What Has Government Done to Our Money? by Murray N. Rothbard

What Has Government Done to Our Money? Reviews

• 
  Cristi C.

  .
• 
  Денис Агафонов

  Кратко и простым языком изложенная теория денег. Вполне может использоваться в качестве учебника. Жаль что анализ взаимодействия денег и государства заканчивается на 70-х годах.
  У аудиокниги на удивление отличный чтец - Артем Логинов. Часто бывает сложно слушать нон-фикшн, но у него получается донести все содержание до мозга.
• 
  Clinton

  What Has the Government Done to Our Money directly assaults the fraudulent monetary system of fiat currency and reaffirms the sustainability in economic growth of free market currency based on an commodity such as gold and silver. Murray Rothbard briefly confutes the delusional enchantment of the impregnable system of fiat currency by issuing inflation as the most devastating phenomenon in monetary economics.
  Inflation is the debasing of a currency by creating money out of thin air, which means the purchasing power is decreased due to the increase in the money supply. Inflation generates illusory profits and distorts calculation of business, so free markets are unable to reward efficiency and penalize inefficiency. “The general atmosphere of a sellers’ market will lead to a decline in quality of goods and of service to consumers since consumers often resist price increases less when they occur in form of downgrading of quality.” Not only does inflation destroy business, but the compulsory monopoly of mint in the control of the money supply by central banks destroys free markets even in monetary terms. Central banks are responsible for inflation, for it removes all checks on inflation as well as direct inflation.
  Overall, Rothbard is a true inspiration of brilliance in the field of economics where he can deliver a concise explanation of the government transgressions into the market and the incessant yet futile attempt to control economic activity through manipulating the currency. It is an absolute blast to read Rothbard every time.
• 
  José Luis

  Gostaria de ter lido este livro há mais tempo, uns três anos atrás. Certamente teria direcionado melhor minhas leituras, meus aprendizados e estudos em economia. Excelente livro, engana pelo número de páginas. Muito denso, muita coisa para entender. Muito bem escrito e organizado. Recomendo demais.
• 
  Christopher Goins

  Dr. Rothbard left us in 1995, and wrote the first edition of "What Has Government Done to our Money" in 1964, but he is still the clearest voice on economic policy today -- more than David Stockman. In 2014, Jim Grant of "Grant's Interest Rate Observer" may be the only financial journalist that comes close to the pristine prose of Murray Rothbard. I originally read this book four years ago, and it is just as clear this time around. I wish I had his clarity.
  
  This fourth edition, like his previous editions, de-bamboozles the public's understanding of central banking and banking on the free-market. Interestingly, with each passing addition some monetary period came and went. In 1964, The United States had yet to de-link the U.S. dollar from gold completely. But by this last edition, which is still pre-European Union and pre-Euro, the dollar had become a completely fiat currency. He also talked about our current state of fluctuating fiat currencies, which the author believes, like every other monetary fix, will not last; and, if central banks attempt to make it last it will only give us inflation in the long-run which will be of no benefit to anyone.
  
  If you have never read a book on economics or monetary policy, make this your first one.
• 
  Fred Kohn

  Very disappointing. I had previously read
  End the Fed and found that to be a truly awful book. I expected that a book by an actual economic professor would be much better. And, yes this book is definitely better. Still, it wasn't a very good defense of the gold standard. The usual narrative by mainstream economists is that the rise of the quantity theory of money is what killed the gold standard. Not only is this not discussed at all in the book, one gets the distinct impression that either Rothbard has never heard of, or worse, dismisses the quantity theory of money. At one point he says, "[D]eflation can only take place after a previous inflation; only pseudo-receipts, not gold coins, can be retired and liquidated." This debunked idea is one of false ones that economist Allan Melzer in his iconic history of the Federal Reserve blames the Fed for following in their failure to deal properly with the Great Depression.
• 
  Pedro Faraco

  Um livro definitivo sobre como funciona o sistema monetário.
  
  Nesta obra espetacular, o economista "austríaco" Murray Rothbard detalha de maneira extraordinariamente didática a história do dinheiro como meio de troca, desde os tempos do escambo até os anos 80.
  
  Em um trabalho de pesquisa minucioso e repleto de referências históricas, o autor expõe como o intervencionismo estatal foi (e continua sendo) capaz de causar distúrbios seríssimos sobre o mercado financeiro.
  
