The Abuse of Money, Part 2. Progressives criticize entrepreneurship and free markets as “all about money.” They pretend to be representatives of a higher calling which, it turns out, is even more about money than what they oppose. Part 1 of this essay is here: https://informeorwell.com/opinion/the-abuse-of-money-part-1/.

More than two millennia ago, Chinese scholars identified freedom and limited government as elements of virtue. They knew that huge, overbearing government was an enemy of virtue itself.

One of the enduring fallacies about money is that it must be a duty of the government to provide it (despite government’s sorry track record). We will never be free of destructive inflations or deflations until we toss that bit of flim-flam into the bonfire.

“Act worthy of yourselves,” advised this great American patriot.

The founders of ancient but enduring Chinese philosophies would be horrified to know that a Chinese leader starved and slaughtered 65 million of his countrymen to impose a system cooked up by a degenerate German scribbler named Karl Marx.

Sometimes Evil is manifested in an act so horrible no one can excuse it, such as a school shooting. Then Evil goes to work to get people to ignore real causes and support fake solutions, like disarming the innocent.

In this June 17, 2022 interview by Keith Knight of the Libertarian Institute, we discussed a wide variety of topics from the Great Depression to the nature of profit to the virtues of entrepreneurship to the evils of the welfare state.

Muslim scholar Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) understood economics and human incentives in a way many modern-day politicians do not.

Poles knew from painful experience that, as dissident Stefan Kisielewski told me, “Socialism is stupidism.” He was beaten and arrested just for saying that, which only proved his point.

As eerie parallels between today’s societies and that of ancient Rome echo all around us, we’re overdue for a wake-up call.

To receive the highest honor Poland bestows upon a foreigner, I am humbled and grateful.

I’ve always believed that the biggest dangers of government are mission creep and creeps on a mission. Even good governments are tempted to bend the rules, but we should all be glad when the rules are good and are there for a good reason.

So gold is barbarous but unbacked, inconvertible, irredeemable paper money cranked out by elitist officialdom is not?

Money, inflation, hyperinflation and history. Patrick Vierra of Silver Bullion TV in Singapore interviews me on these and related topics, May 2022.

How many Joe Bidens does it take to screw in a light bulb? Two. One to assure the public that everything possible is being done and the other to screw the bulb into the water faucet.

A return to sound money is impossible without a simultaneous return to sound budget management.

If only we make sure the right people are in charge, said the socialist intellectuals, the iron fist will wither away. That's not just wishful thinking; it's lunacy. Hayek explains.

When the country’s chief law enforcement officer is egregiously derelict, to the point of condoning illegal threats against justices, it’s time for him to go.

The greatest hyperinflation in all Chinese history occurred less than a century ago. It played a huge role in the collapse of the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek and the ascendancy to power of Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party in 1949.

If instead of buying the stuff from competitive private enterprises, we had purchased planes and tanks from government factories, we would have paid twice the price for half the quality.