It Is Up to Us Citizens to Try to Do on Our Own What the Government Is Failing to Do for Us Because We Can Hardly Expect the Government to Be of Any Help

Domestic anarchy, a possible Communist-Bolshevik uprising, and enemy occupation, these are all conceivable consequences resulting from the collapse of our currency. If we wish to avoid all these eventualities, we must prepare for the day of the catastrophe. We can hardly expect the government to be of any help. For five years the Ministry of Finance has not only pursued a disastrous inflationary course but has repeatedly tried to defend it. Beyond that, it has accelerated the depreciation of the crown by misguided measures that stemmed from its complete blindness to the single true cause of the monetary depreciation. It can hardly be assumed that it will now suddenly see the light. Even those influential financial policymakers who have an insight into the economic nexus have not been able to swim against the tide of prevailing ideas. It is up to us citizens to try to do on our own what the government is failing to do for us. All we can hope for from the government is that it will not stymie the endeavors of its private citizens. In their own interest and in the interest of the community, banks as well as large industrial and commercial enterprises must take the necessary preparatory steps to avert the catastrophic consequences that will follow from the collapse of the currency.

--Ludwig von Mises, “On the Actions to Be Taken in the Face of Progressive Currency Depreciation,” in Between the Two World Wars: Monetary Disorder, Interventionism, Socialism, and the Great Depression, ed. Richard M. Ebeling, vol. 2 of Selected Writings of Ludwig von Mises (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2002), 53.