The 16th century saw the collapse of the Germany banking-house of the Fuggers.

The 15th century saw the collapse of the Medici merchant bankers. Today, Goldman Sachs has sought to install its people in key positions in government. This is by no means a new development. The Medici and the Piccolomini families of Italy had installed two Popes to also control papal business and revenues. Other merchant bankers attempted […]

  The Financial Crisis of 1294 that erupted with the seizure of the  Bonsignore’s Gran Tavola by Philip IV of France, expanded rapidly with the seizure of the Papacy itself. Avignon is often referred to as the “City of Popes” because of the presence of the French anti-Popes from 1309 to 1423 during the seizure of the […]

  Banking reemerged after the fall of Rome in Northern Italy. In the town of Lucca, merchant-bankers set up tables in the square to deal with money from exchange, taking deposits, and lending. On the wall of the church in the square you will find to this day the oath of the moneychangers – “no […]

Corruption between government and the bankers is nothing new. During the 4th Century BC, money that was donated to the gods became the temple treasure. Typically, the government would borrow from this hoard of cash and thus temples emerged as bankers. In Athens, there was one of the early banking crisis events involving what we […]

Julius Caesar (100-44BC) The economic history of mankind has always been a story of boom and bust. Throughout time, we find crisis after crisis in the recorded pages of history. The slogans of revolution or revolt have far too often been merely a disguise for economic motives by the state, king, minister or emperor. The […]

The Financial Crisis of 1971 was the culmination of a series of events that began during the early 1960s. Politicians set the gold ratio to the dollar at $35 an ounce that was decided in 1934 by Franklin D. Roosevelt. However, politicians have a vest self-interest in always pretending they do a good job. Unfortunately, […]