This article was excerpted from Chapter 21 of The Theory of Money and Credit.
The principle of sound money that guided nineteenth-century monetary doctrines and policies was a product of classical political economy. It was an essential part of the liberal program as developed by eighteenth-century social philosophy and propagated in the following century by the most influential political parties of Europe and America.
In response to Stephen Kinsella, since the comments section was getting a little bogged down in other matters:
The Top 12 History Books for Libertarians
It’s predictable. Just like if you criticize a scientologist you are going to get a ton of replies from kooks, so if you criticize Galambos (see links below). So let me be clear: from what I have seen Galambos was some minor cult California hippie figure, who was smart but who not only adopted a kind of bizarre, flaky scientism, but a crankish and absurd view of intellectual property.
This fascinating story in the NYT tells of the proliferation of cellphones and how they are used to make life better. But how strange that the journalist was not even slightly curious about the companies and entrepreneurs who make this possible.
In a free market, science originates in the minds of individual scientists, who have studied and thought about problems that interest them and who from time to time arrive at new insights, which they develop further and verify. In the course of their work and in the dissemination of its results, they often need more funds than they can personally provide. In such cases, inspired by the value they see in their work, they attempt to obtain the necessary funds from those other individuals whom they can persuade to share their understanding of their work and its value.
After our previous discussion of this topic, I published The Greatest Libertarian Books, today on LewRockwell.com. I’ve received several emails in response, some of which provoked this idea: the standard “top ten libertarian books” lists are kind of boring by now--they quite often just list “the usual suspects”. What would be interesting would be some other type of “top ten” (or whatever) book lists for libertarians, such as:
Once again the capitalists, entrepreneurs, petty-bourgeois, and associated travelers exploited those in need of goods and services; they ripped me off by selling school supplies at an outrageous price. These profiteers recognized the increased demand for education wares as school fast approaches so they acted just as the interventionist predicted; they lowered priced, outrageously. Oh, well, I guess that means that they actually acted opposite of what was predicted.
If you pay an employee a fat salary, give him a prestigious title, and then pump up his package with perks like free mailing privileges, well, you feel like he owes you some work. Maybe you need to give him an occasional assignment.
That’s why I wrote my Representative in Congress, Mr. “Bud” Cramer, to help me solve a bureaucratic conundrum. I waited nervously for the response, since it was my first assignment to him. I was anxious to evaluate his performance, as well as solve the mystery.
In February 1999, for research he was doing on postwar libertarianism, Brian Doherty interviewed Lew Rockwell. The interview was published in the May 12, 1999, issue of SpintechMag.com.
Doherty: How and under what circumstances did you first become interested in political philosophy/work? Was it of an individualist/libertarian orientation from the beginning?
