Inflation erodes morals in creeping, insidious ways. It replaces social bonds with government controls, makes war possible and leads to loss of respect for life, reduces rewards for enterprise and thrift while subsidizing laziness and debt, encourages proflicacy in finance and recklessness in morals, and penalizing traditional marital relationships. In all, inflation is a powerhouse of social, economic, cultural, and spiritual destruction. [Full Article]
Source link: http://archive.mises.org/2290/the-cultural-and-spiritual-legacy-of-fiat-inflation/
The Cultural and Spiritual Legacy of Fiat Inflation
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{ 19 comments }
This is great stuff.
But what can we DO about it, aside from writing articles that few people will read aside from already-converted Austrians?
well said. the effects on the spirit often are missed by discussions of economics. perhaps the icon of our times should be a sacrifice hungry moloch with dollar signs for eyes. his inflationary mantra would be “what was enough yesterday is insufficient today”. just a thought. good day!
The Bible roundly shatters the notion that governments are paragons of stability, justice and law and order. God’s view of government, spoken through his prophets, characterises human empires throughout history as a series of malevolent beasts.
Obviously this view has been accurate as history demonstrates that nothing has been more corrupting and destructive to man than government. Hülsmann’s article does an excellent job of identifying inflation as one of the key vehicles governments employ to erode Christian morality and enslave mankind.
As a steadfast Christian and Austrian I immensely enjoyed his article.
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Ephesians 6:21
I wholeheartedly agree with the previous comments, and I’m keeping an eye out for the book that contains it that will be published by the Acton Institute.
My guess is that the book is written for a broader audience than just Austrians. Rather it’s for anyone interested in faith and freedom. (And I’d make the argument that they’re actually essential to each other.) This article does a great job showing how inflation is destructive to freedom and morality. Well done.
I can relate a great deal to Dr Huelsmann’s great piece on the effects of the debasement of the currency under a “fiat money” regime. I was born and brought up in Brazil in a great family atmosphere in the 1960′s and 1970′s but eventually my parents decided to move to Europe and I have to say I was very fortunate that I was given the opportunity to escape the economic and social decay of Brazilian society. There have been, of course, downsides as my immediate family and extended family is spread throughout Europe, North America and South America. Our extended family has lost its unity and as a result the excessive fiat inflation that took place in Brazil from the early 1970′s onwards. One thing that I did learn from my experience and the advice of elders in my family is to never listen to governmental authorities or politicians.
Mario Innecco
London, England
Well, I am not a steadfast Christian and I take issue that family, saving for the future or frugality are sorely Christian values. I do think the author is just giving his personal religious opinion.
I do agree there is a destructive nature of fiat money, but to say it is some kind of evil plot against Christians sounds to me like a paranoid conspiracy theory.
While I commend Jorg’s excellent research exposing the negative consequences of fiat currency, I am concerned about the over-emphasis on Christian family values . . . . these same family values are shared by ALL major world religions. Let us not forget that Mises, Rothbard and Hayek adhered to the Jewish persuasion.
Over the years, I have heard clerics of Christian, Muslim, Jewish as well as other religious persuasions condemn socialist economics and state endeavours aimed at undermining the practice of saving resources, personal responsibility and privately-run charities. All major religions uphold the central role of the family in the community and in the society, not just Christianity, which along with Judaism and Islam, shares the exact same 10-Commandments.
Laissez-Faire free market economics has been upheld and practiced by adherents of all major religions. Whereas gold backed currency can foster peaceful trade amongst people of wide diversity of religions, inflation and fiat currency can lead to friction and war between people of different religions.
Harry Valentine
Mr. Valentine,
You stated that you are concerned with the “over-emphasis” on Chirstianty. I would ask you to consider perhaps the Audience that the author is trying to reach. In the U.S. of A. today there are many Christians who, although they have good intentions and strong faith, have no idea about the most basic causes of our society’s (and Western civiliation’s) decline. Also the author writes for the Acton organization. The Acton organization is a Christian organization. If you were already aware of this, then I apoligize for lecturing. Have a nice day.
This subject needs rigorous treatment by an Austrian economist and historian/humanist. Compare times past with today. Manners and dress were elaborate and ritualized. Architecture and chattel goods were durably made. People were on the whole more cultured.
I’d venture to say that fiat inflation is one of the most destructive social forces there is. I am not qualified to explore the hypothesis, but I would love to see one of the Mises Institute’s scholars tackle it.
Here are some points to remember:
1.) Central Bank is one of the 10 planks of Commmunist Manifesto.
