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"A new conversation about money is foundational," writes Korten. "Without it, movements for economic justice, environmental regeneration, or democratic renewal will remain trapped within the constraints of a system rigged against them."
Markets distorted by concentrated wealth do not serve the common good. They serve the already rich.
The $34 trillion U.S. federal debt cannot be eliminated so long as private bankers control money production and profit from interest on money they create from nothing. This column puts this issue in a global perspective.
Most of the U.S. federal debt arises when the U.S. government borrows from private bankers by selling them Treasury bonds and other financial instruments. A banker opens an account in the government’s name and enters the amount of the bond. With a few keystrokes, the banker creates expendable currency for the government’s use. The government is expected to repay the bank for the principal when due, plus interest.
When the bond principal is repaid, that money disappears, but no money has been created to pay the interest. Thus, the accumulating interest creates a perpetually growing government debt spiral.
Private bankers collect interest in perpetuity on money that could just as easily have been created by national governments interest-free with no need for repayment.
In modern society, nearly everyone depends on money to meet their basic needs through transactions in the productive economy. In this sense, the money supply that serves the productive economy functions as a global commons—a shared resource essential to life in the modern world. Like any commons, it should be subject to democratic governance and managed for the common good.
This is more than economic injustice. It is a recipe for global breakdown.
The world’s productive economy relies on a limited pool of liquid money—what economists call the M2 money supply. This includes physical currency, checking accounts, savings deposits, and other readily spendable bank holdings. As of 2025, global M2 is estimated at approximately $93 trillion. It represents the total stock of money available at any moment for real economy activity—paying wages, buying groceries, building homes, funding schools and hospitals, and much more.
Over 90% of the global M2 is created not by governments, but by private banks issuing loans. Most of the money the world’s people depend on for their living is interest-bearing debt owed to private banks that created it from nothing.
Beyond this limited pool of money circulating in the productive economy lies a vastly larger financial universe—over $500 trillion in non-cash financial assets: stocks, bonds, derivatives, and cryptocurrencies. These cannot be used directly to buy goods and services. To be used in the productive economy, they must be sold and thus converted into spendable money—into M2 cash.
Most of these assets are fictitious, created not to support productive activity, but rather to extract speculative profit from the productive economy. This vast pool of fictitious assets actively directs attention of investors away from supporting the work of the real economy.
The non-cash financial assets—especially derivatives, leveraged buyouts, and cryptocurrencies—serve only the already wealthy seeking to extract unearned wealth from the productive economy without doing or producing anything in return that might benefit society.
This parasitic financial system generates massive profits for the few while inflicting widespread harm on the many. Its consequences include:
Governments that could issue their own currency—interest-free and debt-free—instead borrow from private banks, thus redirecting public funds to pay interest on private loans. The result is a transfer of power and wealth from the many to the few, underwritten by public debt and justified by economic myths.
The defenders of the current financial system insist it promotes efficiency and innovation by letting “free markets” allocate capital. But markets distorted by concentrated wealth do not serve the common good. They serve the already rich.
Private banks lend primarily to those who already have substantial assets—speculators, real estate developers, and large corporations. They dismiss community-serving or ecologically restorative projects as “too risky” or “insufficiently profitable.”
A just and sustainable future begins with liberating ourselves from the tyranny of private money creation.
The result? A system in which the wealthy borrow cheaply to amass more wealth, while the poor pay high interest—if they can borrow at all. Local communities and vital ecosystems are left underfunded and vulnerable.
This is more than economic injustice. It is a recipe for global breakdown:
Transforming this deeply entrenched system cannot be left to backroom negotiations, technical fixes, or elite commissions. Real change must begin with a broad, inclusive public conversation grounded in honest education and democratic engagement.
Most people have no idea where money comes from nor how the financial system works. This ignorance is not accidental. Mainstream economics education often obscures or distorts the process through abstract models and technical jargon that serve the interests of financial elites.
Reform begins with demystification. Citizens must understand how money is currently created and who benefits. They must also understand how we can change the way money is created so it serves public—not private—purpose. This awakening will require the leadership of independent media, educators, grassroots movements, public servants, and faith leaders committed to truth and justice. It must reach across generations, communities, and ideologies to ignite the public imagination.
