Having been a bank director, Alasdair MacLeod knows a thing or two about the health of the banking system, and how to spot one that's contracted something. Talking to Liberty and Finance, MacLeod explained that the banking crisis we've been seeing is very much a top-down issue starting from central banks.

Watch here, or read on for my summary and analysis:

It's a tale as old as bailouts: if the average person managed their money as badly as big banks, they wouldn't have a penny to their name. But then the same applies to an even greater extent in comparison between central and private banks, says MacLeod, with the former having basically zero accountability.

Liquidity is another thing they're lacking, to summarize MacLeod's lengthy and well-presented overview of the banking sector.

Most interestingly, perhaps, MacLeod says that central banks aren't so much buying gold as they are getting rid of paper currency. We've all heard of this interpreted as diversification or de-dollarization. Maybe that's just a polite way of talking around the issue. In reality, central banks are using paper money to buy gold – and not just foreign currencies, but their own as well.

Why would they do that? MacLeod says we only need to look to gold's fundamentals for an answer. By 2025, the U.S. federal government will owe some $40 trillion in debt, which (if you'll forgive the pun) there's absolutely zero interest in ever paying off. Politicians might talk about balancing the budget, they might hand-wave about paying down the debt. Instead of listening to what they say, watch what they do. Find any elected government official willing to spend less on his own constituents – I challenge you.