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Any commodity approximates currency, but in practice this doesn't keep totalitarian governments in check. The government can take away your house or any posses
by ntoshev 17y ago
Any commodity approximates currency, but in practice this doesn't keep totalitarian governments in check.
The government can take away your house or any possessions you couldn't hide, ban trading of popular commodities (like foreign currencies; this drastically reduces liquidity), or, as a measure of last resort, kill you.
Former socialist countries have seen all of these after WWII.
- thaumaturgy 17y agoOr, more subtly -- and not requiring any force at all -- a government can simply hoard any commodity or currency through a series of differences in trading other commodities or currencies, artificially inflating the value of the commodity (or currency).