' For in every country of the world, I believe, the avarice and injustice of princes and sovereign states, abusing the confidence of their subjects, have by degrees diminished the real quantity of metal, which had been originally contained in their coins. The Roman as, in the latter ages of the Republic, was reduced to the twenty-fourth part of its original value, and, instead of weighing a pound, came to weigh only half an ounce. The English pound and penny contain at present about a third only; the Scots pound and penny about a thirty-sixth; and the French pound and penny about a sixty-sixth part of their original value. By means of those operations the princes and sovereign states which performed them were enabled, in appearance, to pay their debts and to fulfil their engagements with a smaller quantity of silver than would otherwise have been requisite. ... '
adamsmith.org
... so there were attempts at inflation by skinnifying the coins, and this worked on debts denominated in the coins themselves, and not weight of metal ... there was inflation/deflation at times, but it was more a matter of Buy the cannons, sell the trumpets
'The struggle is what made the nation strong.' - exactly, true of all strength in any organism ... a tree that grows down in a valley well protected from wind will have far less roots than one on an open hillside |
