breakdowns are invaluable. It’d be interesting to hear gary look at other alternative financial systems and discuss the pros and cons aswell as how we can make the current system here work more equitably
Ive just been educated about the meaning of Money. Great Video.
This is great, thank you. I'd like to see a video on how money relates to value, resources and commodity production. How making things of value (or getting more resources) affects money supply. Cheers!
You have definitely made me think ❤
Such a clear explanation
On my third watch through, and understanding a little more, a little better each time. Thanks Gary!
Thanks. 👍
Thanks for this. I've always tried to describe that essentially money at a basic level, is only a measurement of distribution of available resources. It is solely a means of deciding who has earned what share of the resources. Therefore, money as a system is obviously currently failing.
Such an interesting video. Really well described and really enlightening
After hearing your explanation, now everytime I listen to a politician speech, in my head i'm substituting all the words like credit, loans, borrowing, govt debt, central bank lending, printing cash: with the 'money' word. Money that will goto the super rich. 😮
Another excellent and informative video, thanks.
Damn. I've studied 'money' for many years. At university and for myself. It's a short video and you and I know that there is much more to talk about, but you fuckin nailed it. This is the best video about 'money' in our modern world that I've ever seen. Furthermore I've seen your latest interviews. Go on, mate! We need you and I needed you. I've predicted the financial crash of 2008 in May 2008 but I didn't bet on it, because I was also only 23 and I didn't work for Citibank. Love your story. Will read your book. Thanks for your honesty. Wish you all the best, mate. There is no there is no alternative. Thanks for giving me hope. :) Because we're living in the 'end of times' and what we need is someone like you. I will follow your journey and wish you all the best. Get them mf!
Thanks Gary for sharing this video. Criminal the education system does not teach this in our schools.. how much you can learn just for 15 minutes of your video. 👍🏽
Thanks again Gary, for a truly insightful video. This is very educational and I really feel that you should sit on QT and challenge the MP's about where the money is now 👍🏽
@@Grays_official64 Hi Gary, are you based in London, I'm sure you are but the number you have provided seems to look different?
Nice and clear explanation. Wish more ppl got this
Money is a promissary note, essentially an IOU from our collective wealth pot, represented by head of state or government. You should, in theory, be able to go to the royal mint and demand that IOU be changed back into a commonly agreed form of actual wealth. This used to be pure gold. Now it's pure faith. ...And that's how we've ended up using debt as the commonly agreed form of actual wealth. Got to replace the underlying promise with *something* or the whole thing is vapourware. So now it's debt all the way down - which means it IS vapourware - and the trick is to stop anyone diving deep enough to realise that way down there the whole thing is held up by eddies and currents in the sea of debt.
I love your final sentence, poetically structured with a dark warning of icebergs ahead.
Even worse, the eddies and currents have names like market confidence, animal spirits, bull and bear markets etc.
@@juliamountain1846 indeed. Markets run on confidence which is, essentially, faith. As do confidence tricks, which I have always though was entirely apt
@@Andyreally thanks. I love me a good metaphor. Or do I mean similie. Meh. One of those.
IMO gold was always faith: faith that you could trade that gold for something you needed as that need arose. For many people gold had absolutely no use as gold, thus only had value to them as the medium of trade (in the same way as money only has value as a medium of trade).
Great video really clear explanation .
Gary, have you heard of the positive money campaign? They want to change money from something created as debt into something created and spent into the economy. Would be interesting to hear your take on it.
This is your best video yet (and that's saying something!). I had so many "aha" moments.
They are letters of credit. First became popular with Welsh drovers driving livestock to the midlands and onwards to London Spitalfield market. Lloyds Bank, started off as the Black Horse bank in Llandovery, Wales. Early 18th century.
Interesting historical detail I didn't previously know. Thanks Huw.
Indeed, if you look at a £10 note it says “I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of ten pounds”. So you £10 note is actual a loan note, the Bank of England has leant you £10.
Good explanation. Bear in mind that some people will struggle to process info presented in this way- additional use of visual material may help draw in a larger audience
Next level breakdown 🤯
Great video to look at on utube . The creation of money
Very interesting, thanks a lot for the work
🤓🤓🤓...you rock Gary. Thanks again.
I have had the mindset of money being created out of thin air. It’s good to get the deeper understanding. This is immensely valuable. Thanks Gary
Very well explained and the clearest I've ever heard this information,a new fan hear and thank you,I've learnt more in this video than in 40 years of life😂🙌
Excellent video. At College in the mid 70s I was taught about the, 'Multiplier Effect and Central Banks, at the same time I was reading, 'The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists', read the bit on, 'The Great Money Trick', I've never been the same since.
Money Multiplier is a fiction to "explain" how so much loan money can be created from so little deposits. In truth the commercial banks create money as collateral to borrowers promise to pay aka the "loans book". This is net neutral on the banks books but is new money spent into the economy. Money is also destroyed as the customer repays the bank and the loans book is reduced accordingly. Interest is the dog in the manger because it can only come from future money not yet created, hence the obsessive "growth paradigm".