2.) Russian Bolshevik Revolution was financed by Money Power. As proven by Anthony Sutton’s book “Wall Street and Bolshevik Revolution.”
3.) Control of Money Supply is essential to the Communist-Globalist Plot.
Now what can be done about it?
Libertarians should print out this article, make 1,000 copies of it and distribute.
Too much work? Well lazy people have never been free.
The practice of saving and maintaining family values occurs in nations like Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and several other nations. We witnessed the debacle of the Bank of Japan’s 10-year long hiatus with below-market interest rates, a stalled economy and a government addicted to its public works projects. The destruction of family values by government welfare programs that are sustained by inflation in America and Western Europe, could ultimately lead to the long-term decline of American and European societies.
Harry Valentine
It has to be said that family remains a strong part of Japanese culture, despite the country’s economic malaise. Mike Rogers’ articles should be convincing enough.
Didn’t the government completely fail to convince the population to spend more money?
I suppose this raises the question of why Japan got stuck with a system that seems contrary to their own tradition. It probably comes down to the USA’s (fed, etc.) unhealthy level of influence.
“You stated that you are concerned with the “over-emphasis” on Chirstianty. I would ask you to consider perhaps the Audience that the author is trying to reach. In the U.S. of A. today there are many Christians who, although they have good intentions and strong faith, have no idea about the most basic causes of our society’s (and Western civiliation’s) decline.”
Jared, the problem is not the audience but the “us versus them” overtones of the article. Whereas Jorg’s thesis on the destruction of economic freedom by way of fiat money is well put and well told, his overemphasis is not on Christian values per-se, but on what he sees as a perverse and evil scheme perpetrated by secular, dark people against all that is good and righteous, i.e. Christians. I don’t agree with this view, which in my opinion takes a lot of what is sensical away from his article and into the realm of nonsense.
I don’t agree that goverments issue paper money in order to destroy the Christian family and Christian faith. Bureaucrats are not that clever, mind you. One has to consider that anything a goverment does affects anyone, not just Christians.
The second issue I have with Jorg’s views is that he thinks good economical sense is a fundamentally Christian view, which is NOT true, considering the main belief of the Christian faith is that wordly life is not important, only the afterlife (see John 12:25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.) … Hardly a view compatible with economic progress, the search for happiness and consumer satisfaction!
Francisco Torres
Mexico
Sorry… “worldly” life.
Senor Torres,
Were you raised in a Catholic enviorment? I do not intend for this to sound disrespectful, I am only curious. In my opinion (and please remember this is only an opinion) it seems that the author of this article is only describing how this policies do affect a Christian society. I don’t believe that he is saying that things were done with the sole purpose of destroying Christian values. It seems rather that he is saying things were done in the pursuit of power, that one action inevitably led to another, that power hungry people will try to remove anything that hampers their power, and that one of the unavoidable consequences is the destruction of basic Judeo-Christain values.
Before someone feels the need to say it again, I will save them time. Yes, strong family values are not the exclusive domain of the Christian faith, I don’t belive the author made any such claim in his article. Hard work, saving, and thrift are also characteristics in many cultures. What the author wrote can be applied to any culture since Economics are universal laws of Human Behavior. Thank you and have a nice day.
“Were you raised in a Catholic enviorment? I do not intend for this to sound disrespectful, I am only curious.”
Don’t worry, you are not being disrespectful. Yes, I was raised a Catholic, and for a while I believed rich people would not go to heaven and that God only loved the poor, and that having possesions was not going to get me to heaven… that kind of environment. Of course, I left the Church.
“What the author wrote can be applied to any culture since Economics are universal laws of Human Behavior.”
Maybe, but still strikes me as ironic since the original core beliefs of Christianity do not make economic sense in any rational way. My opinion is that the author simply forgot this in his passionate defense of the Christian family.
Francisco Torres
Mexico
Senor Torres,
Thank you. You have been very nice to talk with. Have a nice day or good night. Which time zone are you in? Tchuss.
Central Standard Time. Same time as Texas.
Cheers!
Francisco
An interesting discussuion concerning Christianity (with a passing mention of Judaism and Islam) and economics appears in Rothbard’s “Laissez-Faire Radical: A Quest for the Historical Mises”. I believe this article was first published in the Journal of Libertarian Studies in the early 1980s. While many types of teachings can be found in the New Testament and I certaintly do not want to theologically criticize any religion, as Mises has pointed out, Christ’s gospels do state “blessed be the poor, for ye shall inherit the kingdom of God.” As Rothbard, Salerno, and others have discussed, Mises was a trenchant rationalist, in the finest sense of the term.
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