I’ve learned a lot about Austrian economics and the fiat system and hard money in the last several years, but the concept of taking companies public is still confusing to me. Is it really just a fiat thing? Didn’t we have a stock market during the entirety of the gold standard?
Discussion
It was spearheaded by Hamilton in the U.S. late 18th century, and that’s a whole separate rabbit hole to go down, but the fact of the matter is that it was nothing like it is today pre-Fiat. It was used as an actual
way to raise hard money equity to fund projects. Now it is basically a mechanism for founders to cash out, and to supplement cash flow.
Additionally, the pressure by the state has become a weapon that didn’t exist back then as it does today. This is the real problem.