Money

Of all the miraculous inventions of modern man, what one is more impressive than money? Our modern economy is the wonder of the ages, and modern money, paper and electronic, the wonder of all wonders, a simply marvelous tool. Like all tools, there are certain ways to use it, which are productive, and other ways to misuse it, which are destructive. The important thing is to know which is which, and this is no easy task.

If a rich guy takes out a twenty dollar bill and lights a cigar with it, is this monetary abuse?

Money, of course, doesn't really exist. Its purely symbolic, a state of mind. Which is precisely why money is such a wonderful tool. It is whatever we the people say it is. If there are absolutely no rules concerning money then eventually economic chaos will destroy society. Too many rules tend to diminish prosperity. But since money is inherently cooperative, since money means something only because we all agree that it does, surely nobody would disagree that we need some degree of cooperation in maintaining the integrety of money.

The problem with the American dollar is that it doesn't mean as much as it used to, is less valuable now. A certain amount of this is inevitable, but abuse of the American dollar due to lack of regulation has been and is a far greater problem than diminished prosperity through stifling regulation.

Proper economic regulation does little or nothing to hinder growh and prosperity, and sometimes growh needs to be slowed. Growh is not a sacred cow; there is a limit to economic growth on this limited planet.