Do you have faith in the human race? Work towards releasing it from its chains and not towards forging new ones (for it).

Frédéric Bastiat
Letter No. 12
F. Bastiat to Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

This twelfth letter is remarkable for its didactics reflecting the deep understanding of Frédéric Bastiat towards money and the mechanisms allowing it to function, including of the banking system. Whoever is interested in “understanding” money should read this letter (beware though, that in case you are a disciple of crypto-scams, you will need to get rid of your so-called crypto-assets – the counterpart to paper money represented by real assets, i.e., the missing debit in the blockchain, being clearly explained here). 

That said, today’s quote does not encompass money only. It is chosen from the conclusion by Frédéric Bastiat, who is claiming for “Freedom of Credit” rather than free credit and could be applied to numerous topics whereby the visible hand of government claims to overcome the invisible hand of the market.

Another quote that is applicable to free credit but could be extended to other topics of economics that is of crucial importance pertains to the issue of incentives and reads: “It is a very serious matter to put all men in the position of saying to themselves: “Let us tempt fate with other people’s property; if I succeed, that’s my good fortune, if I fail, that’s their bad luck.””

Other quotes from Free Credit:
First letter – Second letter – Third letter – Fourth letter – Fifth letter – Sixth letter – Seventh letter – Eighth letter – Ninth letter – Tenth letter – Eleventh letter – Twelfth letter – Thirteenth letter – Fourteenth letter