Where did the 'Fractional Reserve Banking' meme begin?

[stevea]

It isn't free (unrestricted) borrowing and lending, no. But the anti-FRB enthusiasts don't want to free society from fractional reserve limits. They want to force them up to 100%. Their position is nominally consistent with criminalisation of all credit creation (and this includes risk pooling and forward transactions). They want to vastly restrict voluntary transactions under the guise that those transactions constitute a violation of individual rights.

This is from whence the apparent irony comes. A bunch of people crying "Freedom for freedom's sake!! Unless we don't agree with it"

Francesca, I agree with many of your positions, but I think you are creating a strawman here. Yes I've heard of a few kooks who want to basically outlaw credit, but I don't think this is any more common among classical liberals than is the belief that the state should control the press among progressives. I think it's an outlier position, but perhaps you can provide references.

It's a lender's job not to make too many risky loans. Making loans to, as you describe them, fools is bad business on the lender's part. Period. You're an apologist for greedy filth.

You are so foolish that you can't understand individual rights and freedoms and you are exaclty the sort of dictatorial/authoritarian personality who would substitute your (supposedly superior) judgement for the freedom of choice of others.

It is NOT the lender's job to do anything - period. If a lender chooses to make foolish loans that is their business and it is NOT mine or yours. If these loans fail they should suffer the full consequences. Similarly for borrowers. All that is required is that a valid voluntary contract exist between the parties. Even that is optional, as if they make bad contracts they will receive proper treatment in court.

The entire problem that bugger's your imagination only occurs when do-gooders, like yourself, insert themselves into these private matters to try to prevent fools from receiving the consequences of their acts. If you are dim enough to try to bail out for foolish lenders or foolish borrowers, then suddenly you imagine that you have some right to tell these parties how to act in their lives ... and this is the genesis of fascism.

So I'll gladly suffer the fact the fools act foolishly in return for the freedom to act as I please. You instead are the sort who feels the need to control others based on your personal views and no good can come from that position.

BTW if it was SOOOOO obvious to everyone how foolish the lenders were acting then why didn't you short the bank stocks and make a huge fortune ??? Same for the dot-com bubble in 2000-2001. Like every bubble it is never obvious until the crash, and it's 100% pure hubris to imagine that anyone can foresee the outcome.

Also FWIW I find that ppl of your bent are usually dismissive of both the rights and the intelligence of others, as you've shown (you must protect the poor little dummy borrowers - who exist only in your imagination).