George Monbiot writes about Greece:
‘…One of these radical ideas was proposed a few months ago by Martin Wolf in the Financial Times. He suggests stripping private banks of their remarkable power to create money out of thin air. Simply by issuing credit, they spawn between 95% and 97% of the money supply. If the state were to assert a monopoly on money creation, governments could increase their supply without increasing debt. Seigniorage (the difference between the cost of producing money and its value) would accrue to the state, adding billions of pounds to national coffers. The banks would be reduced to the servants, not the masters, of the economy….’
via A maverick currency scheme from the 1930s could save the Greek economy | George Monbiot | Comment is free | The Guardian.
also see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seigniorage
http://lexicon.ft.com/term?term=seigniorage