How the Government Insinuated Itself into Our Money

In a speech delivered at Liberty Fest Houston, Tom Woods explores the concept of money and how it has been corrupted by modern governments. This is a great introduction to economics to share with your friends. Woods covers the history of money, the historical reality ofdeflation versus inflation, and how the boom/bust business cycle was created by central planning. He explains why Peter Schiff’s prediction of the 2008 financial crisis was based on sound economics, and how interest rate manipulation will continue to distort global economies.

Conceptually speaking, there’s no reason for a government to be involved [in the creation of money]. People can get to this point just by figuring out, ‘I need things and the best way for me to get them is to use a marketable good.’ … This comes about spontaneously. However, it’s money after all, and the government is going to want a piece of this somehow. So little by little, the government is going to insinuate its way into this process. It will do so in ways that will at first seem harmless…”  Read more