Honest Money
Honest Money
HONEST MONEY
Title Page
The Biblical Blueprint for
Money and Banking
Gary North
Copyright Page
More information on biblical economics can be obtained from garynorth.com. See the section, Capitalism and the Bible.
Copyright © Gary North, 1986, 2005
Copyright © 2011 by the Ludwig von Mises Institute and published under the Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Introduction
INTRODUCTION
This is a book about money, a subject that has defied analysis by professional economists for as long as there have been professional economists. At the same time, it is a topic for which the most ill-informed people think they have the answers. Very often the most ill-informed people are professional economists.
1. The Value of Money
CHAPTER ONE
THE VALUE OF MONEY
So when the money failed in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us bread, for why should we die in your presence? For the money has failed.” (Genesis 47:15)
2. The Origins of Money
CHAPTER TWO
THE ORIGINS OF MONEY
And the gold of that land [Havilah] is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. (Genesis 2:12)
In the second chapter of the Book of Genesis, God, speaking through Moses, saw fit to mention this aspect of the land of Havilah. It was a place where valuable minerals of value were present. One of these minerals was gold.
3. Maintaining Honest Money
CHAPTER THREE
MAINTAINING HONEST MONEY
You shall do no injustice in judgment, in measurement of length, weight, or volume. You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. (Leviticus 19:35–36)
4. Debasing the Currency
CHAPTER FOUR
DEBASING THE CURRENCY
Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water. (Isaiah 1:22)
The prophet Isaiah came before the nation of Judah, the Southern Kingdom of the divided nation of Israel, sometime around the year 750 B.C. He began his ministry with a condemnation of the spiritual condition of the people, from the man in the street to the rulers.
5. The Contagion of Inflation
CHAPTER FIVE
THE CONTAGION OF INFLATION
Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water. (Isaiah 1:22)
In chapter 4, I focused on the actual process of debasing a precious metal currency.
