If our nation can issue a dollar bond, it can issue a dollar bill. The element that makes the bond good, makes the bill good also. The difference between the bond and the bill is the bond lets money brokers collect twice the amount of the bond and an additional 20%, where as the currency pays nobody but those who contribute directly in some useful way. It is absurd to say our country can issue $30 million in bonds and not $30 million in currency. Both are promises to pay, but one promise fattens the userers and the other helps the people.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Edison argues that if a nation can promise to pay bonds, it can promise to pay currency directly. He criticizes the bond system for enriching brokers while currency could help contributors.
- In plain terms
- The country can print money just as it prints bonds, but bonds make middlemen rich while money helps workers.
- What can you take from it?
- Direct currency issuance benefits the public more than bond issuance benefits financiers.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How should money be issued?
- Who benefits from current currency systems?
Another view
Modern monetary systems are more complex than Edison's early 20th-century view.
More from Thomas Alva Edison
If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.
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Permalink to quote #22 Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
Permalink to quote #19
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