Money printing—inflation—inevitably leads to higher prices, but that never stops governments from doing it. From Joel Bowman at joelbowman.substack.com:
What $4 french fries tells us about the state of the American economy…
(Image: Substack AI)
“If printing money would end poverty, printing diplomas would end stupidity.”
~ Javier Milei
Where goes sound money, so too goes civil society.
From drachma debasement in ancient Greece… to clipped coinage during the Roman Empire. From the freshly-inked assignats rolling off the presses in the lead up to the French Revolution… to the hollowing out of the Weimar Republic during the hyper-inflationary period of the 1920s…
It seems that everywhere we look, monetary pride goes before societal decline… and fall. Whether denominated in Hungarian Pengos, Polish Zlotys, Brazilian Reals or Venezuelan Bolivars, experiments in monetary hijinks invariably end in tears.
From where we sit today, penning these words down here in Argentina’s capital… to the ruinous state of Zimbabwe, once known as “Africa’s breadbasket,” now little more than an economic basket case… Literally from A – Z, in countries the world over, history is replete with cautionary tales of what happens when the feds crank up the printing presses.
And yet, with that hoary old cry, “This time will be different!” our dear leaders urge us on, imploring we lowly citizens to ignore all past and documented experience to the contrary… and follow them into the monetary trenches.
Why do we fall for such an obvious ruse, over and over and again? Why do we suppose that the immutable laws of economics will be suspended, in our favor, just this once? Is it arrogance or ignorance that causes us to see ourselves as the precious exceptions to history’s iron-clad rule?
Arbeit macht fweedom fwies.