It Stands to Reason - Part II
The Sign of the Dollar
On July 26, 2025, Forbes published a review written by John Tamny of my book, The Moneyball Method. It was also published on July 18, 2025, at RealClearMarkets.com. This brief essay will focus on a quote from their twenty-first paragraph:
It (reason) also explains why the dollar circulates all over the world, and in countries today that already have their own currencies. It’s quite simply not money unless producers say so. Real money doesn’t instigate; it’s an effect. Rand wore the dollar sign because the dollar then and now facilitates the exchange of goods, services and labor for goods, services and labor.
A popular conversation in the world of finance and economics is the future of the US dollar as the world’s “reserve currency.” To that mix, there is a chatter about a so-called BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, China) shared currency that is ostensibly backed by gold to replace the US dollar. And it’s not hard to find people with academic credentials and securities licenses who take that stuff seriously.
What they can’t see is the 800-pound gorilla in the room. Like money, the socioeconomic system known as capitalism becomes real through decentralized, organic means. And by their very nature, money and capitalism render economic central planners and their cheerleaders irrelevant without their regulatory enforcers.
Ayn Rand chose the sign of the dollar to symbolize reason, productivity and voluntary trade as the keystone of civilized societies. Or better, in her own words,
Money is made—before it can be looted or mooched—made by the effort of every honest man, each to the extent of his ability. An honest man is one who knows that he can't consume more than he has produced.
So, what is the difference between an honest man and men who systematically debase a nation’s currency? The desire for the unearned. Whether it be unearned recognition and power or unearned wealth, when the parasites are institutionalized by majority vote, prices become degraded, markets are denigrated and earned profit is demonized.
And in that environment, gullible investors become dependent on economic experts and market forecasters who speak with ambiguity about the approximate. In essence, when principles are replaced by pragmatism, predicting an uncertain future and beating an otherwise elegant market becomes the investment objective.
But there is a remedy. To learn more, please click the link below:
https://www.amazon.com/Moneyball-Method-Middle-Class-Manifesto-Objective/dp/1696009111/