You don't drive an economy by consuming - the consumer is not the engine, the consumer is the caboose.
Peter SchiffRead
Printing money is merely taxation in another form. Rather than robbing citizens of their money, government robs their money of its purchasing power.
Interpretation
The quote highlights how printing money can devalue currency and act like a form of tax on citizens.
Peter Schiff's quote emphasizes that when governments print money, they are effectively taking away the value of that money rather than directly taking it from citizens. This process diminishes the purchasing power of money, leading to inflation, which ultimately acts as a hidden tax on the public as they can buy less with the same amount of money.
In practice
This quote could be used during a discussion on economic policy and its impact on citizens.
You don't drive an economy by consuming - the consumer is not the engine, the consumer is the caboose.
Adam Smith's 'invisible hand' is not above sudden, disturbing, movements. Since its inception, capitalism has known slumps and recessions, bubble and froth; no one has yet dis-invented the business cycle, and probably no one will; and what Schumpeter famously called the 'gales of creative destruction' still roar mightily from time to time. To lament these things is ultimately to lament the bracing blast of freedom itself.
There are only three ways by which any individual can get wealth β by work, by gift or by theft. And, clearly, the reason why the workers get so little is that the beggars and thieves get so much.
During the two centuries since the publication of 'The Wealth of Nations,' the main activity of economists, it seems to me, has been to fill the gaps in Adam Smith's system, to correct his errors and to make his analysis vastly more exact.
I think if you look back through time, the history of income, wealth and taxation is full of surprise. So I am not terribly impressed by those who know in advance what will or will not happen.
Those who advocate devaluation are calling for a reduction in the wage levels and the real wage standards of every member of the working class.
Long-term unemployment can make any worker progressively less employable, even after the economy strengthens.
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