Authors Forum: Hamilton's Curse | Thomas J. DiLorenzo

[ThePatriotMuckraker]

I work with a clodpate who thinks highly of hamilton. He is capable of regurgitating facts about him without critically thinking, questioning what he reads, or noticing the dichotomy between hamiltonian dogma and his legacy of destruction brought on by private central banking. Naturally, he despises Jefferson.

[Freeway74]

Or shall I say I think he is wrong to say that Obama "wants to control all of human behavior". That is an untrue and absurd assertion that just completely destroys his credibility.

[Freeway74]

I think he is high to say that Obama "wants to control all of human behavior". Just polluters and scheisters, and there is nothing wrong with that. Problem is he hasn't been getting much of that done since the Kochs bought offices for their teatard Republican lackeys.

[BigDaddyDJD]

@Freeway74 if you still see politics in the "dmocrat/republican" pardigm then you are in the dark.

[MachTwo1]

Jefferson & Hamilton needed each other. When Jefferson was tied with Aaron Burr in 1801, Hamilton urged his Federalist colleagues to cast their vote for Jefferson. When Jefferson took office, he left Hamilton's Bank of the U.S. intact, wisely seeing its value to a growing republic, even though he detested the idea when Hamilton proposed it to Washington. STATESMANSHIP triumphed when there was no other choice, and it's a shame that Thomas DiLorenzo can't display some comparable statesmanship :-(

[asierra1492]

@MachTwo1

The Bank of the U.S was abolished when James Madison rejected the renewal of the 20 year charter. I dont know the reasons why jefferson didnt abolish it, maybe if he would have been president when the renewal came up, he would have done the same thing Madison did. My guess is he still would not favor a central bank to his last days.

[duvexy]

Amazing the last 10 seconds are erie of course and that is what is happening now. However, I don't understand why I obey. I just have been trained to obey obey etc etc.

[GtheMVP]

This guy's voice is painful to listen to, get him a freaking glass of water! :D

[riethc]

People who listen to this guy really need a different view on this. Hamilton's method was not put into practice in the United States. National banking is opposed to central banking.

[rumco]

@riethc National banking as in ... ?

[riethc]

@rumco National credit over borrowing money from private institutions. You know, like the part in the Constitution where it is stated that the Congress can issue credit based on the needs of the nation.

[rumco]

@riethc You mean money printing (redistribution of wealth) to finance government deficit? Yes I know that very well. Does not constitution say that only silver and gold can be legal tender? I.e. it does not grant the power of money printing to the federal government. How does one create silver/gold credit out of nothing?

[riethc]

@rumco I'd like to see where the gold backing of money is in the Constitution. The only part I saw that mentions gold is under Section 10 which states that the states can pay back their debts in gold or silver.

Also, national credit isn't wealth distribution; it's wealth creation. Only a blind monetarist would think that money is wealth in its own right. Money is just another good that services the exchange of actual wealth.

[rumco]

@riethc Section 10: nothing but gold and silver can be legal tender. But I care not about constitution, I oppose any state. Thus I oppose legal tender per se.

No wealth can be created by issuing more money. Inflation has no social benefit. It merely lowers the purchasing power of existing currency unit while offering an advantage to those who get the new currency first (prices have not readjusted yet). Of course money is not wealth by itself, it's a part of it.

[riethc]

@rumco You're are not understanding Section 10, but since you don't even care about the Constitution its pretty moot to this discussion.

National Credit was used by John Quincy Adams and Abraham Lincoln. Adams was able to set up canals that linked the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River. Lincoln was able to develop the intercontental railroads. Without these developments, the nation would have never become the powerhouse it is. JFK was starting to take the same path but was assassinated.

[rumco]

@riethc Yes, Abe Lincoln, who printed green papers, said it's as good as gold so people had to accept it, and then started a war. You are missing the point. You cannot create wealth by printing paper. All you do is lend it to selected (favoured) companies at 0% interest whereas otherwise they would have to offer interest on the market so that other companies who didn't get cheap credit are disadvantaged. Plus you're centralising economic planning by issuing loans by the government.

[riethc]

@rumco The South will rise again! lol

This is a waste of time talking with a person from the 19th century.

[rumco]

@riethc You have no arguments to offer besides ridiculous comment about "South" which is totally irrelevant since I don't even acknowledge legitimacy of the State. All you did is pick on the word "South" and ignored economic and moral arguments raised about the government monopoly in money.

[wcrump]

This guy doesn't hold a candle to Ron Chernow and is a lightweight by comparison. True historians like Chernow recognize that Hamilton was remarkable because he imagined the America we live in today. They don't claim that Hamilton was solely responsible for creating it as DiLorenzo alleges they do. DiLorenzo is more interested in his agenda than accurately commenting on perhaps the most gifted and underrated founding father.

[OctoBox]

@wcrump -- Well said

[MTL911Truth]

I have never heard so much misinformation about Alexander Hamilton in one place

[MTL911Truth]

@monegarand you are truly an ignoramus if you think Aaron Burr was a great patriot

[MTL911Truth]

This guy is a professor of economics and doesn't even know the difference between a central bank and a national bank?

