Monies

Money is the barometer of a society's virtue.

—When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion

—When you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing (politicians)

—When you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors (politicians)

—When you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don't protect you against them (politicians), but protect them (politicians) against you

—When you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice

—You may know that your society is doomed. Money is so noble a medium that it does not compete with guns and it does not make terms with brutality. It will not permit a country to survive as half-property, half-loot.

Gold was an objective value, an equivalent of wealth produced. Paper is a mortgage on wealth that does not exist, backed by a gun aimed at those who are expected to produce it. Paper is a check drawn by legal looters upon an account which is not theirs: upon the virtue of the victims. Watch for the day when it becomes, marked: 'Account overdrawn.'

The problem is choice. I alone control my actions. Your system depends on us adhering to a certain pattern of behavior, but we each have the power to reject it. You will only survive as long as individuals believe you exist and act accordingly, but you cannot compel the choice. You can never take away my ability to choose life without you, to ignore your behavioral suggestions, to act on my own.