Monday, October 13, 2008

Stop Blaming the Victim!

I interrupt this blogging hiatus to bring you the following news flash: THE PROBLEM IS NOT THE FREE MARKET!

Dominic Lawson explains that it all went wrong when we left the gold standard: "Mises' followers insist that the present problems in the economies of the West have not been caused by laissez-faire, but by the opposite: politically sensitive central bankers so desperate to prevent any stock market slump that they cut interest rates to a level which turbo-charged the debt markets. So when George Osborne, as he did yesterday, declares that "laissez-faire is dead", the Mises-ites – one of whom is the libertarian Presidential candidate, Congressman Ron Paul – would protest that such a policy was never tried in the first place."

What got us into this mess?

FIAT MONEY



Hat tip: The Young Fogey

2 comments:

Huw Richardson said...

Amen! I'd settle for a silver standard just as well. Or a copper one or a steal one or a rock one. Wampum would be nice!

Paper money is, essentially, debt. When there is a standard behind the money, the debt is, at some point, theoretically payable. "$1 in Silver/Gold/Wampum payable to bearer". WHen there is no standard, the debt just accumulates. And we all suffer.

Benedictus said...

"I'd settle for a silver standard just as well. Or a copper one or a steal one or a rock one. Wampum would be nice!"

I'm with you, my friend! Some kind of standard would be nice.