Friday 7 March 2014

Counterfeiting is theft from the state

In most jurisdictions counterfeiting of money is a crime. This is because the state is a legal entity which is different from other entities in that it is democratically elected and representative of the people. Since government-issued money is generally treated as valuable then it is possible to gain value by counterfeiting currency which detracts from the value of the rest of the currency and it is for this reason than counterfeiting of the national currency is a crime.

Counterfeiting is theft from the state.

Because counterfeiting is theft then when banks have deposit insurance they should be careful not to extend an excess of credit otherwise new currency must be issued to keep the banks solvent. If the banks are in the protection of the state they have an obligation to prevent the government from needing to bail them out. Bank insolvency (or even the risk of insolvency) is theft from the state if the bank benefits from deposit insurance. If banks have deposit insurance then they must stay solvent at all times (avoiding even the risk of insolvency) otherwise they are stealing from the state.

Counterfeiting is theft (from the state) and if banks have deposit insurance they must not allow themselves to become insolvent otherwise they are committing a crime (from the state). Banks steal from the state if they are insolvent and have deposit insurance.

No comments:

Post a Comment