Chapter 10 Question 5

"Yet that is not what we observe. Governments, rich and poor alike, have driven their economies not just faster than the speed limit, but at engine-smoking, wheels-screeching kinds of speeds. Why? Because shortsighted, corrupt, or desperate governments can buy themselves some time by stoking inflation." This passage struck me as disturbing in a couple ways. Firstly, I was really unnerved by the reality that the nation's economy is at the mercy of the national government and there is room for that to be abused, and it is in order for a select few to get rich and that endangers everybody's economic wellbeing. The second thing I found disturbing was how helpless we are when it actually comes down to money. We as Americans are making ourselves exceedingly vulnerable by basing much of our lives a round a currency that is merely a promise from a fallible government. Understandably, we could not stay on the gold standard in order to accommodate natural market fluctuation, but it is disturbing to think that at any given moment the American dollar might be worth nothing.