If copying your own property is ok in a libertarian society, doesn’t that mean counterfeiting money is ok?
If you traded your fake munny for someone elses X and told them it was real munny, you have just committed fraud.
Of course, but if I didn’t tell?
I would say Liar Liar Pants on Fire. The I would take my ball and go home. And we would never play again.[:P]
Walter Block regards money counterfeiters as heroes because such activity contributes to ruin the government’s own system of counterfeit money.
Are we discussing Libertarian theory or Libertarian strategy?
While I agree in principle with doing almost anything that is disruptive to the Government, I worry that causing it’s collapse could bring about a worse version of the same monster. Atleast until more are educated and understanding of Libertarian principles.
Block is one of my favorite libertarians.
Then again, it couldn’t be much worse than it is now.
Walter Block seems to have some pretty weird ideas. If the government prints money, it’s stealing. If ‘private’ counterfeiters print money they are stealing as well. Both activities steal from people who honestly acquired money. I’m not sure what’s ‘heroic’ about ordinary thieves be they ‘public’ or ‘private’ thieves.
If copying your own property is ok in a libertarian society, doesn’t that mean counterfeiting money is ok?
probobly. unless say you made gold plated coins look identical to real gold coins. but i am not sure if that is truly counterfeitting?
If you traded your fake munny for someone elses X and told them it was real munny, you have just committed fraud.
if you made gold plated coins look identical to real gold coins and traded them. then that would probobly be fraud.
Government doesn’t acquire money honestly. Stealing from a thief isn’t stealing.
Sorry, I’m talking about the people who are forced to use government money and who acquire it honestly. Again, both government and ‘private’ counterfeiters STEAL from ordinary people.
um Juan never said the Government did.
Also, can the starter of this thread stop playing 20 questions and actually read a few books or at least keep them in one topic in the newbies section.
At the same time, Block regards money withholders as heroes, because they contribute to push prices down. How can counterfeiters and withholders - whose actions are complete opposites -both be heroes?
No, because private counterfeiters counterfeit counterfeit money!
I am reading. Right now I’m reading Block’s book Defending the Undefendable. You’re free not to enter my threads.
If this is a newbie question, why do people here disagree?
Yet two wrongs don’t make a right.
Maybe we should dress up like cops and start beating people up like cops do ? We would be harming people, like counterfeiters do, and we would discredit the state, which may (or may not…) help to bring it down.
Hehe. You have a point =P
More likely than not, it would be legally permissable. On the other hand, there are a couple of things to take into consideration:
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If the particular bank’s money is actual gold, that is extremely difficult to counterfeit and would effectively amount to mining your own gold and minting coins.
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If the particular bank’s money is composed of bank notes backed by gold, it would be in the bank’s interest to develop notes which are difficult to counterfeit. If this is impossible then they’d probably revert to metallic coins.
In short, it would drive banks to provide a better currency.
Sorry but that’s just crazy talk… they aren’t doing it to fix a broken dishonest system, they’re doing it to enrich themselves. Which makes them no better than common criminals.
That’s too much like calling a criminal violently assaulting someone you disagree with a “hero”, no thanks.
Fraud is a part of the definition of “counterfeit”. I can’t see printing money qua money as counterfeit. It would be if issued as redeemable. Yet, it is universally known that it is not. Thus, printing your own USD is not “counterfeit” any more than growing your own tomatoes is counterfeit of tomatoes.