Summary of Article
- Fiat money gives governments the power to become more authoritarian through welfare/warfare and surveillance states.
- Central banking is attractive to governments because it obscures their ability to print money and run deficits on their budget.
- Government authority and power have expanded due to fiat money, creating an unprecedented destructive power in the last 100 years.
Individual-Level Incentives of Fiat Money
Fiat money has had a major impact on individuals by making personal lives have much higher time preferences. This is due to ubiquitous debt and lack of savings vehicles that incentivize people to make decisions with short-term gains in mind. As a result, financial decisions are made based on immediate gratification instead of long-term thinking.
Company-Level Incentives of Fiat Money
At the company level, fiat money has replaced families as the main communal unit in society. This has created unnaturally large companies that prioritize artificial growth over real value creation. This zombie-like approach has led to a less humanistic society where connections between people are strained by corporate greed.
Nation State Level Incentives of Fiat Money
At the nation state level, fiat money provides great incentives for governments to become more authoritarian. The central control of money allows them to steal their nation’s wealth at will, while also allowing them to take on more debt without having to tighten budgets or raise taxes. This gives rise to welfare/warfare states, surveillance states, police states, militaristic tyrannies and other forms of oppressive government rule. The unprecedented destructive power from governments in the last century can be attributed largely to fiat money.