Satan's 19th-Century Bank Note: The Fight Between Paper and Gold
I explore the 19th-century British panic over paper currency, where 'filthy rags' replaced gold, sparking a forgery epidemic and brutal executions. Critics like William Cobbett and Thomas Paine argued that without the gold standard, money was merely a lie dependent on fleeting confidence. This historical struggle over the Bank of England's policies reveals how the shift from intrinsic value to fiat currency deeply impacted the poor and fueled radical political movements.
The mind sickens to disgust at the hideous measures taken to sustain the blood-cemented fabric of paper currency.
- hakfoo
The Bank of England was issuing currency as late as the 1950s that wouldn't look out of place in the 1750s.
It's interesting that they didn't rely more on state-of-the-art design and printing process technology, to make a poor-quality fake more difficult to pass off.
- PopAlongKid
(2017)
>Dismissed by some as Monopoly or plastic money, the new £5 and £10 notes in particular have come in for heavy criticism.
- IAmBroom
This interesting history lesson makes me wonder: Has there ever been a (not-thoroughly corrupt and dictatorial) government that literally printed money to solve their problems?
It's a common metaphor, but it's just a simpleminded metaphor. The US Treasury printing has literally nothing to do with inflation (if it's printing adequate amounts of replacement bills). No US government account is paid with fresh bills, hot from the Treasury presses. Those unwrinkled notes are sent to replace damaged bills returned from banks at a strict 1:1 rate.
Instead, money is created by issuing bonds (via the interest paid). The possibility of creating inflation is still present, but no printing presses are involved (Treasury nor otherwise).