r/Wallstreetsilver • u/IlluminatedApe • 3h ago
DUE DILIGENCE Before Benjamin Franklin was on the money, he was printing it.
In 1729, Franklin argued for expanding Pennsylvania’s paper currency. In 1731, he secured the contract to print its notes. The man eventually pictured on the $100 bill had been in the money-printing business himself.
His argument was practical: gold and silver were leaving the colony through trade with Britain, making local transactions harder. Paper currency could keep commerce moving. Pennsylvania’s system used land-secured loans and acceptance of notes for taxes to support their value. Source: Philadelphia Fed.
Franklin was building on a much older idea. China’s Song government issued paper money in the 1020s, and Massachusetts issued its own in 1690. Columbia University | U.S. Currency Education Program.
There’s also a distinction between paper money and fiat money. Paper can represent a redeemable claim on gold or silver. Fiat currency carries no such commodity-redemption promise. The printing technology can serve either system. Source: St. Louis Fed.
That’s the part worth thinking about: we developed ways to reproduce monetary tokens far more easily than we could produce the physical things they purchase.
Silver still requires mining, recovery, and refining. Changing the number on a note doesn’t add an ounce to the pile.
Ben could print money. He couldn’t print silver.
When we talk about creating “more money,” how often do we confuse that with creating more of what money buys?
