Thank you as this is a critical post with insights on which people really need to reflect. It is so easy to get lost in the political/pseudo moral divide when in reality what ails us is our inability to find meaningful AND profitable work.
This quote to me is very important:
"Money is important not just as a medium of economic exchange, after all, but as a standard by which society judges our work, and thus our selves. If all money becomes worthless, then so does all government, and all society, and all standards."
feels like a warning....especially as the candidates of the two main parties, in different ways, keep promising the government will be giving out more and MOORE and MMMMOOOOOORRRRREEEE money to any cadre that votes and many that don't even do that much. What has been bothering me while reading this and similar warning of monetary apocalypse coming is that NO one ever mentions a reliable method of protection from this kind of storm. The only hope is rational political action and everyone knows that is an impossible fantasy - particularly when left to politicians. Only an armed tyrant can enforce any form of sanity once the process goes past the tipping point.
When inflation rises, so does nihilism, which is natural when you think about it. A stable store of value and medium of exchange is essential for civilization, as the founding fathers well understood when they charged Congress with the responsibility of sound money. The abdication of Congress since 1913 is a disgrace. The Fed has become an unaccountable 4th branch of government and doesn’t even rely on Congress for its funding. And politicians extol this monstrosity for its “independence”. Yeah, it’s “independent” all right, independent of the will of the citizenry.
Great piece. There is another good book on this period - When Money Dies.
My takeaway is this could be America’s future if we loose a war. That would undermine confidence in the dollar and possibly set this nightmare in motion.
Not an easy read Rudy, but it needs to circulated and understood more broadly, thankyou for your service.
I think back with sickness in my stomach to Politicians (particularly in the UK) taking a victory lap when they spoke of the "support" they gave during Covid injecting printed money through furlough, stimulus and so on.
We had a Chancellor (later PM), who worked at the pinnacle of Financial Services with an MBA, they knew the longer-term outcomes.
The same Politicians now claim to wonder why civil disobedience is on the rise...
Thank you as this is a critical post with insights on which people really need to reflect. It is so easy to get lost in the political/pseudo moral divide when in reality what ails us is our inability to find meaningful AND profitable work.
This quote to me is very important:
"Money is important not just as a medium of economic exchange, after all, but as a standard by which society judges our work, and thus our selves. If all money becomes worthless, then so does all government, and all society, and all standards."
Thank you again.
feels like a warning....especially as the candidates of the two main parties, in different ways, keep promising the government will be giving out more and MOORE and MMMMOOOOOORRRRREEEE money to any cadre that votes and many that don't even do that much. What has been bothering me while reading this and similar warning of monetary apocalypse coming is that NO one ever mentions a reliable method of protection from this kind of storm. The only hope is rational political action and everyone knows that is an impossible fantasy - particularly when left to politicians. Only an armed tyrant can enforce any form of sanity once the process goes past the tipping point.
When inflation rises, so does nihilism, which is natural when you think about it. A stable store of value and medium of exchange is essential for civilization, as the founding fathers well understood when they charged Congress with the responsibility of sound money. The abdication of Congress since 1913 is a disgrace. The Fed has become an unaccountable 4th branch of government and doesn’t even rely on Congress for its funding. And politicians extol this monstrosity for its “independence”. Yeah, it’s “independent” all right, independent of the will of the citizenry.
Great piece. There is another good book on this period - When Money Dies.
My takeaway is this could be America’s future if we loose a war. That would undermine confidence in the dollar and possibly set this nightmare in motion.
Thanks! Yes, I have that book and a number of others on the period. They all have something to offer.
Wow!!
Thank you for sharing. I understand more about how bad things were in Germany.
Not an easy read Rudy, but it needs to circulated and understood more broadly, thankyou for your service.
I think back with sickness in my stomach to Politicians (particularly in the UK) taking a victory lap when they spoke of the "support" they gave during Covid injecting printed money through furlough, stimulus and so on.
We had a Chancellor (later PM), who worked at the pinnacle of Financial Services with an MBA, they knew the longer-term outcomes.
The same Politicians now claim to wonder why civil disobedience is on the rise...
And maybe this can all happen again. Wonderful thought eh
My nom de plume was meant to be a warning, not encouragement.
Rudy,
What do we do?
They need to be honest with everyone, and make a lot of cuts. Empires are expensive. We could start there.