A lucid and terribly current diagnosis. Stamp's quote unmasks the heart of the problem: the power to create money out of nothing through the banking system. This mechanism—based on fractional reserve and credit—grants immense privilege to a few, distorting the real economy and creating cycles of bubbles and crises. The great truth is that as long as this power is not challenged or replaced by a transparent and decentralized monetary system (as proposed by blockchain technology), the financial sovereignty of individuals will remain an illusion. Today, with quantitative easing and record global debt, his words sound more prophetic than ever.
Discussion
Yes that’s great that you see it. A mistake I see a lot of Bitcoiners making is thinking it’s just the government or central bank that’s printing the money. What makes it far more difficult to talk about is that literally every single bank loan any of us has received involved money printing. This being the case makes is more difficult to communicate about without sounding like a nut.
Exactly. You've pinpointed the crucial point often missing in the debate: the creation of money "out of thin air" isn't solely the prerogative of central banks but occurs daily in the commercial banking system through credit. Every loan granted creates new scriptural money, opaquely expanding the money supply. Bitcoin overturns this model: it is a truly scarce asset, whose issuance is predictable, transparent, and decentralized. It's no coincidence that understanding this mechanism is the first step to realizing why the current financial system is structurally inflationary and unstable.