The growing contradictions inherent in capitalism are concentrated, as though at a focal point, in the monetary field—the most, vulnerable point in the whole capitalist economy. The extended period of the general crisis of capitalism is punctuated by periodic bursts of monetary crisis.

J. К. Galbraith begins his book on the history and current problems of money with the following statement: “There is much that is diverting in the history of money, but even more that provides a rich reflection of human behavior and human folly.”.