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Coming soon: Bank of Dave – watch my interview with Dave Fishwick


On 1 February, I caught up with Dave Fishwick, star of Channel 4’s fantastic series Bank of Dave: Convinced that he can do a better job than the high street banks, Dave Fishwick sets up his own small bank and endeavours to make it profitable – in just 180 days Episodes are here. In this interview, you can learn how Burnley Savings and Loans is making progress towards becoming a proper bank by the end of the year, while preserving […]

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Central banks: the problem or the solution? The Jackson Hole Summit this weekend


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In my maiden speech in the Commons, I explained how central banks and easy money produce the economic dislocations which result in the business cycle. As the economics posts on this site attest, I have consistently defended the view that our economic difficulties are rooted in the chronically inflationary system of fiat money with which society has been saddled since the end of the Bretton Woods agreement in 1971. I’m glad employment, GDP growth and other indicators are positive but […]

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Speech on Money Creation and Society


A lady in Wycombe recently asked me the following questions: Why is my house valued higher than its worth? Why do crashes keep happening every 8 years? Who owns the money supply and how does it relate to gold? Why haven’t I had cost of living pay rise for 7 years yet the CEO has just bought a pacific island? Why do quarterly targets keep going up at work and what is the end game of this model? Why has […]

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How to make the bank say ‘yes’


The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) and the British Bankers’ Association have identified five steps you can take to ensure your business loan application has the greatest chance for success. 1. Develop a robust business plan – Your business plan is crucial to demonstrate the businesses financials, showing that you can repay a loan.Your plan should demonstrate you have done your homework, researched your market and competitors as well as identified clear routes to market and highlighted when you expect […]

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The German way of 1923


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I chanced this morning on the superb collection of essays from Ludwig von Mises, The Causes of the Economic Crisis and Other Essays Before and After the Great Depression (PDF). In his Stabilization of the Monetary Unit—From the Viewpoint of Theory written in 1923, he showed considerable foresight: Only the hopelessly confirmed statist can cherish the hope that a money, continually declining in value, may be maintained in use as money over the long run. That the German mark is […]

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The injustice of easy money is going mainstream


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The Daily Mail reports Interest rates: How keeping them at a record low is a deliberate government ploy to pay off its debts: A stealth raid by the Bank of England has stripped savers of more than £170billion, a Money Mail investigation can reveal. By slashing the base rate to a record low of 0.5?per cent and allowing the cost of living to soar for more than four years, the Bank has whittled away the value of cash sitting in High […]

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Bank reform demands monetary reform – an essay for Banking 2020


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Today sees the return of the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Bill to Parliament. It does not do enough. In the book Banking 2020: A vision for the future, my essay summarises the institutional problems with our monetary and banking orthodoxy: The features of today’s banking system As Governor of the Bank of England Sir Mervyn King told us in 2010: ‘Of all the many ways of organising banking, the worst is the one we have today.’ Notes and coins are irredeemable: the promise […]

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The banking reform Bill will be a missed opportunity if it does not support community banking


The second reading of the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Bill is today. This is the main debate on the principle of the Bill. It was previously provisionally scheduled for last Monday. I have found myself assigned to statutory instrument committees on both occasions, potentially preventing me from speaking in the debate. I was notified of today’s duty late on Friday, too late to find a substitute. Of course I am disappointed this means I probably won’t be able to make […]

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Tonight: Bank of Dave is back


Dave Fishwick is a remarkable man. A self-made entrepreneur, he knows good business builds up society. So when he realised the banks were failing both savers and productive businesses, he set up Burnley Savings and Loans as a step towards a “tiny, tiny bank”. Dave personally guarantees customers’ savings out of his own assets. He provides a 5% return. He makes productive loans to local businesses he gets to know personally. But the Establishment doesn’t know how, perhaps whether, to […]

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Interest rate swap meeting


Yesterday, I attended the latest meeting of the All Party Group on Interest Rate Swap Mis-selling, which affects a number of local businesses. Both the products and the process of clearing up after them are causing a great deal of distress and difficulty. As well as giving direct support to constituents on this issue, I made an intervention in the recent debate called by the Group’s chairmen, my colleague Guto Bebb. You can read the full debate here.  I said: […]

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