Gold, Peace, and Prosperity: The Birth of a New Currency

[billv]

by Ron Paul

http://www.mises.org/books/goldpeace.pdf

[Shmuel Spade]

It was excellent. I'd highly recommend Rothbard's "What Has Government Done To Our Money?" (http://www.mises.org/money.asp), for anyone who wants to be truly proficient on the topic.

[Matt]

He should try to plug this book when he's on the Daily Show.

[Travlyr]

"Gold, Peace, & Prosperity (http://mises.org/books/goldpeace.pdf)" by Ron Paul

Dedication - To Carol, whose love and support are more precious than gold.

[Travlyr]

Impending Social Strife?

The greatest threat facing middle and working class Americans is our depreciating paper currency.

At least when the kings of old debased their coinage, by adding copper to the precious metal, there was still some objective value to the resulting money. But as economist David Ricardo observed almost two centuries ago, when money costs nothing, it will become worth nothing.

“Government,” said Ludwig von Mises, “is the only agency that can take a useful commodity like paper, slap some ink on it, and make it totally worthless.”

Today, thanks to 67 years of central bank control over the money supply, we face an economic and political crisis greater than any we have faced before.

We probably will see widespread civil disorder in the 1980s, as a direct result of our faltering economic system. The dollar has been damaged by decades of interventionism, and Congress has legitimized depreciation of the dollar and forced redistribution of wealth through corporate and social welfare schemes.

All aspects of the interventionist system threaten freedom and social peace, but money is the major issue, since it is the lifeblood of all economic transactions. If we are to reverse the trends of the past six or seven decades, honest money and monetary debasement must become top concerns of ordinary Americans.


Ron missed the civil disorder by a few years, but it is upon us now. That does not change the fundamental principle he was referring to. Now a lot more people understand how most of the 1% made their money. The 99% would like to participate now with sound money.