A new conversation about money is foundational. Without it, movements for economic justice, environmental regeneration, or democratic renewal will remain trapped within the constraints of a system rigged against them.
Once the broad public understands how money is created—and who benefits—we must take the next step: reclaim the power to create and govern money as a public function, accountable to democratic institutions.
This means:
In a healthy economy, money serves life. It facilitates the exchange of real goods and services. It connects people in mutual caring relationships. In such an economy, billionaires would not exist, because the mechanisms that currently create extreme wealth would be replaced with mechanisms that secure the well-being of all.
We should expect fierce resistance from those who profit from the current system. But there will be no refuge on a dying Earth—and there is no planet B. In the end, all but the most self-delusional will come to understand that their own survival depends on a living planet and a just society.
We should expect fierce resistance from those who profit from the current system. But there will be no refuge on a dying Earth—and there is no planet B.
To reclaim our future, we must reassert the public’s right to create and govern money as a democratic instrument of shared well-being—not private wealth accumulation.
We will not end war while private financiers profit from war. We will not end poverty while public wealth is siphoned into private interest payments. We will not stop environmental collapse while debt-fueled growth drives relentless extraction. And we will not build an Ecological Civilization until we dismantle the financial system that feeds on life rather than serving it.
A just and sustainable future begins with liberating ourselves from the tyranny of private money creation. To build a just and sustainable future, we must make financial education and reform a priority of every social movement advocating for peace, justice, and a healthy living Earth.
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The $34 trillion U.S. federal debt cannot be eliminated so long as private bankers control money production and profit from interest on money they create from nothing. This column puts this issue in a global perspective.
Most of the U.S. federal debt arises when the U.S. government borrows from private bankers by selling them Treasury bonds and other financial instruments. A banker opens an account in the government’s name and enters the amount of the bond. With a few keystrokes, the banker creates expendable currency for the government’s use. The government is expected to repay the bank for the principal when due, plus interest.
When the bond principal is repaid, that money disappears, but no money has been created to pay the interest. Thus, the accumulating interest creates a perpetually growing government debt spiral.
Private bankers collect interest in perpetuity on money that could just as easily have been created by national governments interest-free with no need for repayment.
In modern society, nearly everyone depends on money to meet their basic needs through transactions in the productive economy. In this sense, the money supply that serves the productive economy functions as a global commons—a shared resource essential to life in the modern world. Like any commons, it should be subject to democratic governance and managed for the common good.
This is more than economic injustice. It is a recipe for global breakdown.
The world’s productive economy relies on a limited pool of liquid money—what economists call the M2 money supply. This includes physical currency, checking accounts, savings deposits, and other readily spendable bank holdings. As of 2025, global M2 is estimated at approximately $93 trillion. It represents the total stock of money available at any moment for real economy activity—paying wages, buying groceries, building homes, funding schools and hospitals, and much more.
Over 90% of the global M2 is created not by governments, but by private banks issuing loans. Most of the money the world’s people depend on for their living is interest-bearing debt owed to private banks that created it from nothing.
Beyond this limited pool of money circulating in the productive economy lies a vastly larger financial universe—over $500 trillion in non-cash financial assets: stocks, bonds, derivatives, and cryptocurrencies. These cannot be used directly to buy goods and services. To be used in the productive economy, they must be sold and thus converted into spendable money—into M2 cash.
Most of these assets are fictitious, created not to support productive activity, but rather to extract speculative profit from the productive economy. This vast pool of fictitious assets actively directs attention of investors away from supporting the work of the real economy.
The non-cash financial assets—especially derivatives, leveraged buyouts, and cryptocurrencies—serve only the already wealthy seeking to extract unearned wealth from the productive economy without doing or producing anything in return that might benefit society.
This parasitic financial system generates massive profits for the few while inflicting widespread harm on the many. Its consequences include:
Governments that could issue their own currency—interest-free and debt-free—instead borrow from private banks, thus redirecting public funds to pay interest on private loans. The result is a transfer of power and wealth from the many to the few, underwritten by public debt and justified by economic myths.
