Public Debt

Quote	Source	Page	Subject
He who invested his funds in bonds issued by the government and its subdivisions was no longer subject to the inescapable laws of the market and to the sovereignty of the consumers. He was no longer under the necessity of investing his funds in such a way that they would best serve the wants and needs of the consumers.	Human Action	p. 226; p. 225	Public Debt
Income no longer stemmed from the process of supplying the wants of the consumers in the best possible way, but from the taxes levied by the states apparatus of compulsion and coercion. He was no longer a servant of his fellow citizens, subject to their sovereignty; he was a partner of the government which ruled the people and exacted tribute from them.	Human Action	p. 226; p. 225	Public Debt
Nobody believes that the states will eternally drag the burden of these interest payments. It is obvious that sooner or later all these debts will be liquidated in some way or other, but certainly not by payment of interest and principal according to the terms of the contract.	Human Action	p. 228; p. 227	Public Debt
Policies of long-term irredeemable and perpetual loans . . . offered to the citizen an opportunity to put his wealth in safety and to enjoy a stable income secure against all vicissitudes. It opened a way to free the individual from the necessity of risking and acquiring his wealth and his income anew each day in the capitalist market.	Human Action	p. 226; p. 225	Public Debt
The most popular of these doctrines is crystallized in the phrase: A public debt is no burden because we owe it to ourselves. If this were true, then the wholesale obliteration of the public debt would be an innocuous operation, a mere act of bookkeeping and accountancy.	Human Action	p. 229n; p. 228n	Public Debt
The public debt embodies claims of people who have in the past entrusted funds to the government against all those who are daily producing new wealth. It burdens the producing strata for the benefit of another part of the people.	Human Action	p. 229n; p. 228n	Public Debt

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