Hans F. Sennholz Quotes - Page 2

The international monetary order is more precarious by far today than it was in 1929. Then, gold was international money, incorruptible, unmanageable, and unchangeable. Today, the U.S. dollar serves as the international medium of exchange, managed by Washington politicians and Federal Reserve officials, manipulated from day to day, and serving political goals and ambitions. This difference alone sounds the alarm to all perceptive observers.

Redistribution divided society into two social classes: the beneficiaries of transfer, who are calling for ever more; and the victims, who submit unwillingly. It could hardly fail to injure social peace and harmony.

When individual enterprise is free and unhampered, profit-and-loss calculations set precise limits to a businessman's temptations to expand his services... a government valuable they may be, have no market price and, therefore, cannot be subjected to profit-and-loss accounting.

Sound money and free banking are not impossible; they are merely illegal.

Government welfare programs contribute to the disintegration of poor families. They make women and children dependent on government; dependent for food, for clothing, for shelter; and reward fatherless families with extra benefits and welfare perks.

Every businessman enjoying customer patronage, whether he be a baker, banker, or barber is conferring a public benefit, raising production, and reducing unemployment; businessmen earn their livelihood by producing products and rendering services where ever they are needed.

The history of fiat money is little more than a register of monetary follies and inflations. Our present age merely affords another entry in this dismal register.

The gold standard sooner or later will return with the force and inevitability of natural law, for it is the money of freedom and honesty.

An ounce of gold is an ounce of gold, whether it consists of guineas, sovereigns or eagles.

Inflationism is a dreadful cancer that is gnawing at the backbone of the civilized order.

Under the influence of collectivist ideologies, many politicians and journalists are ever eager to strike at successful entrepreneurs who earn much more than they do. It is difficult to ascertain their motives; it can be simple envy which consumes many men, or it can be economic ignorance.

In expectation of his demise, a successful businessman may sell out to his competitors to prepare his estate with readily marketable securities, such as U.S. Treasury bonds. The confiscatory death tax eliminates many family enterprises and promotes the growth of giant corporations.

Peace is the natural state of man, war the temporary repeal of reason and virtue.

Freedom is the quality of being free from the control of regulators and tax collectors. If I want to be free their control, I must not impose controls on others.

No other commodity enjoys as much universal acceptability and marketability as gold.

A monetary order created and managed by politicians and officials is bound to disappoint.

The paper standard is self-destructive.

There is no escape from the vast imbalances in international trade and finance. They will be corrected, sooner or later, by the inexorable principles that govern human action.

...there seems to be a correlation between the intensity of the official attacks on gold and the severity of monetary crises.

The gold standard, in one form or another, will prevail long after the present rash of national fiats is forgotten or remembered only in currency museums.

Since there is no orderly way to liquidate the federal debt, we must brace for a payment crisis.

The social and racial conflict, which springs from the redistribution ideology, may deepen as economic output is shrinking and transfer 'entitlements cause budget deficits to soar. The U.S. dollar, which has become a mere corollary of government finance, is likely to survive the soaring deficits.