This is a big bump, but someone recommended Money as Debt in the comments of Jeff Tucker’s review of Inside Job and this was the only thread I found on it. Kinda surprising there wasn’t more discussion, but I figured I’d throw in my piece.
Unfortunately Money as Debt and its sequel are almost as misguided as the film in Tucker’s critique. And the sad part is just as with Inside Job they are a missed opportunity. There’s a decent amount of accurate info about central banking and our current system, albeit with a few flaws, (such as notion of the Fed not creating enough money to cover the cost of interest on debt; and, therefore, the world must forever be in debt. G. Edward Griffin covered this in The Creature from Jekyll Island pp. 191-192.)
But worse than that, the conclusions the filmmaker reaches and his proposed solutions are no better than what he spends the entire film berating. He literally suggests that to fight inflation “the government could simply collect tax monies that it then takes out of use.” And then conversely “to control deflation” he suggests “the government would simply spend more money into existence.”
So, basically he is saying we should just eliminate the Fed and directly let the government print money out of nothing.
His whole issue is with the notion that money is created through debt. He sees nothing wrong with an all powerful central authority controlling the money supply, able to print money at will, backed by nothing.
It’s actually strikingly similar to the notion advocated throughout Money Masters, which, is quite literally nothing more than “more of the same.” Despite 3 1/2 hours of history of the manipulation of money supply for power and personal gain, the solution offered in that film is no more complex than “allow the politicians to create money out of nothing…not private bankers”…Just as in Money as Debt. It is disturbing that such a notion could be viewed as a solution at all.
G. Edward Griffin offers a great critique of this and another film: Analysis of the documentaries Money Masters and Capital Crimes
And just for reference on the monetary issue:
What Has Government Done to Our Money?,
The Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar, & The Case for a Genuine Gold Dollar by Murray Rothbard
The Mystery of Banking by Murray Rothbard