Fractional reserve banking acceptable or not in laissez-faire system?

This is one of my comments I wrote under an article at "Laissez-faire blog" of Ayn Rand Institute

I've read your article, and it addresses only the issue of FR banks "disguising" their banknotes as fully-backed claims to gold - which would never occur in a laissez-faire capitalism with no government intervention into monetary matters. Clearly, such disguising is fraud and courts would stand ready to punish such banks on the basis of protection from fraud.
That's why in a truly capitalist system FR banks could only issue banknotes or checks with explicit information about the fractional nature of their reserves, and that's why each person willing to accept these fiduciary media would be aware of the risks involved, and possible costs from either inflation (banknotes losing purchasing power), redemption delay or outright bankrupcy in the worst case scenario (market signals would not be hampered though, so each banknote would be discounted depending on the situation). Thus, noone is forced by legal tender laws to accept fiduciary media in a laissez-faire system. Those who choose to hold gold or other specie used as money, are not affected by the loss of purchasing power, because inflation of one FR bank's notes only affects this bank's notes' purchasing power. The temporary rise in demand due to credit expansion is immediately curbed whenever a FR note is redeemed for specie, or a loan created out of FR deposit is paid off, therefore in the long run there is a monetary equilibrium.
Again to conclude - in the absence of central bank, legal tender laws and government intervention into monetary matters, that is, in the environment of full laissez-faire including money production, there is no infringement of rights in fractional-reserve banking, given that FR banks are outright honest about their practice and courts uphold the law protecting from fraud as explained in the first paragraph.

Now, I am acquainted with such literature as professor Jesus Huerta de Soto's "Money, Bank Credit and Economic Cycles" and Jorg Guido Hulsmann's "The Ethics of Money Production", and I consider myself a supporter of 100% reserve banking - as a bank client! I probably would not deal with FR banks whatsoever if I had a choice in a laissez-faire system - bearing the cost of such a behaviour. But clearly there is no argument from a rights' perspective against FRB, given all the institutional framework of a truly capitalist society, with a functional court system and no legal privileges for FRB. I cannot make myself more clear with that.

We can condemn FRB as an unnecessary, overly dangerous business practice - just as we condemn for instance extreme sports, drug use, "insider trading" etc., but these are perfectly voluntary activities in a free society, involving only willing parties and having no effect (from a rights' perspective!) on uninvolved people. Saying that an expansion in credit by a FR bank harms third parties is, as I explained earlier, mistaken. It is not even close to, for example, a case where one buys a piece of property and one day, because of fully legitimate actions of his neighbours, the price of his property falls by a significant amount - I rarely find a free-marketer who would object to such an outcome and call for state intervention or sueing of neighbours when no rights were infringed and only market forces were at work. In a free banking world, people's savings are safe from inflation when they keep them in gold or in 100%-reserve deposits, because only FR notes are affected. And nobody is forced to use FR notes. People weigh costs and benefits from using that or that kind of banking, saving and investment opportunities, using their own reason, preferences and acting on their behalf. That's the main point.

I hope this finally resolves this interesting issue once and for all.

Ty korwinisto!

Znalezione na fejsowej stronie "'Ty korwinisto' jako obelga ciężkiego kalibru"

CZARNA KSIĘGA KORWINIZMU

1. Nie-leseferyzm nie jest od razu socjalizmem
a) Leseferyzm nie czyni z miejsca prawicowcem, gdyż prawica na przestrzeni lat
wytworzyła wiele form alternatywnej gospodarki.
2. Kurwin jest kretynem, który pobieżnie przerabiając filozofię na studiach, zapamiętał tylko schopenhauerowską
erystykę, której używa bez przerwy,
3. KORWINOWCY TO DEBILE
4.KORWINOWCY TO GIMBUSY

Pozwoliłem sobie na następującą trawestację:

1. Bicie żony tylko co dwa dni nie jest od razu znęcaniem się nad małżonką
a) powstrzymywanie się od napierdalania żony nie czyni z miejsca człowiekiem przyzwoitym, gdyż ludzkość na przestrzeni lat wytworzyła wiele alternatywnych form znęcania się nad kobietami
2. Niebijący żony jest kretynem, bo coś tam bla bla bla bla bla, pobieżnie przerobił wrażliwość, zapamiętał tylko że kobiety płeć słabsza i nie wolno, ot kucowska erystyka pedzia, której używa bez przerwy
3. NIEBIJĄCY ŻONY TO PEDZIE
4. NIEBIJĄCY ŻONY TO LAMUSY


I co teraz, ty skurwiała szmato oblepiona spermą?