“This book tells how money has conferred power and profits to those in positions to monopolize its production, abuse their power, and ultimately destroy the value of the nation’s economy. It tells why government has not and will not — because it can not — preserve the value of...

“The peculiar character of the problem of a rational economic order is determined precisely by the fact that the knowledge of the circumstances of which we must make use never exists in concentrated or integrated form but solely as the dispersed bits of incomplete and frequently contradictory knowledge...

“Evidence that the current Administration is taking a different tack on economic policy was abundant at the recent Group of 20 (G-20) meetings in Toronto. The European governments, led by Germany, were arguing for deficit and debt reduction while the U.S. was resisting attempts to rein in spending....

“I, Pencil, simple though I appear to be, merit your wonder and awe, a claim I shall attempt to prove. In fact, if you can understand me—no, that’s too much to ask of anyone—if you can become aware of the miraculousness which I symbolize, you can help save the freedom mankind is so unhappily...

“As an alternative to market failure explanations, we draw on theory and historical evidence to argue that fiscal considerations explain the roles governments typically play in producing and regulating money. Public monopoly production of coins and banknotes, substitution of fiat for commodity...