Every dollar in your pocket is someone else’s debt. That’s the hidden design of our financial system. Banks create money when they issue loans. Governments create money when they sell bonds. The result? A treadmill that only runs if debt keeps growing — fueling inflation, inequality, and endless financial crises.
But does money have to mean debt? In this episode of The Financial Historian, we dig into the economic history of money and power to show the alternatives. From Mesopotamian debt jubilees to England’s tally sticks, from Lincoln’s debt-free greenbacks to Switzerland’s WIR Bank, history proves that money can be designed differently. We explore modern experiments like local currencies, Bitcoin, central bank digital currencies, and even resource-backed systems like carbon money — revealing their strengths, weaknesses, and the lessons they hold for financial freedom today.
This isn’t just theory. It’s about your life, your mortgage, your savings, and your future. Real wealth doesn’t come from debt — it comes from understanding how the system is built, and how it can be rebuilt. Because money doesn’t have to be a chain. It can be a tool for resilience and freedom.
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