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The positive money fools

So, why did Northern Rock go bust then?

Because it expanded its loans faster than its deposit base. That’s what we’re told at least:

Had Northern Rock instead expanded its lending – and created the type of money used by the public – at the same rate as other banks, it would have found that its daily inflows of central bank reserves roughly matched its outflows (since the payments from its customers to other banks would be cancelled out by payments from other banks to customers of Northern Rock). It is unlikely that it would have become so dependent then on interbank lending to be able to make its payments. The very reason why Northern Rock went bust was the sheer speed at which it was creating money through issuing loans, which created a massive outflow of deposits which had to be settled by securing the reserves from somewhere.

Well, no, not really, because those deposits created by its own lending, they were heading out the door too – recall those lines waiting for their money back?

Still, their correction of my argument does end up confirming my argument.

Banks don’t create money, they create credit. It’s central banks that create money. The entirety of their confusion coming from money pus credit equals one measure of the money supply.

As a guide to their level of accuracy:

It’s worth considering who’s most likely to be accurate: a Daily Telegraph journalist and the commenters on his blog, or the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England and other banking officials quoted here.

They think I work at the Telegraph. Hmm…..

16 thoughts on “The positive money fools”

  1. Northern Rock depended heavily on short-term loans. All banks practice maturity transformation in theory – taking short-term deposits and turning them into long-term loans. Except that’s not really true: an aggregation of short-term deposits is effectively long-term, with very low volatility. Most banks funded their loans with such short-but-long term deposits; but Northern Rock used money market funding which turned out to be more volatile than deposits.

  2. it would have found that its daily inflows of central bank reserves roughly matched its outflows (since the payments from its customers to other banks would be cancelled out by payments from other banks to customers of Northern Rock).

    Eh? Are they talking about clearing and saying that the BoE acts as clearing house? And where do reserves come into it unless the N Rock book is shrinking? Is Capt. Potato behind this?

  3. It’s worth considering who’s most likely to be accurate: a Daily Telegraph journalist and the commenters on his blog, or the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England and other banking officials quoted here

    Entry-level fallacy. It’s either correct or it isn’t; who is saying so is irrelevant. Authority has been known to be wrong, or lying, before – exploiting that very same Appeal to Authority that these people are hiding behind now.

  4. “Banks don’t create money, they create credit. It’s central banks that create money.”

    Borrowers create money. Banks only create money when they borrow.

  5. BiG

    This is from over 6 years ago…

    My question as well. What prompted this – are we emptying out the attic today?

  6. May wanted this bad Brino deal – The Brexit Mess Planned All Along To Thwart The Will Of The People

    HMRC Under “Political Instruction” Not to Discuss Customs

    May’s survival in the vote last night has not changed her fundamental predicament that there is no Parliamentary majority for her deal in its current form. May’s civil servants should be paying attention to an alternative proposal published yesterday with the support of Arlene Foster and her two former Brexit Secretaries, which proposes sensible limited amendments to the Withdrawal Agreemnt and a legally operable alternative text to the backstop. No unicorns, just concrete proposals.

    Nor have the proposals come out of nowhere, the report was written specifically in response to the meeting in October between Michael Barnier and two of the reports’ co-authors, Shanker Singham and Hans Maessen, alongside senior Tory MPs.

    Maessen, a Dutch customs expert, recently told a Parliamentary committee that HMRC have been refusing to engage in any discussions on customs, going as far as to claim that HMRC were “not allowed” to do so due to a “political instruction” following the Chequers agreement to pursue the ‘Facilitated Customs Arrangement’ instead. A customs union in all but name…

    https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/northern-ireland-affairs-committee/news-parliament-2017/land-border-follow-up-evidence-17-19/

  7. Pcar,

    What’s the problem?

    Apparently, after no-deal Brexit, there will be unilateral free trade and the entirety of HMRC will be down the job centre on day one. The UK simply won’t need a customs authority any more. Oh, and free unicorn milk for all, of course.

  8. the top four in positive money -executive director, chief operating officer, head of policy, head of campaigns have no qualifications in economics or experience in finance but if you want to know about co2 capture your luck will be in. Just as ill educated in economics and finance as the great spudtator – in fact they are even less educated in it than him.(and that takes some doing) bunch of lefty fuckwits. Their website says that they are now hiring. Well i’ve forgotten most of what i was taught about economics 40 years ago at poly, and i know plenty of lefties so i can speak lefty bollocks – unfortunately the jobs in brussels – whilst i enjoy going to large parts of belgium for the beer/chocolates brussels is full of our exploding friends.

  9. And you and your fellow squareheads are bound for the green fields of Elysium Biggie–guided by Europe’s most loveable piss artist and tyrant Al K Hall Drunker.

    Get that gun Biggie. I want to read how you at least put up a fight when the beards came for you and yours.

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