Introduction

This chapter overviews the book, which critically and centrally examines the privileged powers conferred on commercial banks, namely the ability to create money from nothing together with the capacity for issued money to grow over time in tune with a positive interest rate. The two abilities can be seen to defy the conservation and entropy laws of thermodynamics. The chapter introduces the dual natures of money, wealth, and real capital, demonstrating their simultaneous statuses as individual affluence and collective biophysical debt. It further shows that hegemonic obsession over individual pecuniary interests is as a surefire ticket to community-level tragedy and proposes a democratic control over new money issuance and its distribution. The chapter stresses the intricacies of societal self-preservation, the biophysical burden of real capital, and the universal exchangeability of money. A reframing of the contemporary definition of wealth is suggested alongside, ultimately, a novel, responsible approach to economic development.