  O posfácio de
  Fernando Ulrich busca completar a obra de Rothbard com a análise das crises financeiras mais recentes, entre os anos 90 até os dias de hoje, e atinge o objetivo com um belo resumo sobre o momento atual do mercado financeiro mundial.
• 
  Adnan

  An exposition of the gold standard, and the history of banks in the United States. Just like in his
  A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II, Rothbard gives us a very detailed history, sometimes it feel synchronized to be life-paced, of how the world got off the gold-standard.
  
  I honestly enjoyed the first half of the book much more, since it was loaded with economic theory. I will follow up with his
  The Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar.
• 
  Marcelo Reis

  Livro sensacional. Ajuda a entender a natureza do dinheiro, funcionamento e história, além das intervenções do governo sobre ele. Definitivamente, é uma obra indispensável.
• 
  iamKovy

  Краткая, но не упускающая главного, история такого товара как деньги и почему от их печатания ты не становишься богаче.
  
  Авторы основной книги и сопровождающего комментария последовательно выступают за золотой стандарт и свободный рынок, при любой удобной возможности швыряя гнилой банан в злонамеренные государственные картели.
  
  Мой уровень экономической подкованности недостаточен чтобы что-либо им возразить, так как мировые кейнсианские и любые другие заговоры мне всегда пахнут франкмасонами и рептилоидами. Но, в целом, их критика действующей финансовой системы и идея возврата к основам звучит довольно здраво.
  
  А еще забавно, как много тезисов из тусовки криптоэнтузиастов созвучны мыслям Ротбарда из книги, на минуточку, 1964 года.
  
  В целом, полезное чтиво и на узнать новое и на подумать.
• 
  Nathan Albright

  The answer to this question is somewhat obvious.  What has government done to our money?  Screw it up.  And that is precisely the answer gives in this modest book of about 100 pages.  As someone who has thought and even occasionally read about the problem of currencies [1], I do not find the author's arguments in favor of the gold standard particularly persuasive.  That said, I do find the author's comments about the way that government has screwed up monetary policy as effectively as it has screwed up every other aspect of human life very persuasive.  Indeed, one wonders if currency reform in general is just a fig leaf to cover the general libertarian ideal to gut government in general and keep it to very narrow boundaries.  And while I am no libertarian myself, I certainly understand that governments have screwed up monetary policy any time they have gotten involved in it, largely because governments are run by people who do not know what they are doing while seeking short-term gains at the cost of long-term suffering and misery for the very people they express a desire to help.
  
  This book makes for fairly grim and unpleasant reading, although I did read it mostly late at night, so I only have myself to blame for whatever nightmares it caused.  At a bit more than 100 pages of large paper with fairly large text, this is not a particularly long book, thankfully.  After a short introduction (1), the author talks about money in a free society, examining the value of exchange, barter, the question of money supply and hoarding and coexisting moneys like gold and silver (2).  Then the author moves into his main argument about government meddling with money by looking at inflation, monopolistic behavior, debasement, coinage, and the removal of government checks on runaway inflation (3).  After this the author gives a generally enlightening and grimly humorous discussion of the monetary breakdown of the west through nine phasis from the classical gold standard of the long post-Napoleonic peace (1815-1914) to various attempts at floating currency or using a bullion standard that limited forex trading in gold to institutional traders and governments to the current post-Bretton Woods period of fluctuating fiat currencies (4).  The author appears to be of the belief that the gold standard itself would stabilize currencies, although this is perhaps a first step to a larger goal of libertarian behavior.
  
  This book provides ample discussion of the fact that government cannot be trusted with a monopoly over monetary policy.  Unfortunately, those of us whose low levels of trust are more pervasive than that of the writer will understand that government cannot be trusted in particular because people cannot be trusted in general.  Whatever system exists of either finance or government or indeed anything else, there will be corrupt people who will want to rig that system in their favor and screw everyone else over.  The reason we have governments and regulation at all is because people have shown themselves to be corrupt and exploitative, and the general decline of conscience in our society has, by the predictable operation of Colson's law, led to the increased proliferation of regulations and police in order to deal with the essential lack of goodness in human nature.  If we cannot trust governments to avoid inflating currencies to worthlessness, then the reasons we cannot do so is because both people and governments as a whole have ruinous levels of debt and because it is easy to print money little by little than to deal with the harder and more beneficial aspects of fiscal restraint on either the micro or macro level.
  
