Banques libres
Du point de vue libéral la vraie question du système monétaire n'est pas économique mais relève du Droit : un monopole légal est par définition illégitime, la question n'est dès lors pas le taux de couverture d'un système monétaire, mais plutôt sa libre acceptation contractuelle.
Ainsi, dans un système de monnaies en concurrence, il est tout à fait imaginable d'avoir certaines monnaies couvertes à un taux de 100%, ou fractionnaire, mais contractuellement défini, par des actifs réels (or, argent) alors que d'autres sont contrôlées par d'autres moyens (Bitcoin) tandis que d'autres encore ne sont pas couvertes et sont pourtant déjà échangées contre d'autres monnaies (les monnaies virtuelles de certains jeux vidéos par exemple).
Ainsi, dans un tel état de Droit peuvent cohabiter des monnaies réelles et des monnaies fiduciaires... à moins que (ou jusqu'à ce que) les libres choix des participants du marché favorisent l'un ou l'autre système.
Les économistes autrichiens estiment par ailleurs que, économiquement, seul un système de banques libres, permet de garantir réellement la stabilité monétaire :
- Ludwig von Mises, Human Action, 4.XVII. Indirect Exchange. 12. The Limitation on the Issuance of Fiduciary Media :
- In carrying the idea implied in the Currency Theory to its full logical conclusion, one could suggest that all banks be forced by law to keep against the total amount of money-substitutes (banknotes plus demand deposits) a 100 per cent money reserve. This is the core of Professor Irving Fisher's 100 per cent plan. But Professor Fisher combined his plan with his proposals concerning the adoption of an index-number standard. It has been pointed out already why such a scheme is illusory and tantamount to open approval of the government's power to manipulate purchasing power according to the appetites of powerful pressure groups. But even if the 100 percent reserve plan were to be adopted on the basis of the unadulterated gold standard, it would not entirely remove the drawbacks inherent in every kind of government interference with banking. What is needed to prevent any further credit expansion is to place the banking business under the general rules of commercial and civil laws compelling every individual and firm to fulfill all obligations in full compliance with the terms of the contract. If banks are preserved as privileged establishments subject to special legislative provisions, the tool remains that governments can use for fiscal purposes. Then every restriction imposed upon the issuance of fiduciary media depends upon the government's and the parliament's good intentions. They may limit the issuance for periods which are called normal. The restriction will be withdrawn whenever a government deems that an emergency justifies resorting to extraordinary measures. If an administration and the party backing it want to increase expenditure without jeopardizing their popularity through the imposition of higher taxes, they will always be ready to call their impasse an emergency. Recourse to the printing press and to the obsequiousness of bank managers willing to oblige the authorities regulating their conduct of affairs is the foremost means of governments eager to spend money for purposes for which the taxpayers are not ready to pay higher taxes.
- Free banking is the only method available for the prevention of the dangers inherent in credit expansion.
Références
- George Selgin, La Théorie de la banque libre, Paris, les Belles Lettres, 1991.
