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The large banks lobby Congress and the White House on the Federal Reserve's behalf, make campaign contributions to politicians willing to support Federal Reserve independence, and give them high-paying jobs when they retire from politics. The second round also increased large-bank profits but by less than the first round, and large-bank profits were even less affected in the third round than in the second largely because, by that time, the largest banks had already dumped their most toxic securities onto the Federal Reserve. As in the case of the Federal Reserve's response to the Great Recession, Epstein answers this question in terms of the Federal Reserve's overriding concern with large-bank profits. In his analysis of the Federal Reserve's response to the Great Stagflation of 1973-1979, Epstein also emphasizes how the Federal Reserve acts in the interests of the large banks. [Extracted from the article]

Either in its "natural order" or "pure economics" versions, orthodox economics has conceptualized money as any other commodity in a market-coordinated economic system. Aglietta proposes a new international monetary system that would have special drawing rights (SDR) as ultimate liquidity. In contrast, as the new ultimate liquidity, in Aglietta's system the SDR would be an international, flexible-supply fiduciary money. [Extracted from the article]

Reviews the book 'Special Drawing Rights and Development,' by R.L. Haan.