Richard D. Wolff

Thank you for your question, Joseph. I apologize in advance I do not have the time to watch the entire video, but I will do my best to answer: Debt is the major way that money is created now chiefly by banks (when an individual or enterprise obtains a loan from a bank, the bank simply credits that person or firm's bank checking account with the amount of the loan thereby "creating" money). When governments create money they do the same thing by giving banks loans via crediting their accounts with the government with an additional sum equal to the loan. However, governments can also simply print and distribute money and/or deposit sums of new government-created money into the accounts of persons or firms. Banks have wanted to tightly control the government's money-creating powers lest governments choose ways of increasing or decreasing the money supply in an economy that do not profit banks or, worse still, hurt banks' profits. Limiting money to debt is one way of exerting such control. It is not the only or the necessary way to do it.