What Is Money?

[piecharthosen]

I have been watching economics (austrian) lectures for a few weeks now and none of the lectures deal with math of any sort. Is Austrian economics purely theory?

[rustyrusky]

@piecharthosen The art of logical deduction is essentially math. If you mean by math that Austrians aren't crunching numbers to make quantitative predictions then you didn't grasp its methodology: The consequences of action.

One cannot predict to act in a certain way in the future without possessing the knowledge one might have at this future time. So because the state of knowledge is uncertain in the future the action that results is uncertain, too.

[piecharthosen]

I get it; I just didn't realize D:. Thanks :D

[DoctorCapitalist]

Monarchy is bad don't get him wrong, but compared to Democracy, it is a much better option in some circumstances. The taxes a king demands from you is usually quite small compared to a whole system where politicians bribe citizens in return for power.

[TheCaptinLove]

14 people could live without beer.

[rmstorms]

The fact is, Fiat currency is stealing!! Whoever creates it buys peoples time and effort for nothing. Money must be valued to reflect the effort to create it. The central banking system is the reason we have a massive wealth inbalance in the world. Money is not a tool to be controlled by anyone, including the people. Money is owned by those who produce the goods and services people want. Fiat money and the central bankers are the root cause of the worlds problems. We need commodity money NOW!!

[Chivillian7]

This was informative. However, what makes this more credible than 9/11? Who are these men that I should believe them? I would be a fool to just automatically believe this as truth. All of this is great and promising but, I(personally) can't prove any of this.....

[matteo311]

The monetary system has some serious intrinsic flaws which contribute to the majority of our world’s problems.

Barter is a thing of the past.

Automation and a resourced based economy is the way to go. Look into the Venus Project, and the Zeitgeist Movement.

[Serrokot]

Money is the measure of work cost .

The standard for measuring the work does not exist.

Therefore, a standard measurement of cost of works in the money.

[TheTotallyAwsomeDude]

money the worst thing man ever made

[jsmythib]

@407buddy fiat will only support a population increase until the pie is gone- then the real world reaches out and smacks us in the face! We have a serious problem-

[evergonge]

its labour not labor! 

[90JohnDoe]

Money turns good people bad and free people slaves.

[u1sewa]

all these lecturers work for anarchist organisation....i have been listening to these lecturesand lecturers for years ....i used to believe in their theories but not anymore....its just another school of thought...in the end none of the economic theories are perfect.......however its interesting to watch and be informed...but dont swear by it...these lectureres are just salesmen of ludwig's economic theories...thats all it is

[syscothong]

Is this the third part of zeitgeist the movie?

[femguy]

@syscothong no it isnt.the final part of zeitguist the movie is edited and filmed in the same way as the rest of the movie but here is a totally different ending

[Nielsio]

@407buddy That's not what he is saying. He's saying if we couldn't cooperate under the division of labor then we would quickly starve. He is in fact showing the value of trade and money. Later on he criticizes fiat currency.

[inibo]

@Nielsio, You are the one who edited this? Excellent work. I love Hoppe's lectures (and his speaking voice), but I don't always have an hour or two to spend. You framing this as a series of questions with Hoppe's responses is brilliant. It cuts right to the core of the issue.

[Nielsio]

@inibo I edited this, yeah. Thanks!

[angelablass]

@Nielsio Yeah, wow, I'm really impressed. Great stuff! EDUCATE PEOPLE!  You've got the right idea!

[Pwecko]

@Nielsio I agree that the idea of editing this is a good one, though it would have been better still if the questions could have been spoken out loud. I like to listen to these things on my wireless headphones while I'm doing something else. Listening to this means I have to guess what the questions are.

[cardinalbaseballer5]

14:59 LOL!!!!!

[chillmode3000]

Seriously, if you look at what has happened this Christmas (more shoppers and "more" money spent this season, only because money is worth less and all the worthless shit is worth more) and how we are heading into 2011 then we can expect this "new" year to have more nuts squeezed tightly in the financial vices then ever before. And there will be some ridiculous violent event to legitimize the whole goddamn thing... Less than two years left before the spaceships land... then it won't matter.

