The first reason that the USA wanted it’s own money is so that it did not export profits to England or France in the form of currency appreciation. The second reason was to reduce trade friction between the colonies. The third was because private money is a riskier proposition, and trade was artificially limited by the instability and problems that came from runs and scares. The reasons that the USA developed the banking system and fiat money was because there was a shortage of money to lend in order to finance the westward expansion of the country.

No titleSince only the government, which consists of citizens who spend their time on geographic protection, protects the geographic territory, and since the citizens are shareholders in the government, then to expect the government to conduct territorial wars, yet to allow private profiteering of the windfall opportunity of geographic expansion because the state is unable to create money to provide the credit, is for individuals to PRIVATIZE WINS AND SOCIALIZE LOSSES. Credit money is useful to all societies and it DOES cause inflation, because there is no way for people to KNOW when and when not to lend. As long as there is credit money there will be booms and busts. Paper money is necessary for the same reasons – there are artificial limits to competitive productivity without paper money, and without fiat money. Furthermore, as we have seen in the PIGS countries, fiat money tends to decrease corruption. Early in US history, when they tried a multiplicity of monies it created financial instability and trade friction. It was only after taking the dollar off the gold standard that we saw the abuse of it. The question is, if there is a geographic opportunity, should private investors profit from that or should the government profit from it? That is not the same type of investment as the use of private personal knowledge for the purpose of increasing production. Since only the government, which consists of citizens who spend their time on geographic protection, protects the geographic territory, and since the citizens are shareholders in the government, then to expect the government to conduct territorial wars, yet to allow private profiteering of the windfall opportunity of geographic expansion because the state is unable to create money to provide the credit, is for individuals to PRIVATIZE WINS AND SOCIALIZE LOSSES. This may take a few readings to understand. But this is the entire point.

Christian Classical liberalism and it’s restatement as Hayekian libertarianism differs from jewish anarchism and it’s restatement as Hothbardian libertarianism almost entirely because christians are philosophically fraternal land holders, and their metaphysics assumes the necessity of land holding, while jews assume land is magically held by someone else because they are metaphysically nomadic and have been diasporic since being conquered by Rome. These assumptions have been part of both groups’ tribal sentiments, philosophy and cultural ethics for thousands of years. Judaism is an arrested civilization. Christianity is an overextended civilization. But you will have a hard time pointing to the success of non-landed civilizations.

So, in the end, private money is as often a means of privatizing wins and socializing losses as is fiat money a means of destroying productivity and socializing profits that were made by individuals taking personal risks. The problem with money is that it serves to coordinate diverse and dispersed and fragmentary human KNOWLEDGE, and that gold, or hard money, or private money, because it is scarce, serves better to make use of that dispersed knowledge by capturing willingness to put it behind any initiative or investment that might be poorly considered. While soft money helps to solve the problem that occurs when people have a willingness because they agree on an opportunity for investment, yet they cannot obtain the scarce money to do so. Our problem is not necessarily fiat money. It is that the state can use ‘pooling’ of funds to mask transfers. That is a deeper conversation. But hopefully I have given you some food for thought.