In “Money: A Story of Humanity”, David McWilliams concedes that he isn’t a lone author, but rather a conversational one who utilizes others’ input to knit together an all-inclusive narrative that is not just credible and logical, but also engaging and powerful. His latest and most significant book, Money, is a resounding success in this endeavour.
McWilliams reels you in by rooting the chronicle of currency in various locations, from ancient Athens, imperial Rome and Amsterdam in the time of the Dutch Republic revolution, to pre-Renaissance Florence, transformative Paris, and Trieste during the concluding days of the Austro-Hungarian empire. He inspires a desire to explore these illustrious cities in a fresh perspective, book in hand. Money, which chronicles the entire span of recorded history, also provokes deeper thoughts about the societal structures we’ve built and the disparities ingrained in our civilizations for millennia.
Money recounts dual narratives of humankind. Firstly, as McWilliams fervently advocates, trade has been a delivery mechanism of liberation from relentless autocratic oppression and widespread poverty. On the flip side, this emancipation historically implied liberation for some, but exploitation, aggression and despair for others. The tale of money unfolds the promise of a better existence, characterized by freedom and equality for all, as well as its consistent failure to truly uphold this promise.
McWilliams colourfully details the history of empires throughout the ages and the exploitative economic systems that sustained them, underlining the prevailing theme of “barbarity chasing prosperity for the few”. He depicts Rome as a privatised empire with individuals from all societal levels participating as stakeholders in the system of imperial exploitation. This theme echoes centuries later in the Dutch empire, where, in the 1600s, a wide cross-section of the Dutch populace enjoyed an investment opportunity in the Dutch East India Company, the most massive company ever known, profiting from Holland’s violent exploitation of its colonies.
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One vivid chapter in McWilliams’s book portrays the appalling disaster inflicted on the Belgian Congo by the Anglo-Belgian India Rubber and Exploration Company. This public shares entity’s allure was the disconnect it created between the origin of the shareholder’s wealth, which was abhorrent, and the value of their shares. The company’s years of devastating plunder led to the death of five to ten million people in the Congo Free State.
Contrarily, McWilliams underscores “fragility amidst prosperity” from a modern economic history perspective. He astutely points out the current global economic system’s three characteristics, which underscore its vulnerability. Firstly, the current global economy relies on fiat money, a currency devoid of any substantial backing like gold or silver and is based entirely on trust in the issuing state. Non-elected individuals in central banks under government authorization print money and play a crucial role in socio-economic stability.
Secondly, in today’s world, physical currency represents merely a fraction of the total economy – constituting around only 10%. The rest is dominated by finance, primarily controlled by credit and contracts. Creation of financial money is by commercial banks rather than central banks who strive but often fail to regulate lending by commercial banks. Various crises have demonstrated that central banks are inadequate at maintaining control, leading McWilliams to ascertain that the system’s stability is, for the most part, a myth. He concludes that the recurrent banking and financial turbulence is due to the ineptitude of those in purported control.
Lastly, McWilliams shines a light on a growing scepticism towards the entire system in the current global economy. He emphasises that finance, banking, and money are all dependent on trust. Regrettably, this trust has suffered substantial damage due to the actions of central and commercial banks in recent times.
“Money is indeed an enthralling book, yet its true significance stems from the queries it presents concerning the forthcoming future of our societies. The critical concerns that McWilliams articulates about the sustainability and equality of the modern global economic framework, and the extent to which traditional economics mirrors reality, sound a loud and clear call-to-action for devising an innovative and starkly dissimilar path ahead.
– This review is penned by Ian Hughes, who wrote Disordered Minds: How Dangerous Personalities are Destroying Democracy.”