Hoppe made this point extremely well in his "Time Preference, Government, and the Process of De-Civilization: From Monarchy to Democracy" -- published many places, but I first encountered it in the last chapter of Denson's _The Costs of Ware: America's Pyrrhic Victories_ - available free here
https://cdn.mises.org/The%20Costs%20of%20War%20Americas%20Pyrrhic%20Victories_2.pdf
Having a low time preference is a mark of maturity. When a society shares this trait, it's called civilization. Fiat cultivates high time preference (spending over saving), which propensity infects the rest of our appetites and propensities, spreading like a cancer, leading to a "process of de-civilization." An excellent read.
freeborn | ἐλεύθερος | 8r0gwg
npub1ak…r0gwg
2026-09-04 04:36:13 UTC
in reply to nevent1q…wp7d
Author Public Key
npub1ak5kewf6anwkrt0qc8ua907ljkn7wm83e2ycyrpcumjvaf2upszs8r0gwgSeen on
wss://nos.lolPublished at
2026-09-04 04:36:13 UTCEvent JSON
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"content": "Hoppe made this point extremely well in his \"Time Preference, Government, and the Process of De-Civilization: From Monarchy to Democracy\" -- published many places, but I first encountered it in the last chapter of Denson's _The Costs of Ware: America's Pyrrhic Victories_ - available free here\n\nhttps://cdn.mises.org/The%20Costs%20of%20War%20Americas%20Pyrrhic%20Victories_2.pdf\n\nHaving a low time preference is a mark of maturity. When a society shares this trait, it's called civilization. Fiat cultivates high time preference (spending over saving), which propensity infects the rest of our appetites and propensities, spreading like a cancer, leading to a \"process of de-civilization.\" An excellent read.",
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