Book excerpt: Money does not come from the state! Actually, no one believes that statement. But they should. That is because America, like every other country in the world, has a pure paper money system, in which new money is created out of thin air. Andreas Marquart and Philipp Bagus show you how money arises and why our current money is bad money. You will learn how important good money is for an economy and what influence bad money has on everyone in society. What role does the state, government, and politics play in redistribution in favor of the super-rich? Why is a naive faith in the state anything other than a good strategy for the future for each individual citizen? Anyone who has never really trusted politicians — even if it started out as only a gut feeling — will find confirmation in this book that this gut feeling was right all along. An easy to understand introduction to the question of why money is responsible for so many problems in our society.