Martin Wolf: There Will Be Another Global Financial Crisis

Martin Wolf writing in the Financial Times has warned that there will be another “huge financial crisis” given the nature of the modern fractional reserve banking and financial system. Wolf asks whether there will a “another huge financial crisis” and then answers his question by saying that there will be and warns that banks “are designed to fall. So fall they surely will.”

He warns that a system built on making promises it cannot keep is bound to crash, and crash again:

Will there be another huge financial crisis? As Hamlet said of the fall of a sparrow: “If it be now, ’tis not to come. If it be not to come, it will be now. If it be not now, yet it will come – the readiness is all.” So it is with banks. They are designed to fall. So fall they surely will.

A recent book explores not only this reality but also a radical and original solution. What makes attention to this suggestion even more justified is that its author was at the heart of the monetary establishment before and during the crisis. He is Lord Mervyn King, former governor of the Bank of England. His book is called The End of Alchemy.

The title is appropriate: alchemy lies at the heart of the financial system; moreover, banking was, like alchemy, a medieval idea, but one we have not as yet discarded. We must, argues Lord King, now do so.

As Lord King remarks, the alchemy is “the belief that money kept in banks can be taken out whenever depositors ask for it”.

This is a confidence trick in two senses: it works if, and only if, confidence is strong; and it is fraudulent. Financial institutions make promises that, in likely states of the world, they cannot keep. In good times, this is a lucrative business. In bad times, the authorities have to come to the rescue. It is little wonder, then, that financial institutions have become so large and pay so well.

His solution to the dangerous alchemy of the current banking system is to make Central banks pawnbrokers of last resort. This seems somewhat more prudent than the more dangerous deflationary experiment of bail-ins and confiscating deposits, both individuals and families life savings and indeed SME and corporate deposits above a certain level, in order to bail out failing banks.

Wolf joins a long list of investment and finance experts and even the Prime Minister of Japan who are warning that another global financial crisis is coming. The question is not if, but when.

Read full FT article via Irish Times here

Recent Market Updates
– Silver Price To Surge 800% on Global Industrial and Technological Demand
– BREXIT Gold Diversification As Vote Fuels Market Uncertainty
– Gold Forecasts Revised Higher – Citi Says “Buy the Dip”
– Gold Should Rise Above $1,900/oz -“Get In Now!”
– World’s Largest Asset Manager Suggests “Perfect Time” For Gold
– Gold As “Extremely Low-Risk Asset” – Rogoff Advises Creditor Nations
– Silver – “Best Precious Metals Trade”

Must Read Bail-In Guide Here

 

Breaking News and Commentary
Stocks, sterling roiled as ‘Brexit’ poll unnerves (CNBC)
Gold Sees Short-Covering, Bargain-Hunting Bounce (Bloomberg)
Gold steady after overnight losses; Fed in focus (Reuters)
Gold Traders Pay Most in Years to Keep Big Bullish Bets Alive (Bloomberg)

Global commodity assets rise to $220 billion in Aprill – PMs 50% of AUM (Reuters)
Gold and Silver Worst Performing Assets In May (Zero Hedge)
Disappearing Money and Opportunistic Candidates (Huffington Post)
Gold Isn’t A Hedge Against Monetary Disorder, It’s “An Investment In It” (Zero Hedge)
Read More Here

 

Gold Prices (LBMA AM)
02 June: USD 1,215.50, EUR 1,085.32 and GBP 842.10 per ounce
01 June: USD 1,216.25, EUR 1,090.00 and GBP 841.77 per ounce
31 May: USD 1,210.50, EUR 1,087.39 and GBP 829.07 per ounce
30 May: No Fix as Spring Holiday in UK
27 May: USD 1,221.25, EUR 1,092.16 and GBP 833.50 per ounce

Silver Prices (LBMA)
02 June: USD 15.98, EUR 14.27 and GBP 11.07 per ounce
01 June: USD 15.95, EUR 14.30 and GBP 11.04 per ounce
31 May: USD 16.06, EUR 14.40 and GBP 10.99 per ounce
30 May: No Fix as Spring Holiday in UK
27 May: USD 16.30, EUR 14.58 and GBP 11.12 per ounce

 
Buy Silver Coins VAT Free

 

 

Mark O'Byrne

Also on news-goldcore-com

Videos

Patrick Karim, Charts and Gold’s Next Breakout

Gold Down $100? This Really Shouldn’t Be A Surprise

Expect $2,500 – $3,000 Gold In Next 12 Months

Blog posts

Will The Gold Price Shift As Two Great Titans Leave Us?

For much of November gold has been on a tear and this week investors have sent it way up, punching past $2000. Will these giddy heights of over $2,000 be how gold chooses to see out month-end? At the time of writing we cannot be sure.  Yesterday prices did soften ever so slightly but the […]

READ MORE

Gold, a seasonal rally and the future of money

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our readers. For anyone celebrating we hope you have a wonderful day and we thank you for your support this past year.  Big news this week – gold hit $2,030 in intra-day trading on Tue, it didn’t hang on but it did close the day with a hefty $20 gain […]

READ MORE

Gold Pops as Credit Crunch Looms

The double figure pop up in gold on Tuesday was more to do with weakening of the US dollar, than rampant gold demand itself. The significant drop in the fiat currency was largely thanks to the release of October’s CPI report. Echoing that of the previous month, the report showed weaker growth and lower than […]

READ MORE

Featured

The King and Queen will be Gold and Silver

READ MORE
Newsletter
Category
Archives
Popular

No posts available

Videos

Patrick Karim, Charts and Gold’s Next Breakout

Gold Down $100? This Really Shouldn’t Be A Surprise

Expect $2,500 – $3,000 Gold In Next 12 Months

Blog posts

Will The Gold Price Shift As Two Great Titans Leave Us?

For much of November gold has been on a tear and this week investors have sent it way up, punching past $2000. Will these giddy heights of over $2,000 be how gold chooses to see out month-end? At the time of writing we cannot be sure.  Yesterday prices did soften ever so slightly but the […]

READ MORE

Gold, a seasonal rally and the future of money

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our readers. For anyone celebrating we hope you have a wonderful day and we thank you for your support this past year.  Big news this week – gold hit $2,030 in intra-day trading on Tue, it didn’t hang on but it did close the day with a hefty $20 gain […]

READ MORE

Gold Pops as Credit Crunch Looms

The double figure pop up in gold on Tuesday was more to do with weakening of the US dollar, than rampant gold demand itself. The significant drop in the fiat currency was largely thanks to the release of October’s CPI report. Echoing that of the previous month, the report showed weaker growth and lower than […]

READ MORE

Featured

The King and Queen will be Gold and Silver

READ MORE