I spoke recently to the splendid Professor Gerard Casey about his philosophical notions of property, before moving this on to talk about money (as property), Cyprus, Iceland, Ireland, and other related issues…
Episode 120: The GoldMoney Foundation’s Andy Duncan talks to Professor Gerard Casey of University College Dublin (www.ucd.ie/philosophy/staff/gerardcasey/). They discuss the philosopher’s views on property and the implications of the recent levy on Cypriot bank deposits.
Professor Casey explains why there is a need for property and how the notion of property evolved historically. They go on to talk about how this relates to money and legal tender laws which are essentially the monopolisation of counterfeit.
Talking about Cyprus, Casey states that wealth confiscation can come in different guises — upfront via taxes or hidden via inflation. He points out the unintended consequences of the Troika’s strategy in Cyprus as the taxation of depositor’s bank accounts is leading to a flight from the banks which the confiscation was supposed to rescue from insolvency. It also reveals that no property is safe in the EU.
Finally they discuss the chances of a euro break up; Casey’s book on Murray Rothbard; and the appointment of the new pope.
This podcast was recorded on 23 March 2013 and previously published at The Euro Vigilante.
Property is clearly not safe in the European Union.
And, as Rothbard was fond of pointing out, “human rights are property rights”. If it is not your property you do NOT have a right to it – JUSTICE is about making a legal claim (a claim of RIGHT} to something, which is why “Social Justice” is a false concept.
However, no one was a more severe critic of the modern West than the late Murray Rothbard – indeed his attacks on the West (especially the United States and Britain) were often so extreme that he lost sight between the vital difference between the West and the totalitarian enemy.
Rothbard (if still alive) would ask the question “where is property safe”.
And sadly his likely conclusion “not in the Euro Zone – but not in Britain or the United States either”, seems to me now to be true.
The antics of the British and American governments (for example their determination to do ANYTHING rather than let housing prices crash) mean that putting money in British or American banks does not appear to be a wise thing to do.
Although of course the proceeding paragraph should read “lending money to British or American banks” as the word “depositing” is a deception, the money is NOT “deposited” it is lent out (indeed the banks build an inverted pyramid of debt upon the, relatively, small amount of REAL SAVINGS they actually have).
Lending money into banks (backed by government promises and little else) is a high risk activity – certainly not justified by current interest rates (which are well below the rate at wich prices are rising).
However, the stock markets are also a credit bubble joke – as is the housing and commercial property market.
It is not a good situation.
Love Gerard Casey!