Slumps have always been boom times for monetary experiments, and the economic collapse of 2008-2009 was no different.

Underlying this recurrence is the instinctive feeling that economic calamities must have monetary causes, and therefore monetary remedies. There is either too much money, which causes inflation, or too little, which leads to depression. So the aim of monetary reformers — among whom are always a large number of quacks and cranks — has been to “keep money in order” and prevent its gyrations from disturbing the “real” economy of production and trade.