(English) Money as Debt

So you think that money is the root of all evil. Have you ever asked what is the root of all money?

I don’t tend to quote Ayn Rand very often, but in this case she had a point. Given how money influences practically every aspect of our lives, it’s astonishing that most people know next to nothing about how the monetary system works. Paul Grignon’s 47-minute animated presentation «Money as Debt» eloquently guides us through the historical roots of money as we know it. Unfortunately, even this film gets into some well-refuted conspiracy theories, as pointed out by the blog Sounds Familiar. Yet the presentation remains excellent, and the main part of the blogger’s critique — that alternative policies as suggested in the film would cause a steady state economy — is actually good news for those of us who believe that a system based on eternal exponential growth is unsustainable.