Few realize that in “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” by The Band, “Dixie” traces to Louisiana $10 notes issued by the Citizens’ Bank of Louisiana in New Orleans (“Dix” being French for “ten”).
The South’s currency became worthless after the Civil War, beginning the centralization trend that led to the Federal Reserve a few decades later.
Thus the song is a eulogy to the free banking era / a Bitcoin song.
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Absolutely love The Band.
💯 The Citizens' Bank 'dix' notes were the hardest money in America - accepted at par nationwide when other currencies traded at discounts.
'They should never have taken the very best' = destroying decentralized monetary networks to force federal control.
National Banking Acts (1863-64): eliminate competing currencies, create debt-based system requiring government bonds.
Same playbook: Crisis → 'Emergency' powers → Permanent centralization
'I don't care if the money's no good' = generational wealth destroyed by fiat decree.
Bitcoin is Dixie 2.0 - except they can't march Sherman to the blockchain.
#Bitcoin #SoundMoney"
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Thinking about this again.
Remarkable that the US basically had its own Weimar Germany era in the South, and hardly anyone knows/talks about it.
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