Books in Brief: Government’s Money Monopoly

Government’s Money Monopoly, by Henry Mark Holzer (Books in Focus, 227 pp., $19.95). Voltaire said, “In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to the other.” Henry Mark Holzer’s angry book probes that point to diagnose the ills that beset America’s economy. The author, a professor at Brooklyn Law School, traces the evolution of the Federal Government’s enormous power over our monetary system and concludes that the nature and the extent of this power stem from the collectivist notion that property rights are conferred by society and the statist concept that “individual rights must yield to public exigencies.” He maintains that the collectivist ethic was initially resisted by the delegates at America’s Constitutional Convention, who were careful to provide a minimum of governmental power over national monetary affairs. Yet four years thence President Washington was persuaded by Alexander Hamilton that Congress possessed the power to charter a bank under the provisions of the Constitution’s “elastic clause.” Holzer finds it ironic that Thomas Jefferson’s disagreement was not over whether the government ought to enter the banking business, but rather at what level it should do so. Three decades later not only was the constitutionality of the U.S. Bank reaffirmed in the landmark case of M’Culloch v. Maryland, but the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling held that congressional monetary powers were further protected by a “sovereignty” that placed the Federal Government beyond any restriction by the states. A series of subsequent court cases solidified Washington’s power to control and debase U.S. currency. Holzer concludes that throughout the unending battle over the extent to which money can be created and controlled by the government, the individual has always been the loser. Accordingly, he suggests a constitutional remedy that will eliminate government’s inordinate power over our monetary system. Both it and this provocative book deserve serious consideration. ALAN L. MILLER

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Alan L. Miller

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Government’s Money Monopoly, by Henry Mark Holzer (Books in Focus, 227 pp., $19.95). Voltaire said, “In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to the other.” Henry Mark Holzer’s angry book probes that point to diagnose the ills that beset America’s economy. The author, a professor at Brooklyn Law School, traces the evolution of the Federal Government’s enormous power over our monetary system and concludes that the nature and the extent of this power stem from the collectivist notion that property rights are conferred by society and the statist concept that “individual rights must yield to public exigencies.” He maintains that the collectivist ethic was initially resisted by the delegates at America’s Constitutional Convention, who were careful to provide a minimum of governmental power over national monetary affairs. Yet four years thence President Washington was persuaded by Alexander Hamilton that Congress possessed the power to charter a bank under the provisions of the Constitution’s “elastic clause.” Holzer finds it ironic that Thomas Jefferson’s disagreement was not over whether the government ought to enter the banking business, but rather at what level it should do so. Three decades later not only was the constitutionality of the U.S. Bank reaffirmed in the landmark case of M’Culloch v. Maryland, but the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling held that congressional monetary powers were further protected by a “sovereignty” that placed the Federal Government beyond any restriction by the states. A series of subsequent court cases solidified Washington’s power to control and debase U.S. currency. Holzer concludes that throughout the unending battle over the extent to which money can be created and controlled by the government, the individual has always been the loser. Accordingly, he suggests a constitutional remedy that will eliminate government’s inordinate power over our monetary system. Both it and this provocative book deserve serious consideration. ALAN L. MILLER