People don’t even think of the American dollar much. Punch a few buttons on an ATM, and twenties appear from a drawer. We don’t think much beyond what cash dollars in our pockets can buy at a particular moment. In reality, cash represents freedom – a simple freedom that millions of people around the world don’t enjoy while we take it for granted.
Russian philosopher Fyodor Dostoevsky in the 1800s said, “Money is coined liberty.”
Ken Rogoff, economics professor at Harvard (and previously an economist at the IMF and at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System), wants to take that liberty away. He has a new book out on the wickedness of cash, calling out the usual suspects – tax evaders and other criminals – to justify doing something about it. I’m surprised he didn’t claim that Ben Franklins have been known to kill small children or poison the water in Flint, Michigan. His solution is to eliminate all denominations of currency above ten dollars.
This sounds suspiciously like the argument for taking away firearms from law-abiding citizens to keep criminals from using guns. It makes no sense unless your ultimate goal is to disarm the population – or, in this case, take one more step to tracing, taxing, and then controlling the spending habits of law-abiding citizens. – READ MORE
