The Economics of War with Alex Gladstein - WBD468

Location: San Francisco
Date: Monday 7th February
Project: Human Rights Foundation
Role: Chief Strategy Officer


The majority of citizens of developed countries are blind to the
true cost of modern warfare. Wars are fought in far off lands by
technically advanced and voluntary armies; few people have direct
or indirect exposure to first-hand experiences. Media coverage is
sanitized of the associated brutality. And politicians willfully
talk up the benefits of such wars with patriotic vigour.


Yet, the cold hard truth is extensive and vicious wars are being
fought in our name. The costs of such wars are counted in
thousands of faceless lives, and trillions of dollars of debt to
be paid by future generations. That such wars have vague and
shifting missions, or, are predicated on falsehoods, seems to be
of little consequence. Citizens mostly tend to shrug their
shoulders.


Large anti-war protests are still evident on occasions, most
obviously at the moment in relation to the Russia-Ukrainian
conflict, and previously in the lead up to the Iraq war. But,
such protests are peaceful, sporadic, and ineffective. Wars still
get fought. Aside from ethical discomfort, the costs to the
majority not fighting the wars are limited.


That citizens don’t personally shoulder the costs of war is why
politicians still feel empowered to engage in such actions, or,
more importantly, to stay engaged in wars they did not start. It
is why democratic peace theory has broken. There are multiple
causes, but the fiat monetary system is a principal area of
concern, enabling the financial burden to be offloaded to future
generations.


Bitcoin doesn’t fix war. But, in a Bitcoin standard world, it
would certainly make it harder to fight wars without citizens
feeling the fiscal impacts. Ergo, citizens would have a greater
interest in demanding a say.


In this interview, I talk to Alex Gladstein, Chief Strategy
Officer at the Human Rights Foundation. We discuss how the fiat
monetary system has broken democratic peace theory, why MMT
enables forever wars, how Bitcoin could reduce unnecessary wars,
and the need to discuss this more honestly within society.