In June 2002 we began to wonder if anyone had ever compiled
statistics showing the different kinds of loss to American society in dollar terms over specified periods from the unnecessary
business cycle caused by fiat monetary policy.
We wrote to several economic think tanks and came up with nothing.
Some told us that if we found any such data to let them know so they could publicize it. In the course of doing this
we also conceived an idea about method:
An economist could extrapolate forward figures from the Nineteenth Century
and then compare those to what actually happened as a result of fiat currency.
For example, in the U.S. during the
Nineteenth Century there was almost ninety years without any rise in prices. There were no taxes except local ones on property
and federal ones on tobacco and alcohol. Deficit spending was not needed even during the greatest period of expansion in all
of human history. This period constitutes a model of proof and a basis for comparison regarding the superior workability of
Libertarian Anarcho-Capitalist principles.
