Wizard of Oz Predicts the Future!

I found an article written by educator and historian Henry Littlefield that outlined that in the famous book that we all know the story of, is actually a allegory of a political debate relating to monetary policy!  Let me explain with a few extracts…

According to this view, for instance, the "Yellow Brick Road" represents the gold standard, and the silver slippers (ruby in the 1939 film version) represent the Silverite sixteen to one silver ratio.
The idea did spark considerable interest and elaboration by many scholars in history, economics and other fields, but wasn’t universally accepted. Certainly the 1901 musical version of "Oz", written by Baum, was for an ADULT audience and had numerous explicit references to contemporary politics, though in these references Baum seems just to have been ‘playing for laughs’.

Since his article was published, scholars in history, political science and economics have asserted that the images and characters used by Baum closely resemble political images that were well known in the 1890s. Quentin Taylor, for example, claimed that many of the events and characters of the book resemble the actual political personalities, events and ideas of the 1890s… 

Oh yeah?, this is my favourite bit…

Dorothy—naïve, young and simple—represents the American people. She is Everyman, led astray and seeking the way back home. Moreover, following the road of gold leads eventually only to the Emerald City, which may symbolize the fraudulent world of greenback paper money that only pretends to have value. It is ruled by a scheming politician (the Wizard) who uses publicity devices and tricks to fool the people into believing he is benevolent, wise, and powerful when really he is selfish and cruel. He sends Dorothy into severe danger hoping she will rid him of his enemy the Wicked Witch of the West, however as we all know he is powerless and, as he admits to Dorothy, ‘I'm a very bad Wizard.

So what are the other metaphors?

• The Scarecrow as a representation of American farmers and their troubles in the late 19th century.
• The Tin Man representing the American steel industry's failures to combat increased international competition at the time
• The Cowardly Lion as a metaphor for the American military's performance in the Spanish–American War.

Taylor also claimed a sort of iconography for the cyclone: it was used in the 1890s as a metaphor for a political revolution that would transform the drab country into a land of color and unlimited prosperity. It was also used by editorial cartoonists of the 1890s to represent political upheaval.
Kassinger, in her book Gold: From Greek Myth to Computer Chips, purports that "The Wizard symbolizes bankers who support the gold standard and oppose adding silver to it... Only Dorothy's silver slippers can take her home to Kansas", meaning that by Dorothy not realizing that she had the silver slippers the whole time, Dorothy, or "the westerners", never realized they already had a viable currency of the people.

Whether or not you believe it, it remains compelling enough to have sparked debate for over 100 years… and we are still reading it now. So what, what does it mean? Well perhaps there is some truth?, perhaps we should all consider the inherent weakness of fiat currency (paper currency) and how it is the principle tool of manipulation used by central banks and governments across the developed world; what if you all held 50% of your wealth in physical Gold & Silver? Would you feel better or worse?  As ever the choice is yours.

Mokarimakka.