both grown to such disproportionate size. It's how banking has become so over-leveraged. It's how the gap between rich and poor has grown so large. It's how the next generation has become so indebted. It's how house prices get so inflated and unaffordable. Any number of unnecessary evils can be traced back to this system of money, which we have no choice but to accept and use. Let me give you another example to think about. In 1914, when gold was official money, neither Britain nor Germany had enough of it to pay for World War One. Once they'd spent their gold, the war should have ended. But both governments took their countries off the gold standard, ran up colossal deficits and printed the money they needed, thereby passing the bill -- and the buck -- onto their people. This was an essentially fraudulent action made to suit a political agenda. Over 16million killed. Another 20million wounded. Then came wave after wave of consequences -- German reparations, Weimar hyperinflation, the rise of Hitler and another world war. If there had been no government monopoly on money, if they hadn't had this power to issue money, this just couldn't have happened to anything like the same extent. An astonishing thought. It's why many praise gold for its "restrictive force" on governments. Governments and banks should operate by the same rules as the rest of us. No bail-outs, no deficit spending, living within your means, real risk of failure forcing prudent conduct