Most people think that banks lend solely from their base of deposits. Some also know that with fractional reserve banking, they can loan out many times more than they actually have in reserves.
But very few people - with the exception of those in the banking industry and financial experts - know where credit really comes from.
Germany's central bank - the Deutsche Bundesbank (German for German Federal Bank) - has admitted in writing that banks create credit out of thin air.
It is - in fact - a monopoly system. Specifically, only private banks and their wholly-owned central banks can run printing presses. Governments and people do not have access to the printing presses (with some limited exceptions, like North Dakota), and thus have to pay the monopolists to run them (in the form of interest on the loans).