The powers of financial capitalism had a far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent meetings and conferences.
Interpretation
This quote discusses how financial capitalism aims to establish control over political and economic systems globally.
Carroll Quigley's quote critiques the influence of financial capitalism, portraying it as a system designed to centralize power and control in the hands of a few—primarily through central banks. It describes a world where financial systems manipulate political frameworks and economies, emphasizing a feudal-like structure where a select group makes decisions in secrecy, shaping the dynamics of nations and the world economy.
In practice
In a discussion on global economics, one might say, 'As Carroll Quigley warned, the powers of financial capitalism create systems that dominate nations.'
We need to revise our economic thinking to give full value to our natural resources. This revised economics will stabilize both the theory and the practice of free-market capitalism. It will provide business and public policy with a powerful new tool for economic development, profitability, and the promotion of the public good.
Gold still represents the ultimate form of payment in the world. Fiat money in extremis is accepted by nobody. Gold is always accepted.
No very deep knowledge of economics is usually needed for grasping the immediate effects of a measure; but the task of economics is to foretell the remoter effects, and so to allow us to avoid such acts as attempt to remedy a present ill by sowing the seeds of a much greater ill for the future.
The Reichswirtschaftsministerium ('Reich Ministry of Economic Affairs') tells the shop managers what and how to produce, at what prices and from whom to buy, at what prices and to whom to sell. It assigns every worker to his job and fixes his wages. It decrees to whom and on what terms the capitalists must entrust their funds. Market exchange is merely a sham.
The real and effectual discipline which is exercised over a workman is that of his customers. It is the fear of losing their employment which restrains his frauds and corrects his negligence.
Only government can take perfectly good paper, cover it with perfectly good ink and make the combination worthless.
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