Most of us know that Thomas A Edison invented the electric light bulb. But he also invented the motion picture camera and the phonograph. He was an American businessman and one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass production.
He was also a man who was ardently opposed to the gold standard and debt-based money. In an article in the New York Times, he spoke elaborately about the ridiculousness of a monetary system in which a taxpayer in the United States, in need of a loan, be forced to repay almost double (or even more) than the original amount borrowed, due to interest.
In that same article he was famously quoted as saying: "Gold is a relic of Julius Caesar, and interest is an invention of Satan." Now, many years later, that quote resonates with millions of people across the globe, due to the global economic crisis.
His point was that if the American Government could produce debt-based money, it could just as easily produce money that is a credit to the taxpayer. He proposed that the Federal Reserve should issue interest-free currency to farmers, based on the value of commodities they produced.
His proposal failed to find support and was abandoned.
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