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:
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.
"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.
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