The State’s Best-Kept Secret.

 The switch from weights of gold to patriotic names drew monetary power away from owners of money. But since it was patriotic, few complained, and fewer still understood the implications.

Once such a label replaces the recognized world units of weight, it becomes much easier for governments to manipulate the money unit and give it an apparent life of its own. . .

With the name of the country’s currency now prominent in accounting instead of its actual weight, contracts began to pledge payment in certain amounts of “money.” Legal tender laws dictated what that “money” could be [e.g., dollars, francs] . . . .

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2024/06/george-f-smith/the-states-best-kept-secret/