Nobody made this point better than the Tuscan humanist Poggio Bracciolini. Indeed, the rich merchants who were the main “victims” of forced loans were also the rulers of patrician republics and understood they were contributing their private resources to the public good. These loans proved to be a poor investment, as the interest tended to become negative in real terms because of hyperinflation. Of course, historically, wars provide the best possible motivation to ask citizens to contribute more: either with their blood or with their cash. For example, this was explicit in the fiscal package introduced in the United States as part of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal.

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Persons: Poggio Bracciolini, avaritia, Liberty Bonds Organizations: Liberty Locations: Europe, Italy, Venice, Ottoman Empire, United States, Britain, Franklin Roosevelt’s