Editing Monetary reform (section)

===Social credit and the provision of debt-free money directly from government===
Still other radical reform proposals emphasise monetary, tax and capital budget reform which empowers government to direct the economy toward sustainable solutions which are not possible if government spending can only be financed with more government debt from the private banking system.  In particular, a number of monetary reformers, such as Michael Rowbotham, [[Stephen Zarlenga]] and [[Ellen Brown]], support the restriction or banning of fractional-reserve banking (characterizing it as an illegitimate banking practice akin to [[embezzlement]]) and advocate the replacement of fractional-reserve banking with government-issued debt-free [[fiat currency]] issued directly from the [[Treasury]] rather than from the quasi-government Federal Reserve.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}} [[Austrian School|Austrian commentator]] [[Gary North (economist)|Gary North]] has sharply criticized these views in his writings.<ref>[https://mises.org/books/coogan_north.pdf Gertrude Coogan's Bluff, Greenback Populism as Conservative Economics]</ref>

Alternatively, some monetary reformers such as those in the [[social credit]] movement, support the issuance of repayable interest-free credit from a government-owned central bank to fund infrastructure and sustainable social projects.  This social credit movement flourished briefly in the early 20th century, but then became marginalized. In Canada, it was [[Canadian social credit movement|an important political movement]] that [[Alberta Social Credit Party|ruled Alberta]] through nine legislatures between [[Alberta general election, 1935|1935]] and 1971, and also won many seats in [[List of Social Credit/Créditistes MPs|Québec]]. It died out in the 1980s.

Both these groups (those who advocate the replacement of fractional-reserve banking with debt-free government-issued fiat, and those who support the issuance of repayable interest-free credit from a government-owned [[central bank]]) see the provision of interest-free money as a way of freeing the working populace from the bonds of "[[debt slavery]]" and facilitating a transformation of the economy away from environmentally damaging [[consumerism]] and towards sustainable economic policies and environment-friendly business practices.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}