Cash by computer

Already there is talk of taxation and austerity to recover the money borrowed and spent in the fight against Covid. This money has come from the banking system, as interest- bearing debt. Indeed, government borrowing from the banks and others has driven the National Debt past the £ 2 trillion mark. But where did the banks get this money from? Is it the savings of widows and orphans or of bank investors or from those buying government gilts? Well, it is partially. But in the main it is money from thin air, created by computer keystroke. And for as long as the interest on that magic money can be paid, the banks will go on creating it. After all, the National Debt in 1997 was a mere £ 350 billion, so government has borrowed another £ 1,650bn over the past 23 years, no questions asked.

Truth is that the private banking system creates the public money supply as debt.

Interest of more than a billion pounds a week on this money from thin air is paid to the banks.

But why are they involved at all, as a country with a recognised and tradeable currency can simply create its ownmoney and inject it as required, interest free, into whatever crisis demands it. Like fighting Covid, for example. Why are the banks allowed to cash in on everything, from Quantitative Easing to paying for the costs of a pandemic.

This ridiculous situation has been recognised by many for some time.

So let government put a halt to it now by issuing its own debt and interest- free money, and release us from the costly stranglehold of the commercial moneylenders. MALCOLM PARKIN

Gamekeepers Road Kinnesswood, Kinross