Viewpoints
Opinion

Ungrounded: What Happens When Money Loses Its Roots in the Earth

Ungrounded money fuels ungrounded behavior: endless speculation, the illusion of infinite growth, and a culture of consumption without consequence.
Ungrounded: What Happens When Money Loses Its Roots in the Earth
A refiner holds a gold brick after it was removed from a cast at a refindery in Sydney on April 29, 2025. David Gray/AFP via Getty Images
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Commentary

Every empire that inflated its money into meaninglessness eventually collapsed. Rome debased its coins until the silver was nearly gone. France printed assignats backed by confiscated church land until they became worthless. China’s Yuan dynasty flooded the economy with paper notes until people refused to accept them. Whenever money becomes unmoored from real value, the results are the same: corruption, chaos, and collapse.

Mollie Engelhart
Mollie Engelhart
Author
Mollie Engelhart, regenerative farmer and rancher at Sovereignty Ranch, is committed to food sovereignty, soil regeneration, and educating on homesteading and self-sufficiency. She is the author of “Debunked by Nature”: Debunk Everything You Thought You Knew About Food, Farming, and Freedom—a raw, riveting account of her journey from vegan chef and LA restaurateur to hands-in-the-dirt farmer, and how nature shattered her cultural programming.