1/5 Given the econ upheaval of late, it’s interesting to note The Wizard of Oz was seen as a populist critique of the 19th Century monetary order. Basically, a story about working Americans fighting against the shenanigans of Euro central bankers. The people’s money at the time, silver, versus the gold standard.

2/5 Econ historian Mel Mattison explained this on Bankless. You have 1) Scarecrow, who represents a farmer, 2) Tin Man, a factory worker, 3) Cowardly Lion, silver proponent/reformer William Bryan (Bernie of his day). And they run into Dorothy, who …

3/5 … arrived by tornado from humble origins, a farm in Kansas, which in the 1880s was the birthplace of the populism that formed the foundation for FDR and his movement years later. This book about that early populism movement is very good. Anyway, in The Wizard of Oz, you ….

4/5 … have this band of working class folk being led down a perilous path known as the Yellow Brick Road, an allusion to the gold standard. And where does it lead them? To the heart of greed: an Emerald City that’s run on the deception by the Wizard of Oz himself, an allusion to the monetary manipulation of central bankers, whose shenanigans behind the curtain get exposed by Dorothy and her worker friends.  

The kicker? …

5/5 … As Mel Mattison explains, in The Wizard of Oz book, Dorothy’s slippers are silver, not ruby red. And by clicking her heels — that is, leaning on the people’s money of silver, not greedy gold — she’s ultimately led to salvation. 

Silver to folks back then was sort of like what Bitcoin/crypto are today to a diverse (and squabbling) group of monetary/technological populists who want a new order to replace the old. 

Anywho, if interested, it’s worth reading about the Free Silver Movement and its loose parallels with today 🫡

2/5 Econ historian Mel Mattison explained this on Bankless. You have 1) Scarecrow, who represents a farmer, 2) Tin Man, a factory worker, 3) Cowardly Lion, silver proponent/reformer William Bryan (Bernie of his day). And they run into Dorothy, who … 

https://open.spotify.com/episode/0T4KwMlIsKtA73QIDCdIYq?si=pLKMExDbSdGO2KWitzvreg

My casts are immutable, but my opinions might get a soft fork.

Followed by @woj.eth 🎖️

The more things change, the more central bankers stay shady. We need another Dorothy, but this time with a ledger