[bencawley1]

Man this is incredible was this made before the credit crunch everything has come true i love the germans even though i am british

[Nielsio]

@bencawley1 This was recorded in 2005. If you watch the Business Cycle Theory video by Hulsmann (link in the description) you'll find a detailed description and prediction.

[recoil669]

Privatizing the police eh? Sounds like how we get to Judge Dredd the movie.

[Nielsio]

@recoil669 "Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a violent city [..] where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner." -wikipedia

A government is an organization who has combined the power of police, judge and executioner. Judge Dredd is what we're living under today.

It's not a coincident that we're paying this much taxes and live under this much regulation. The reason is because the people who write the law and enforce it have the same employer!

[recoil669]

@Nielsio Watch the movie and you'll understand how wrong you are about the differences between the systems.

Actually don't watch the movie, it's a giant waste of time, but if you had seen the movie you'd get why my comment was intended as humor.

[SparTAKKY]

The rich play while the poor die

[TheGrandHarmony]

kool accent! :)

[scoty123123]

0:50 mankind would die out because of lack of beer lmao true dat

[russia1500]

Part 3

[Krupification]

Nice! 

[TimothyBragan]

He says there is no international currency any more. But what about precious metals? They are relatively stable and you can always buy and sell them.

[1990banks]

start learining how to farm people because soon the dollar bill wont be worth shit acquire silver and gold instead

[earbud83]

@1990banks yeah im getting sum gold and silver soon. i was gonna wait and see if the price would go down but fuck it, if it does i will buy some more. I dont like how were living anyway. be prepared people, it might not be for a 100 years. but get sum real tangible assets like gold and silver so you cover your arse

[rasmusfalk]

14:59 wtf

[barkerhasbite]

I understand division of labour which makes perfect sense, but why does no one question the need for private ownership? Why is socialism and hyperinflation our only options? Look into a resource-based economy.

[MrSammo1]

@barkerhasbite Yes, until all the world's resources are declared the common heritage of all the World's people, insanity will continue.

[neoaeonian]

I agree re: private property. I disagree re: monarchy vs. democracy. History does matter. And he made the point that someone has to clean up the mess, and that does happen in democracy, often. Democracy self-corrects faster than monarchy.

I also think inflation tends to force productive people to continue to strive, which adds to the total real (non-paper) wealth.

Disagreements aside, this is incredibly informative.

[truevoice08]

@neoaeonian National debts grow in democracies in both wartime AND peacetime. Democracy does not self-correct. Inflation is like rent control in its effects. It eventually murders.

[dimitraeus202]

@neoaeonian

I agree with that, although the factor you don't really discuss is that our Democracy is really just a carrier for Capitalism, and it is really the question of what self-corrects in Capitalism, rather than what corrects in Democracy, that is the question. After all, Democracy here today simply means one vote per 4 years, whereas capitalism is the way of life and how we trade.

[neoaeonian]

@dimitraeus202 I think all 5 of these are key.

1. Rule of Law (without that, crazy leader ruins everything)

2. Private property (without that, there are no incentives)

3. Stability (otherwise no planning)

4. Corporations (otherwise capital risk too great)

5. Intellectual property (otherwise no incentive for technical advance)

Following countries can advance without this, due to the rising tide effect. But the economic leader needs all 5.

Self-correction is never guaranteed, though.

[hrosemd]

Fantastic. Strong work.

[dieyoung]

Hoppe is my hero.

[revelationary]

5 stars! ;)

[tiko2114]

Thank you sir. Your work only improves. Great tools to help educate.

[mbarkhau]

So much material is given out by the LvMI, it's quite time consuming to find all the gems. This is absolutely wonderful work, more please!

[paulvahur]

@mbarkhau This is not Mises Institute material, though basically the same that you can hear at Mises University. Nielsio has done great work of recording it and uploading it. Very good material, I love the series!

[AubreyHerbert]

Neilso, what about a list of the questions and the timestamp ?

That way folks can zoom to it...

[AubreyHerbert]

win

[junior00bacon00chee]

excellent stuff.