[pacopasa]

I am into my second reading of THE ETHICS OF MONEY PRODUCTION by Hulsman and I am trying to wrap my head around fractional reserve banking. I feel like I am missing something obvious.
If a bank has $1,000 in deposits and there is a 10% reserve requirement then it can issue credit for $10,000.
If someone takes that $10,000 and puts it in a bank and leaves it there for some reason can that bank issue credit of $100,000? Could that happen ad infinitum? It makes no sense, what am I missing?

[jmherbener]

The reserve held by a bank is either cash or a deposit at the Federal Reserve. Suppose, then, that a bank has $1,000 in cash. It can extend a loan to a customer for $10,000 and credit the customer’s checking account for $10,000. The bank would be meeting a 10% reserve requirement. The customer’s checking account balance cannot serve as a reserve for another bank. Another bank would have to obtain either cash or a credit by the Federal Reserve to the bank’s account at the Fed. A bank normally does this by selling securities to the Fed.

Take a look at Murray Rothbard’s book, Mystery of Banking.

https://mises.org/library/mystery-banking

[pacopasa]

Thank you

[Author]

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