Institutul Ludwig von Mises - România: What has Government Done To Our Money?

What has Government Done To Our Money?

Murray N. Rothbard - Ce le-a făcut Statul banilor noştri?
romanian

Translation from english: Marius Spiridon.

I. Introducere

III. Moneda şi amestecul guvernamental

IV. Prăbuşirea monetară a occidentului

Original title: What Has Government Done to Our Money?, Praxeology Press, Ludwig von Mises Institute: Auburn, Alabama, 1990

It is one of Rothbard's momentous contributions to Austrian monetary theory, widely known as the "progression theorem" (J. T. Salerno). As recently generalized and vigurously defended by younger Misesians, this historico-praxeological explanation states that fiat money came into existence and continues to subsist only on account of a cumulative series of perpetuated violations of the Right to Private Property, e.g., the imposition of legal tender laws, open enactment of fractional reserve banking involving the deliberate confusion of deposits with loans, statist cartelization of the banking system, the withdrawal of market-chosen commodity-money (gold) from circulation, and the formal reneging on contractual obligations (redeemability) by the State-banking alliance. Furthermore, every step down to monetary collapse has its origin in the bankruptcy of the preceding regime, as brought about by past infringements on private property in the realm of money and banking. Accordingly, the only sure route to eventually restoring a sound money -- that is, a universal medium of exchange that fully allows for unhampered economic calculation -- is to restore free banking on a 100% gold standard, under the rule of contractual law, with the existing monetary unit redefined as a specific weight of gold, the market-chosen medium of exchange.

It illustrates the Misesian rule of thumb that each governmental intervention in the economy -- as well as each postponement of desocialization and economic deregulation -- creates new problems, which then face the government with a choice: either repeal all of the original interventions and go back to laissez faire, or go on to new ones, down the road to full socialism.