Students sign petition to hyperinflate dollar

The above video was shot by members of the Mason Students for Liberty group on Sept. 17. Members asked students to sign a petition calling for an increase in inflation so students would not have to back loans (Mason Liberty).

After watching a video of a man asking strangers on the street if they would like to see the dollar inflate, Terra Strong, president of Mason Liberty, decided she would do the same at George Mason University.

“We [Mason Liberty] thought that was a cool video so we thought we’d try that on the Mason student body and see how they reacted,” Strong said.

Strong said students were told that hyperinflating the dollar would eliminate student debt. The majority of students who were approached signed and thought it was a good idea.

Mason Liberty is a student group that tries to promote a free society and is not affiliated with any political organizations.

Representatives from Mason Liberty handed out booklets about inflation and other economic principles to students who took part in the petition. Forty students signed the petition while four refused, Strong said.

“[The results of the petition] definitely shed light on a bigger problem,” said Carly Reddig, a Mason Liberty member. “A lot of people don’t understand how things work … They don’t understand the core ideas behind [economics].”

As the list of signatures grew longer, Strong said students were less apprehensive about signing the document.

Strong said the students who signed the petition thought it was a good idea, but they did not understand how getting rid of school loans through inflation would make money worthless.

“We wanted to see if people would support an idea because the end result would be beneficial even if it was not a good idea,” Strong said.

Strong said Mason Liberty is considering more petitions to see if the student body reacts differently than it did to the inflation petition.

“I think it shows a lot of them want to help as much as they can,” Strong said. “We said we had loans and they said, oh OK, and it would put them out of existence. It just shows students need to pay more attention.”

Reddig said she thought the event was successful.

“I feel like we’ve been able to get the word out that hyperinflation is not a good thing,” Reddig said.

Mason Liberty posted the above video covering their event on YouTube.