The defenders of the current financial system insist it promotes efficiency and innovation by letting “free markets” allocate capital. But markets distorted by concentrated wealth do not serve the common good. They serve the already rich.
Private banks lend primarily to those who already have substantial assets—speculators, real estate developers, and large corporations. They dismiss community-serving or ecologically restorative projects as “too risky” or “insufficiently profitable.”
A just and sustainable future begins with liberating ourselves from the tyranny of private money creation.
The result? A system in which the wealthy borrow cheaply to amass more wealth, while the poor pay high interest—if they can borrow at all. Local communities and vital ecosystems are left underfunded and vulnerable.
This is more than economic injustice. It is a recipe for global breakdown:
Transforming this deeply entrenched system cannot be left to backroom negotiations, technical fixes, or elite commissions. Real change must begin with a broad, inclusive public conversation grounded in honest education and democratic engagement.
Most people have no idea where money comes from nor how the financial system works. This ignorance is not accidental. Mainstream economics education often obscures or distorts the process through abstract models and technical jargon that serve the interests of financial elites.
Reform begins with demystification. Citizens must understand how money is currently created and who benefits. They must also understand how we can change the way money is created so it serves public—not private—purpose. This awakening will require the leadership of independent media, educators, grassroots movements, public servants, and faith leaders committed to truth and justice. It must reach across generations, communities, and ideologies to ignite the public imagination.
A new conversation about money is foundational. Without it, movements for economic justice, environmental regeneration, or democratic renewal will remain trapped within the constraints of a system rigged against them.
Once the broad public understands how money is created—and who benefits—we must take the next step: reclaim the power to create and govern money as a public function, accountable to democratic institutions.
This means:
In a healthy economy, money serves life. It facilitates the exchange of real goods and services. It connects people in mutual caring relationships. In such an economy, billionaires would not exist, because the mechanisms that currently create extreme wealth would be replaced with mechanisms that secure the well-being of all.
We should expect fierce resistance from those who profit from the current system. But there will be no refuge on a dying Earth—and there is no planet B. In the end, all but the most self-delusional will come to understand that their own survival depends on a living planet and a just society.
We should expect fierce resistance from those who profit from the current system. But there will be no refuge on a dying Earth—and there is no planet B.
To reclaim our future, we must reassert the public’s right to create and govern money as a democratic instrument of shared well-being—not private wealth accumulation.
We will not end war while private financiers profit from war. We will not end poverty while public wealth is siphoned into private interest payments. We will not stop environmental collapse while debt-fueled growth drives relentless extraction. And we will not build an Ecological Civilization until we dismantle the financial system that feeds on life rather than serving it.
A just and sustainable future begins with liberating ourselves from the tyranny of private money creation. To build a just and sustainable future, we must make financial education and reform a priority of every social movement advocating for peace, justice, and a healthy living Earth.
The $34 trillion U.S. federal debt cannot be eliminated so long as private bankers control money production and profit from interest on money they create from nothing. This column puts this issue in a global perspective.
Most of the U.S. federal debt arises when the U.S. government borrows from private bankers by selling them Treasury bonds and other financial instruments. A banker opens an account in the government’s name and enters the amount of the bond. With a few keystrokes, the banker creates expendable currency for the government’s use. The government is expected to repay the bank for the principal when due, plus interest.
When the bond principal is repaid, that money disappears, but no money has been created to pay the interest. Thus, the accumulating interest creates a perpetually growing government debt spiral.
Private bankers collect interest in perpetuity on money that could just as easily have been created by national governments interest-free with no need for repayment.
In modern society, nearly everyone depends on money to meet their basic needs through transactions in the productive economy. In this sense, the money supply that serves the productive economy functions as a global commons—a shared resource essential to life in the modern world. Like any commons, it should be subject to democratic governance and managed for the common good.
This is more than economic injustice. It is a recipe for global breakdown.
The world’s productive economy relies on a limited pool of liquid money—what economists call the M2 money supply. This includes physical currency, checking accounts, savings deposits, and other readily spendable bank holdings. As of 2025, global M2 is estimated at approximately $93 trillion. It represents the total stock of money available at any moment for real economy activity—paying wages, buying groceries, building homes, funding schools and hospitals, and much more.
