"The best way to destroy the capitalist system is to debauch the currency. By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens"
About this Quote
Keynes is doing something economists rarely get credit for: writing like a moralist with a ledger. The line lands because it frames inflation not as a technocratic mishap but as a political act with a crime-story method: debauch the currency, confiscate quietly, leave no fingerprints. The verbs are loaded. "Destroy" and "debauch" aren’t neutral; they suggest corruption, sabotage, a taint spreading through the bloodstream of daily life. Then comes the knife twist: "secretly and unobserved". Even if people feel prices rising, they don’t experience it as a bill with a sender. That opacity is the point.
The subtext is less "markets are fragile" than "social trust is". Money is a shared fiction that only works because citizens believe the measuring stick is stable. When governments lean on inflation - whether through war finance, debt management, or political avoidance of explicit taxation - they turn that measuring stick into a moving target. The result isn’t merely fewer purchasing-power units; it’s a reordering of who gets hurt. Savers, wage earners, and anyone stuck with fixed incomes pay first. Debtors and asset holders often get a cushion. That asymmetry is why Keynes calls it confiscation: it’s redistribution without a vote.
Context matters: Keynes is reflecting on the post-World War I monetary chaos and the way inflation shredded middle-class security across Europe, destabilizing liberal politics. He’s not making a libertarian slogan; he’s warning that the quickest way to radicalize a society is to make its money feel rigged. The real target is the temptation of governments to choose stealth over accountability.
The subtext is less "markets are fragile" than "social trust is". Money is a shared fiction that only works because citizens believe the measuring stick is stable. When governments lean on inflation - whether through war finance, debt management, or political avoidance of explicit taxation - they turn that measuring stick into a moving target. The result isn’t merely fewer purchasing-power units; it’s a reordering of who gets hurt. Savers, wage earners, and anyone stuck with fixed incomes pay first. Debtors and asset holders often get a cushion. That asymmetry is why Keynes calls it confiscation: it’s redistribution without a vote.
Context matters: Keynes is reflecting on the post-World War I monetary chaos and the way inflation shredded middle-class security across Europe, destabilizing liberal politics. He’s not making a libertarian slogan; he’s warning that the quickest way to radicalize a society is to make its money feel rigged. The real target is the temptation of governments to choose stealth over accountability.
Quote Details
| Topic | Money |
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