"In this way, the charge that the bank makes for the use of its notes - the interest - is a continual and universal tax upon all the members of the community"
About this Quote
Robinson frames interest not as a neutral price of credit, but as a quiet levy baked into daily life. Calling it a "continual and universal tax" is a deliberate rhetorical hijack: taxation is supposed to be public, debated, and at least nominally accountable. Interest, by contrast, is private, automatic, and largely invisible to the people who ultimately pay it through higher prices, rents, and fees. He’s not arguing that banks shouldn’t earn money; he’s arguing that the power to issue notes effectively grants a right to skim value from everyone, including those who never borrow a dime.
The intent is political, not merely economic. Robinson wants the reader to stop treating money as a natural fact and start seeing it as governance. If bank-issued notes circulate as money, then the bank becomes a quasi-sovereign: it sets a toll on the bloodstream of commerce. "Use of its notes" is the tell. The note is not just a promise; it’s a public instrument necessary for exchange, which makes the bank’s charge feel less like a contract between two parties and more like a compulsory tribute.
Context matters: this is the late-19th/early-20th century world of fierce fights over currency, central banking, and populist suspicion of financial elites. Robinson’s subtext is class conflict rendered in monetary terms: the community produces, the note-holder collects. His real target is legitimacy - who gets to profit from creating money, and why that privilege isn’t treated like a constitutional question.
The intent is political, not merely economic. Robinson wants the reader to stop treating money as a natural fact and start seeing it as governance. If bank-issued notes circulate as money, then the bank becomes a quasi-sovereign: it sets a toll on the bloodstream of commerce. "Use of its notes" is the tell. The note is not just a promise; it’s a public instrument necessary for exchange, which makes the bank’s charge feel less like a contract between two parties and more like a compulsory tribute.
Context matters: this is the late-19th/early-20th century world of fierce fights over currency, central banking, and populist suspicion of financial elites. Robinson’s subtext is class conflict rendered in monetary terms: the community produces, the note-holder collects. His real target is legitimacy - who gets to profit from creating money, and why that privilege isn’t treated like a constitutional question.
Quote Details
| Topic | Money |
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