Over 90% of the global M2 is created not by governments, but by private banks issuing loans. Most of the money the world’s people depend on for their living is interest-bearing debt owed to private banks that created it from nothing.
Beyond this limited pool of money circulating in the productive economy lies a vastly larger financial universe—over $500 trillion in non-cash financial assets: stocks, bonds, derivatives, and cryptocurrencies. These cannot be used directly to buy goods and services. To be used in the productive economy, they must be sold and thus converted into spendable money—into M2 cash.
Most of these assets are fictitious, created not to support productive activity, but rather to extract speculative profit from the productive economy. This vast pool of fictitious assets actively directs attention of investors away from supporting the work of the real economy.
The non-cash financial assets—especially derivatives, leveraged buyouts, and cryptocurrencies—serve only the already wealthy seeking to extract unearned wealth from the productive economy without doing or producing anything in return that might benefit society.
This parasitic financial system generates massive profits for the few while inflicting widespread harm on the many. Its consequences include:
Governments that could issue their own currency—interest-free and debt-free—instead borrow from private banks, thus redirecting public funds to pay interest on private loans. The result is a transfer of power and wealth from the many to the few, underwritten by public debt and justified by economic myths.
The defenders of the current financial system insist it promotes efficiency and innovation by letting “free markets” allocate capital. But markets distorted by concentrated wealth do not serve the common good. They serve the already rich.
Private banks lend primarily to those who already have substantial assets—speculators, real estate developers, and large corporations. They dismiss community-serving or ecologically restorative projects as “too risky” or “insufficiently profitable.”
A just and sustainable future begins with liberating ourselves from the tyranny of private money creation.
The result? A system in which the wealthy borrow cheaply to amass more wealth, while the poor pay high interest—if they can borrow at all. Local communities and vital ecosystems are left underfunded and vulnerable.
This is more than economic injustice. It is a recipe for global breakdown:
Transforming this deeply entrenched system cannot be left to backroom negotiations, technical fixes, or elite commissions. Real change must begin with a broad, inclusive public conversation grounded in honest education and democratic engagement.
Most people have no idea where money comes from nor how the financial system works. This ignorance is not accidental. Mainstream economics education often obscures or distorts the process through abstract models and technical jargon that serve the interests of financial elites.
Reform begins with demystification. Citizens must understand how money is currently created and who benefits. They must also understand how we can change the way money is created so it serves public—not private—purpose. This awakening will require the leadership of independent media, educators, grassroots movements, public servants, and faith leaders committed to truth and justice. It must reach across generations, communities, and ideologies to ignite the public imagination.
A new conversation about money is foundational. Without it, movements for economic justice, environmental regeneration, or democratic renewal will remain trapped within the constraints of a system rigged against them.
Once the broad public understands how money is created—and who benefits—we must take the next step: reclaim the power to create and govern money as a public function, accountable to democratic institutions.
This means:
In a healthy economy, money serves life. It facilitates the exchange of real goods and services. It connects people in mutual caring relationships. In such an economy, billionaires would not exist, because the mechanisms that currently create extreme wealth would be replaced with mechanisms that secure the well-being of all.
We should expect fierce resistance from those who profit from the current system. But there will be no refuge on a dying Earth—and there is no planet B. In the end, all but the most self-delusional will come to understand that their own survival depends on a living planet and a just society.
We should expect fierce resistance from those who profit from the current system. But there will be no refuge on a dying Earth—and there is no planet B.
To reclaim our future, we must reassert the public’s right to create and govern money as a democratic instrument of shared well-being—not private wealth accumulation.
We will not end war while private financiers profit from war. We will not end poverty while public wealth is siphoned into private interest payments. We will not stop environmental collapse while debt-fueled growth drives relentless extraction. And we will not build an Ecological Civilization until we dismantle the financial system that feeds on life rather than serving it.
A just and sustainable future begins with liberating ourselves from the tyranny of private money creation. To build a just and sustainable future, we must make financial education and reform a priority of every social movement advocating for peace, justice, and a healthy living Earth.
