QUESTION: Hi Marty I so miss the WEC conferences. Can you comment on ECONOMIC WAR in historical perspective. In early 2000s I heard that wars will no longer be fought with guns but instead will be faught with economics, are there examples of using economics in history that correlate to the present and the decline of the west and rise of the east? There was a book titled “all the monies of the world” by franz Pick and the line I remember from it was “the destiny of a currency is, and always will be the destiny of a nation” always wishing you the best and I am very thankful to have met you in Orlando
DM Ohio
ANSWER: There have been frequent attempts to fight wars economically. The Germans were counterfeiting the British five-pound notes to undermine their economy. During the American Revolution, the English were counterfeiting the Continental Currency also to undermine the economy. This is standard since the invention of paper money.
In ancient times, the counterfeiting was private. There was no strategy to use counterfeits to undermine an adversary. In the case of the siege of Athens in 404 BC by Sparta, they simply cut off their supply of silver to undermine their ability to fund the war.
This time around, moving to a digital currency opens the door much wider to undermining the banking system itself as a tactic to wage war.
