E30 - >>Fast Forward>> Part 3 of Francisco d'Anconia's Money Speech

A Socialist Reads Atlas Shrugged

For the 30th episode, Jonathan "fast forwards" to Part 2, Chapter 2 in order to discuss one of the most quoted sections of Atlas Shrugged, Francisco d'Anconia's Money Speech. The gist of the speech is that d'Anconia (and Rand) claims that money is not the root of evil, but the root of all good. In this longer episode, Jonathan delves into the logic Rand uses to support this claim and examines several underlying assumptions. This is the last of the three fast forward episodes on Francisco d'Anconia's Money Speech.
For the video produced by the Bank of England about credit predating barter, click here. I first heard about this from David Graeber, in his book Debt: The First 5,000 Years.
For an excellent discussion of the gold standard, see this debate produced by Marginal Revolution University, an initiative of George Mason University. You might also be curious to see this recent post by Stephanie Kelton, a chief proponent of Modern Monetary Theory, which criticizes conventional wisdom about inflation in 2022.
Jonathan highly recommends Francis Fukuyama's books on the rule of law: The Origins of Political Order and Political Order and Political Decay.
Some examples of sophisticated market economies, very much active in "making money," prior to 1500 C.E.: China and especially the Song Dynasty, the economic history of Japan, Italian city-states especially with the economic activity funded by the Medici Bank, and Kenn Hirth's book The Aztec economic world: merchants and markets in ancient Mesoamerica.
To read more about Ricardo Semler's institution of workplace democracy at his large corporation in Brazil, read his book: Maverick.
Jonathan mentions millenarianism and almost avoids pronouncing it as millionairism.
Thanks for bearing with me on the LONG journey of this episode! The next fast forward episode will begin a discussion of the story of the 20th Century Motor Company in Chapter 10 of Part 2 (click here for the text of this passage).
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Learn more about Jonathan Seyfried at their website, https://jonathanseyfried.art
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The intro/outro music was composed by John Sib.
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