  [1] See, for example:
  
  
  https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2012...
  
  
  https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
  
  
  https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...
  
  
  https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2018...
• 
  Omar Diego

  Historical review of Money and how it has come to what it is, with a final plea to revert to the gold standard. I find it interesting to think about that in relation to the coming cryptocurrencies and how they might fulfill the role once performed by metals.
• 
  Ahmed

  I have been always puzzled by the mechanism by which the monetary system works, how it originated, who control it, and how it ended up so complicated. It all seemed a mysterious,and impenetrable realm, not after I, thankfully, went through this informative book.
  Starting by explaining the primordial notion of money in primitive societies, when people used "barter" to interact with each other,up to the contemporary paper form of money or what is known as "fiat money". This book nearly covered every respect of the entangled topic of money and the role played, and is still being played, by governments to manipulate and control this essential system in our life, and what is the future of our global economy under these conditions.
  In the upshot, I really do recommend everyone who don't, or superficially, understand the monetary system, specially those so immersed in making a living, to "Stop making money! until they first understand what is money"
• 
  Alfredo Flores

  Not an easy book. I think it is necessary to have previous basic knowledge about money and banking to enjoy this book. Here Rothbard explains why the world became to use the gold standard and how we left it, also why this has been a mistake. A lot of stuff has happened, in those years, including the end of free banking, two world wars, and several ways of monetary intervention, especially by the US government. I think that's what makes it complicated. But overall it is a good reminder that we are used to a monetary system that has been recently created by the government, for their own sake.
• 
  Brad Harris

  I liked this book a lot because it focused on an area of monetary history that I am truly intersted in which is the post gold standard era. I like how Rothbard lays out the monetary breakdown of the western government's in a phased approach.
• 
  Alan

  A bit dry but very informative work on the influence government has made in the free-market as far as monetary policy is concerned. It is a great apologetic for the gold-standard.
• 
  Fabiano

  Leitura atemporal e indispensável para a compreensão da realidade econômica mundial.
• 
  João

  Today is the 50-year anniversary of the global fiat standard. On August 15th 1971, Nixon announces to the world that dollars would no longer be redeemable in gold. The economic consequences of the petrodollar system, backed by war and oil instead of gold, are catastrophic and are unfolding to this day. It is not a coincidence that the shit show of pure incompetence by the US military industrial complex—leading to the events occurring at Afghanistan today (over 2 trillion dollars invested in this war), can only be seen as a form of twisted yet karmic poetry. The stability of the fiat world is literally, fiat: paper-thin.
  
  
  https://WTFhappenedin1971.com
• 
  Claire

  Interesting perspectives on the global monetary system and its history. Learned things and gave me food for thought.
  
  There are some parts I’d like to dig deeper on since this book presents concepts and historical facts at a high level. Also, book assumes people are rational individuals at a micro-economic level (eg no greedy behavior or psychologically accepting fluctuating prices) for a policy to work at a macro economic level (eg using a commodity such as gold as currency), which I’m not sure about.
• 
  Jonah James

  The book acts as a fun thought experiment, however; it does not accomplish much beyond that. The case it makes for the gold standard is too simple to convince those with prior economic knowledge to abandon fiat currency. I would recommend it as a primer for laymen seeking a basic explanation of the multitude of gold standards used by the west throughout the years.
• 
  Edu Rodrigues

  Excelente síntese da história do dinheiro e como os governos se apoderaram de algo que de fato era de todos. Rothbard nos fornece uma perspectiva que poucos fora da área de economia(em partes até eles) tem. É como saber da existência da Matrix. Recomendo a leitura.
• 
  Taras

  Читаючи роботи на таку тему, хотілось би почути думку автора стосовно альтернатив державній системі та вирішенні такої проблеми. А факт недосконалості держуправління фінансами, зрештою, всім зрозумілий і без цієї книги, викладений тут досить сухо і зрозуміло.
• 
  Santiago Torres Moreno

  A must read for everyone, no matter your background.
  
  It’s imperative to understand money and its history in order to understand that we need to take the money monopoly from the governments hands.
  
  We need to go back to free market money in order to thrive as human beings.
• 
  Илья Дескулин

  Eye-opening. The best Rothbard's book I've read so far.
• 
  Anderson Anizio

  O livro é muito bom e vale muito a leitura, porém nem todos os conceitos são de fácil entendimento para quem não é da área.