[ef4]

Yes, and this is hardly a new observation.

Governments have been debasing their currency for millennia, because it's an easier way to raise revenue than actually going out and taxing people for it.

[harryh]

In well run governments (like the US) this is not true. They make massively more money from taxation than seigniorage.

Poorly run governments sometimes try to do this. It generally doesn't work because it results in hyperinflation which wrecks the whole economy.