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Only one simple question. Did you read Rothbard's "What has government done to our money?" If not, do so, and come back to tell us how your mind changed, for

Only one simple question. Did you read Rothbard's "What has government done to our money?" If not, do so, and come back to tell us how your mind changed, for good or bad.

mark_l_watson 13y ago
Thanks, I just bought that for the Kindle for a few dollars. Another book in a similar vein is "The Currency Wars" which I really enjoyed, and then shared with my family. TLDR: the financial system is rigged to make the rich richer; getting off a fiat currency would in general (and long term) help 99% people. BTW, it still blows my mind that so many friends think the US economy is so great right now, ignoring the $3 trillion in money created out of nothing in the last few years; sure stock and home prices were maneuvered higher.
hapless 13y ago
I have not, and I will not in the future. Just as one does not read alchemical texts for insight into modern chemistry, I have not spent very much of my life reading the Austrian school. There is certainly a great deal of historical interest for students of philosophy, but that isn't in line with my personal interests. Broadly speaking, the Austrian school has little relevance to the study of economics or finance.
- anonymoushn 13y ago
  A preference for some economic texts over others seems more like a preference for some alchemical texts over others than a preference for chemistry texts over alchemical texts.
- sixQuarks 13y ago
  This is all I need to know. Now I am absolutely sure you don't know what you're talking about.
notahacker 13y ago
Frankly, Rothbard's book is not particularly likely to change the mind of anyone with a good grasp of economics or finance because it's basically an extended political pamphlet which doesn't actually address the arguments economists make against the gold standard. Economists, for example, believe that hoarding is detrimental to investment because [some more] individuals will be rationally inclined to hoard rather than invest in a noninflationary environment, resulting in fewer real goods and services being produced. Rothbard manages to write an entire chapter claiming that "hoarding never brings any loss to society" without any reference to investment, or the effects of expected zero inflation (or deflation) on propensity to invest. He even describes the beginning of a credit crunch "suppose, for whatever reason--perhaps growing apprehension--people's demand for cash balances increases" as a good thing which it would be a "positive social benefit to satisfy"! Let them eat coins! What happens to the people who want to make stuff to sell at a profit and face both increasing borrowing costs and decreasing prices isn't discussed...
- lukifer 13y ago
  There is a practical example where the incentive to hoard has not stopped transactions: the technology industry. Since the dawn of computers and personal electronics, the purchasing power of the dollar for technology products increases drastically year-by-year, and yet transactions continue to occur. If a currency or commodity accumulates value, the seller's incentive to acquire it is mathematically equal to the buyer's incentive to hoard it. Eventually, they meet in the middle and find a mutually agreeable price, because people will always want goods and services.

Only one simple question. Did you read Rothbard's "What has government done to our money?" If not, do so, and come back to tell us how your mind changed, for good or bad.

mark_l_watson 13y ago

Thanks, I just bought that for the Kindle for a few dollars. Another book in a similar vein is "The Currency Wars" which I really enjoyed, and then shared with my family. TLDR: the financial system is rigged to make the rich richer; getting off a fiat currency would in general (and long term) help 99% people. BTW, it still blows my mind that so many friends think the US economy is so great right now, ignoring the $3 trillion in money created out of nothing in the last few years; sure stock and home prices were maneuvered higher.

hapless 13y ago

I have not, and I will not in the future. Just as one does not read alchemical texts for insight into modern chemistry, I have not spent very much of my life reading the Austrian school. There is certainly a great deal of historical interest for students of philosophy, but that isn't in line with my personal interests. Broadly speaking, the Austrian school has little relevance to the study of economics or finance.

anonymoushn 13y ago
A preference for some economic texts over others seems more like a preference for some alchemical texts over others than a preference for chemistry texts over alchemical texts.
sixQuarks 13y ago
This is all I need to know. Now I am absolutely sure you don't know what you're talking about.

notahacker 13y ago

Frankly, Rothbard's book is not particularly likely to change the mind of anyone with a good grasp of economics or finance because it's basically an extended political pamphlet which doesn't actually address the arguments economists make against the gold standard. Economists, for example, believe that hoarding is detrimental to investment because [some more] individuals will be rationally inclined to hoard rather than invest in a noninflationary environment, resulting in fewer real goods and services being produced. Rothbard manages to write an entire chapter claiming that "hoarding never brings any loss to society" without any reference to investment, or the effects of expected zero inflation (or deflation) on propensity to invest. He even describes the beginning of a credit crunch "suppose, for whatever reason--perhaps growing apprehension--people's demand for cash balances increases" as a good thing which it would be a "positive social benefit to satisfy"! Let them eat coins! What happens to the people who want to make stuff to sell at a profit and face both increasing borrowing costs and decreasing prices isn't discussed...

lukifer 13y ago
There is a practical example where the incentive to hoard has not stopped transactions: the technology industry. Since the dawn of computers and personal electronics, the purchasing power of the dollar for technology products increases drastically year-by-year, and yet transactions continue to occur. If a currency or commodity accumulates value, the seller's incentive to acquire it is mathematically equal to the buyer's incentive to hoard it. Eventually, they meet in the middle and find a mutually agreeable price, because people will always want goods and services.