David McWilliams

Why did they finance the funerals?

Because at the end, the funeral was a day of atonement.

The individual had assets, and then at least they knew where the money was.

And that's why it was all settled.

Now, I've always found this fascinating because that makes sense to us.

It makes complete sense, right?

But, you know, you think, why was the grocer and the undertaker and the barman the same person?

Because what bonded them all together was the credit and debits of the village.

And that's exactly what you're saying.

So let's establish one.

Money starts with chaos, and central banks chase the chaos, trying to police it as events overwhelm them, underwhelm them, and they react to it.

That's the first big claim of the book, which I love.

Second big claim of the book is that

money starts with credit it doesn't start with coins it doesn't start with a physical transaction it certainly doesn't start with the the nonsense of barter and all that stuff that we we learned when we were in school okay so it starts with credit and credit then is finance it's the bedrock of finance and things like reputation trust rates of interest all these things flow from that and are enmeshed with that and then finally

What does this mean for our comprehension, Brendan?

I know we're trying to synthesize a book in a very short conversation.

Well, not that short, but a conversation.

What does it mean for people's... Once you understand those two things, that money is chaos and sovereignty tries to catch up with it,

The euro-dollar system is enormous, and there's a fragility at the center of the global system, which may or may not be policed by the Fed, but will increasingly be policed, or could be, politically by the Treasury.

And certainly if the Treasury takes over the Fed, as Donald J. Trump would like, there's no doubt that those swap lines, which are an essential lubricant of the international system, will be politicized, or will become more politicized.