Ch'ien was one of the world's first monetary theorists. He pointed out that increased quantity and a debased quality of coinage by government depreciates the value of money and makes prices rise. And he saw too that government inherently tended to engage in this sort of inflation and debasement.
The human desire for freedom has always run up against those who believe "too much" freedom is a bad thing and that the "common good" — as defined by some elite — outweighs the rights of the individual.
The greatest economic charity is that which enables persons to become independent of alms and therefore most self-reliant and secure under freedom.
Scalpers fight against the notion that people must be protected from free, uncoerced exchanges.
The paradox is that if Nock had but known it, Columbia College in his day was the nearest approximation to the ideal set forth in his lectures.
Liberty is an end unto itself, with prosperity as its positive externality.
Even some of the big unions, the steel union, for example, now doubt the effectiveness of wage increases that run beyond productivity.
The scholars, writers, and philosophers of a society have to be good or there is really little hope.
"They took care of themselves and recognized that having freedom means the freedom to fail as well as to succeed."