Gary has done a very good job here of explaining the effects and consequences of the money system and the confusion in people's minds as to how it operates and what it represents. The reason this is so difficult is in part because the commonly used language in the public discourse around the money system is kind of misleading. People are used to spending cash or using their debit card, and in common parlance they speak of these actions as "spending money" as if what they are using is identical -- they are NOT. Cash is money issued by the central bank on behalf of the treasury -- it's a liability of the state; it would be more accurate to call this "state credit." When you spend from your chequing account or via debit, this is NOT directly "state credit" like cash -- it is "bank credit." "Bank credit" spends like cash in our economy, but it is not directly a liability of the state -- it is a liability of your commercial bank. The commercial banks in turn are chartered by the state and use "state money" in the form of reserves to conduct the settlement system organized by the central bank. So in order to fully understand the money system, you have to appreciate that "bank credit" is what commercial banks "create" (by simultaneous crediting a customer's account and recording a liability for themselves on their ledger with the central bank) and that we use among ourselves for most transactions. As Gary points out, these private sector debits and credits using "bank credit" net to zero. So you have to imagine in your head a double layer of transactions every time you make a private payment -- you are debiting from your "bank credit" and the receiver of your payment is crediting their "bank credit" (often with a different commercial bank) and the central bank is facilitating the settlement between your commercial banks behind the scenes. The layers at work here only make it more confusing for the public, and I'm not convinced that this is an accident! This is what makes Gary's work so important -- to the extent that he is able to explain the system, people will be less likely to be misinformed by system actors for whom the status quo is advantageous.
Only after 65 years have I realised that my attitude to money has been confirmed by you as being factual Gary. I really think if young entrepreneurs were aware of this, they wouldn’t be so hesitant in starting a business.
I think young people are hesitant to start a business because even though banks loan out money, it doesn't mean they do it to everyone, or at "fair" interest rates.
very good - 1st explanation that makes sense - thank you
Awesome video ❤❤❤
Very good informative video Gary :)
the more iv learned about physics throughout my life the more iv come to appreciate the relativistic nature of both nature and society
Spot on explainer.The Dollar and Oil priced in Dollars is a great way of further understanding this.The whole world is on the hook for dollars as the unit of exchange for Oil.Currency is Credit and Debt.The money we had in our pockets pre 1970 contained Silver so we had a unit of exchange and a store of value in our possession,todays currency units are exchanged digitally and have no store of value per se.This helped the people who are closest to the tap where this modern money is created,namely bankers and the very wealthy.We need a new system to redistribute this money more evenly,trickle down economics has failed the majority in society.The trouble is the very wealthy not only control the money but also the media and in doing so the narrative. peace ✌
With regards to the title of the video "what is money" I agree with everything you said and if you are not in the financial world it can be a bit of a head scratch, but I also think there is an explanation that comes before what you said (e.g. explaining the concept to young kids) and that in its most basic form, money is a means or tool to facilitate trade, so the baker dont need to give loaves to the fish monger for fish and vice versa etc and also makes it a short term store of value for the baker having spent their time and energy having made the loaf, and what gives it that value is user case, as in everyone agreeing on that standard. I know you touched on it in the vid when you mentioned it being a token. Sorry, im not trying to b smart arse and i dig what u are doing, looking forward to when you get the book out. Respect to you for having come from the other side and trying to change things for the better, nothing but love for that 🙏❤
I'm gonna have to watch this one again.
Should have said what a brilliant job you do Gary. This stuff should be taught in school as a priority. Never maths until 18, let's do real economics. I'm 61 and learning.👍
Love your work Gary. It's very hard to understand tbh. Is this not related to fractional reserve banking? Could you maybe do a video on the chain of events on how do the wealthy become wealthier when QE is done, or when financial institutions lend money through mortgages.
The firewood is the real key point money doesnt disappear some one else just has it. If we are all broke some else got rich
Just stumbled across you bro! Your a G
Money is what is itemised on a ledger ie an account. It doesn't have to be tangible. The key is liquidity of money.
Liquidity, money is the oil of the engine that is the economy x
Brilliant !
Amazing video. Thank you. Can you please do one on inflation and why it goes up. Thank you!
Love how Gary puts it everything in such a way we can all understand. The rich are getting richer and were in cost of rich crisis.
Liked with comment, and shared :)
Could you give us your opinion / explanation on blunt tools such as "tax the rich", "increase minimum hourly wage", universal basic income, abolish floating rate loans (fixed only), death duties above $2 million (for example) or other blunt tools the Government might use to re-balance the economy. You have shown the problem, it would be good to investigate / focus on (possible) solutions. Thank you and keep up the battle to protect our mum's houses.
Shout out to Gary's producer. Really interesting shots.
Thank you! The end point is really important too. I keep saying if money is just the means by which goods and services (resources) are exchanged then statements like “there is no magic money tree” are false. The question is are there enough resources? Are there enough resources including labour power for everyone in the country to have enough food, a home, a decent work life balance, energy to stay warm etc. if there aren’t enough resources for that, then it’s a huge problem that we need to fix (eg with renewable sources of energy, sustainable farming) If there are enough resources to support each individual in the country yet people are struggling then the problem is distribution of resources not amount of money.
I prefer the Murray Rothbard definition of money: a commodity that’s durable, divisible and portable, which is harder to make than any other commodity so that it doesn’t loose value over time (inflation). Everything else is not money but credit. These were gold coins measured by weight. No one cared about the pictures on them. Now we have paper promises paid by more promises.
Hey Dave, if you appear in my video but say nothing it can be a business expense (this joke might not work because i don’t understand money yet!). Loving your videos. Really helps
Thank you Gary. God has sent you to teach the ordinary people what is the real economy.