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by Richard Sutton

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What is money? It is a medium that simplifies the exchange of goods and services. Its natural environment is in the economies of mankind (the only creature yet known that can appreciate its value).
Money makes purchases simple when compared to barter ("I'll give you 12 chickens for that computer") and reduces conflict between trading individuals by providing a common medium of exchange that allows product and service values to be more easily agreed upon.
Assuming you have it honestly, Money is representative of the value of your time, work, and ideas (good ideas can be quite valuable!).
As Frederic Bastiat wrote so clearly in 1848 "Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else." So it is impossible to tax one's way to prosperity.
Removing money from individuals to enable a rapacious government is to allow a non-productive sector of the economy to increasingly take the result of one's work. Let no one take your earnings under the guise of enriching the people - or at least don't give them your vote.
Related Content:
Replace Regulation With Innovation - Jim Iannuzo
The Immorality of Coercion: Monetarism Edition - Ross Kenyon
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