Money and Banks

Archived from the live Mises.tv broadcast, this lecture by Doug French was presented at the 2011 Mises University in Auburn, Alabama.

So, isn't it time to demythologize all of this? Treasuries are bonds just like any other bonds. There's nothing magic, mythical, or sacred about them. A default on US government debt is no more or less radical than a default on any other kind of debt.

If Congress passed legislation that systematically reduced the debt ceiling over time, the economy could be rebuilt on a solid foundation.

Delivered at the Mises Institute on 24 June 2011.

It had become an underground classic, with dog-eared copies of the book fetching hundreds of dollars on Amazon before the Mises Institute republished it.

As interviewed by Mark Carbonaro, 1460 KION, Salinas, California; 29 April 2011.

A man would die of hunger who, having decided that money is real wealth, should carry out the idea to the end, writes Frédéric Bastiat (1801–1850).

Farmer Boy was probably written by Rose Wilder Lane in the mid-40s. Money is work is a phrase from this book. Money is hard work and much time. Government edicts don’t create money; markets create money.

We cannot eat money. We cannot wear money. We cannot live in money. Money can’t buy you love, writes Shawn Ritenour.