[LCT688]

What a load of horse manure! A hachet job if ever there was one. All I heard was half truths, half quotes, distortions and lies. Chernow's bio of Hamilton is without a dout the definitive work on Hamilton. This guy sounds like just another Jeffersonian, academic hack who's never had a real job or met a payroll.

[Loserido]

I don't know how he fees about DiLorenzo's work, but Willard Sterne Randall has said that Chernow's book is not any better.

[LCT688]

As I know nothing of Mr. R. I can't comment on his opinion. I have read Chernow's bio. and only just started reading DiLorenzo's book. From what I have read so far I stand by my earlier comments. Jefferson did come to agree with Hamilton on the need to built a sound national credit rating, realizing that the assumption of State's war debts and establishing a national bank were the only way to do it. I would refer you to "dinner at Mr. Jefferson's" by Charles A. Cerami

[Loserido]

Interesting, I'll look into it. Thanks!

Yes, I don't doubt that Jefferson was no better than your average politician, but it's not to say that Hamilton's ideas on political economy are any more successful.

[LCT688]

Jefferson's and Madison's fear of Hamilton was that he would us the Treasury Dept. to enrich himself. Once Jefferson assumed the office of President he ordered his Treasury Sec., Albert Gallitin (an immigrent Swiss banker) to audit the books of the Treasury. Much to Jefferson's consternation Gallitin reported back that there was no evidence of corruption on Hamilton's part and that the system was so tightly constructed as to almost preclude it taking place. Would that it were so today!

[Loserido]

LOL! Yeah, so true.

[KommanderWill]

They way I look at it is that Hamilton wasn't all that bad, and Jefferson wasn't all that good. But, we are now seeing Hamilton's legacy, though perhaps heavily distorted. Jefferson's legacy can be seen in Ron Paul, who is again imperfect.

Mercantilism was the prime evil in the days of Hamilton and Jefferson. Hamilton pushed mercantilism. Jefferson was a statist. Legacies, however, are based around rhetoric, which is where the distinction between Hamilton and Jefferson comes from.

[alisoakita]

Jefferson was a statist? You clearly don't know what a statist is. Hamilton was the statist. And it doesn't mean statist as in the states that comprise the U.S. It has to do with elevating the state over the individual.

[KommanderWill]

@alisoakita

Lets see, Jefferson was not an anarchist, he supported a state. Technically, he was a statist.

I am an anarcho-capitalist, though at one point I was a minarchist, and before that a libertarian-conservative. There is a clear line between minarchy and anarchy, but statists cannot recognize it.

[latewire]

Yeah, we'd better only listen to 1 view of history, especially when new views disagree with that one view.

[LCT688]

Hamiltons great strenth came not just from a profoundly powerful intellect but that he was not encumbered with any over rideing loyalties to any one State. He could better see beyond the peety state vs. state and regional conflicts in crafting his solutions for the construction of an enduring nation. The continuing legacy of Jefferson and Madison found it's culmination in the Civil War, Hamiltons was and is in system of economic selfdirection on both a personal and national level

[yakyakyak69]

Many states competing for tax base lowers costs, inproves efficiency, stems corruption and spurs innovation.

Statists believe in oligarchy. The big lie of Socialism is that it is pro-oligarchy, debt and slavery.

Hamilton wanted a KING like a child needs a big brother to take care of him.

[pretorious700]

lol, only on youtube can you find defenders of a statist jackass like Hamilton...it takes all kinds I guess

[LCT688]

The modern day Statists fear Hamilton because were his methods and call for the direction of government investment into actual PRODUCTION rather than fostering empty consumption much of the mess we are in today would not have happened. Nothing strikes fear into the heart of a demogauge like the light of a honest and rightous man, even one dead for 200 years.

[kingofmilwaukee]

This book is excellent. I now celebrate July 11th with Champagne, as the day Burr shot Hamilton.

[BDRPr0ducti0ns]

I liked how he took shots at both Republicans and Democrats. This was a very non-partisan lecture.

Very interesting. I will probably be looking up his book.

[RichardRoy2]

Fascinating. And I think we're in trouble.

[pinegrove33]

Dr. D's a great man.

[Tasadaru]

I don't even think John Adams like Alexander Hamilton. Watch John Adams from HBO.

[RichardRoy2]

Yes, I rented the series. Very well done, too. In fact, I think I'd like to see it again. In fact, I think I will do just that. And this time, I'll be looking for that character of Alexander Hamilton in it.

[nonantianarchist]

A little belated, but Adams in fact hated Hamilton, and came into conflict with Hamilton (who was nominally aligned with Adams as a Federalist) more often than Jefferson, who became his chief opponent.

[KJD808]

This book is required reading for anyone who is interested in the seeds sown by those that would subvert our liberty and how it led to where we are today.

I'm reading it for a second time now. Cheers to Mr DiLorenzo!

[marniespeaks]

why is Hamilton on the $10.00 bill he's wasn't a natural born citizen -

time to change that picture

[latewire]

actually none of them were born citizens, since the USA didn't exist when they were born

[marniespeaks]

had to be born in the colonies.

Hamilton was born in the British West Indies

[787Bisurdaddy]

Thomas DiLorenzo is awesome.

[MS1719ms]

Thank you so much for posting this video!! I'v put it in my playlist, 5 stars

[Steenville]

Last 10 seconds are not to be missed..