Which all comes back to ... creation of money (though not through fractional reserve)

Yes, you could say that banks create money through loans. It isnt strictly accurate, because its really the fed thats creating it, just like they create all money.. but yeah, its being created. Think of it this way. Berniesansders upvoted my reply earlier itt, and that upvote made me $800 bucks (which, btw, thanks bernie). I didnt get the 800 from bernie, though. He wasn't giving me his money. You could argue that bernie created that money by voting... and i suppose you'd be partially right (as right as you are about banks creating money through lending). But really what created that money was the steem "central bank", a thing i call the Vault thats modeled off the federal reserve and i don't think anyone else has really noticed yet. Someone else created the money -- Bernie just decided who to give it to. (in that analogy SP holders are like commercial banks and the vault is like the fed, which doesnt completely work but you get the point)