Ferguson is promoting the Fractional Reserve Banking myth for purely ideological reasons. Deposits do not precede credit: it is the other way around.

Here's the reality.....

http://nordicenterprisetrust.wordpress.com/2010/11/16/taxpayers-money-myth-and-reality/

...which also addresses the myths of "tax-payers' money" and 'productivity'.

Chris

$ 3,584,345,000,000 as per the US Census estimated that is the 10 months for 2010 Retail & food services, total. That total when divided by 300,000,000 the approximate population equals $11,947.82 for each American for 10 months of 2010. The debt service estimated using the bankrate estimator is $89.60 at 18%. It will take you 240 months to be rid of your debt. In that time, you will pay $4,799.13 in interest. This is 70% of the US economy and it is all securitized and hedged with CDS and what not. So for every transaction there are 240 payments at the minimum and the interest is projected forward and leveraged even further via the sale of the securitized debt as an asset for the bank sold to another bank or purchased by the US Treasury. The better the retail sales the more we bleed and deeper we get in the hole and our financial institutions use these assets as collateral so we are eating our own seed and have been for a long time. This 240 month scenario is collapsing on itself as the economic activity fails to generate jobs that can even pay the minimum.

http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/managing-debt/minimum-payment-calculator.aspx#ixzz16a0lvShN

http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/managing-debt/minimum-payment-calculator.aspx

ok now.