Commercial banks - that is, fractional reserve banks - create money out of thin air. Essentially, they do it in the same way as counterfeiters. Murray Rothbard airbankcommercial Change image and share on social
A robber who justified his theft by saying that he really helped his victims, by his spending giving a boost to retail trade, would find few converts; but when this theory is clothed in Keynesian equations and impressive references to the 'multiplier effect,' it unfortunately carries more conviction. Murray Rothbard boostcarryclothe share on social
While deficits are often inflationary and always pernicious, curing them by raising taxes is equivalent to curing an illness by shooting the patient. Murray Rothbard curedeficitequivalent Change image and share on social
Since the State necessarily lives by the compulsory confiscation of private capital, and since its expansion necessarily involves ever-greater incursions on private individuals and private enterprise, we must assert that the State is profoundly and inherently anticapitalist. Murray Rothbard anticapitalistassertcapital share on social
Man is born a tabula rasa; he must learn how to choose the ends that are proper for him and the means that he must adopt to attain them. All this must be done by his reason. Murray Rothbard adoptattainbear Change image and share on social
Originally, Congress provided in 1793 that all foreign coins circulating in the United States be legal tender. Indeed, foreign coins have been estimated to form 80 percent of American domestic specie circulation in 1800. Murray Rothbard americancirculatecirculation share on social
Among intellectuals who consider themselves 'scientific,' the phrase 'the nature of man' is apt to have the effect of a red flag on a bull. Murray Rothbard aptbulleffect Change image and share on social
The Panic of 1819 exerted a profound effect on American economic thought. As the first great financial depression, similar to a modern expansion-depression pattern, the panic heightened interest in economic problems, and particularly those problems related to the causes and cures of depressed conditions. Murray Rothbard americanconditioncure share on social
It is in war that the State really comes into its own: swelling in power, in number, in pride, in absolute dominion over the economy and the society. Murray Rothbard absolutedominioneconomy Change image and share on social
The great fact of individual difference and variability (that is, inequality) is evident from the long record of human experience: hence, the general recognition of the antihuman nature of a world of coerced uniformity. Murray Rothbard antihumancoercedifference share on social