Free markets are not capitalism.
We are linear, goal oriented creatures in a cyclical, circular, reciprocal, feedback generated reality, so while markets need money to circulate, people see it as the signal to extract and store.
Money is the social contract and accounting device that enables mass societies to function, but we see it as a commodity to extract and store.
Money is the tool that enables markets to function, but with capitalism, it becomes their god and its creation, their purpose.
Econ 101 says money is both medium of exchange and store of value, but a medium is dynamic, while a store is static. Blood is a medium, fat is a store.
As a contract, the asset is backed by a debt, so to store the asset, similar amounts of debt have to be generated. One way is squeezing money flowing through the economy, requiring it to run on debt.
This creates a centripetal effect, as positive feedback draws the asset to the center, while negative feedback pushes the debt to the edges. Since money and banking function as the value circulation system of society, this is like the heart telling the hands and feet they don't need so much blood and should work harder for what they do get.
The Ancients devised debt jubilees to reset this process, but the modern world has had several hundred years of geographic and technological expansion to forestall the need.
The other method of storing excess money is having the government as debtor of last resort. The capital markets couldn't function, without the government borrowing up trillions in surplus investment money. The endless wars are driven by the need to make it go away, so more can be borrowed. That is why those in charge of such strategic ineptitude are not lined up and shot, as they would be at any other time in history.
The secret sauce of capitalism is public debt backing private wealth.
I could go on, but the basic message is that the monetary system is the quintessential public utility and needs to be recognized as such. The functionality of money is its fungibilty. We own it like we own the section of road we are using, or the fluids passing through our bodies.
We need to store value where it is healthy and serves an actual function. There simply isn't the investment potential for everyone to save what they feel necessary, but we do save for many of the same reasons, so the concept of the public commons will have to be resurrected.
There was a time when government, as the executive and regulatory function of society, aka, the central nervous system, was private, but as monarchs lost sight of the fact it was a two way street, between rights and responsibilities, they were usurped. Now banking is having its own, "Let them eat cake." moment.
