In this week’s episode, Mark looks at the implications of famed investor Jim Chanos shutting down his hedge fund which specialized in shorting stocks. The closure comes as stock markets in the US hit all time record highs. Mark frames these two events in light of the Austrian Theory of the Business Cycle. 

Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
Get your free copy of Murray Rothbard’s Anatomy of the State at Mises.org/IssuesFree.
Additional Resources
"The Social Function of Stock Speculators" by Robert P. Murphy: Mises.org/Minor46_A
"Short Sellers Keep the Market Honest" (Wall Street Journal) by Jim Thanos: Mises.org/Minor46_B
"Jim Chanos, Short Seller Who Took on Enron and Tesla, to Close Hedge Funds" (Wall Street Journal) by Gregory

On this week’s episode, Mark looks at the financial condition of the government and of American citizens on the cusp of the next recession. The financial condition of the United States Treasury, the Federal Reserve, and the American citizenry is weak; debt is high and rising, and this is very worrisome in an economic environment of rising interest rates and a weakening global economy. Please share this episode with a curmudgeon.
The U.S. Debt Clock: USDebtClock.org

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On this week’s episode, Mark addresses how we the people can prevent the government and the Federal Reserve from grabbing more power and implementing their own preferred "solutions" to economic issues. This is the third round of monetary chaos the Fed has subjected us to in recent history—a history from which valuable lessons can be learned.

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On this week’s episode, Mark recaps Professor Guido Hülsmann’s recent lecture on the cultural impact of the paper dollar. Hülsmann explains how an ever-inflationary monetary system and depreciating currency are leading to moral decay and divisiveness in America.

Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
Additional Resources
"The Cultural Impact of the Dollar" by Guido Hülsmann: Mises.org/Minor_42A
"Abundance, Generosity, and the State: An Inquiry into Economic Principles" by Guido Hülsmann: Mises.org/Minor_42B

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Mark contemplates the political divide in America, the lack of a middle ground, the political divisions in DC, and the turmoil over the Speaker of the House. Looking around the world, similar problems exist in many places; but, there is a tried and true solution, which Mark explains.

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[In recent months, Senior Fellow Mark Thornton has been covering today’s economy in detail in his Minor Issues podcast, so we asked him some questions about where the economy is headed now.]
Mises Institute: You’ve become notable for the idea of the “skyscraper curse,” which is an illustration of how an inflationary economy can lead to more and more gargantuan construction projects. The projects keep getting bigger (and taller) until the bust finally kicks in. That is, in many ways skyscrapers have become a symbol of bubbles and malinvestments. Looking around today, can you point to any particular building projects that might be an indication of where we are in the business cycle right now?
Mark Thornton: The skyscraper curse, or skyscraper index, might appear to

This episode examines the impending Government Shutdown, which will suspend new releases of the government’s "vital" economic statistics. How will the "Data Dependent" Fed manage its policy behind the cloak of missing data? Mark suggests it’s best to consider that the Fed is playing its typical confidence game.

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In this week’s episode, Mark interprets the Fed’s new economic projections for the economy, in which the Fed "doubles-down" on current economic growth and the economy’s prospects moving forward. Essentially, the Fed is saying that they are taking us from the "touch-and-go" economy of the last three years to a touch-and-go landing, where the economy will take off and perform much better than anyone anticipates. Don’t bet on it.

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In this week’s episode, Mark looks at PPI—the Producer Price Index—which provides evidence of the costs for suppliers in various industries, macroeconomic instability, and the potential for economic recovery. Here, very low prices provide the potential for recovery; and rising prices can indicate both recovery in the economy, as well as inflationary pressures moving forward. The Covid Bubble and restrictions caused a 50% increase in producer prices, and since the peak in 2022, PPI has only corrected about 10%. 

Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
"Producer Price Index by Commodity: All Commodities" (PPIACO): Mises.org/Minor_PPI
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In this episode, Mark examines Fed Chairman Jay Powell’s recent confession that the Fed is "navigating by the stars on a cloudy night." This reveals the fundamental methodological weakness of the Fed’s economic policy and mainstream economics in general ("data dependency"). In contrast, it also reveals the strengths of Austrian economics, economic theory, and the self regulation of the free market. Mark suggests that we all be prepared for big negative surprises in the economy and additional Federal Reserve and government power grabs.

Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.
Recommended Reading
"What the Central Bank Cartel has Planned for You" by Thorsten Polleit: Mises.org/Minor34A
"Transparency or Deception: What the Fed Was Saying in

In this week’s episode, Mark reviews what people have said about Fitch’s downgrade of US government debt. Mark sees it as a good thing, but not good enough. The "minor issue" in the latest debt ceiling agreement is ignored by the mainstream media: politicians suspended the debt ceiling into 2025, rather than raising it to some arbitrary, higher figure.

Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.

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In this episode, Mark looks at the "minor issue" of the value of the dollar. While everything in the economy seems great—including stock markets, price inflation, unemployment, and consumer confidence—the value of the dollar index has fallen 12% during the rebound in stocks since last October.
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While talk of high gas prices is no longer a headline issue, energy economics is still a vitally important aspect of understanding the economy, including the business cycle. Mark explains the basics, tells us where we now stand, and what the major implications are for the near future.

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Mark takes a look at all the wrong predictions of recession in recent years, including those of Austrian School economists. While the MSM and Fed officials try to downplay the coming of a recession, many of the statistics and facts that Austrian consider important are indicating a looming recession, if not a full-blown economic crisis.

Check out Anatomy of the Crash: The Financial Crisis of 2020, edited by Tho Bishop: Mises.org/AnatomyOfTheCrash
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.

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In this week’s episode, Mark explains why the market for existing homes has been diverging from the market for new houses. The Fed ZIRP, QE and Covid bailouts have locked Americans into their mortgages and low payments, reducing the supply of existing homes. This keeps them off the market and home prices high in an economy that is headed for a recession or crisis. Buyers have been diverted to newly constructed homes where builders have more flexibility to sell and there are no existing homeowners locked into mortgages.

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After a long series of rate hikes, Fed officials and asset markets are expecting a long series of interest rate cuts. This is based on the tried and hue Phillips Curve analysis. In color theory, "hue" is the technical appearance of color that can be described mechanically as a number. Let’s hope interest rate expectations are not being distorted by other factors of reality, and that current Phillips Curve model perceptions of hue are also true.

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Bank reserves are seldom mentioned except in cases of bank runs. The other possible mention is all the interest money the Fed pays to banks simply for holding reserves. Mark explains the role of bank reserves in the current "system" and gives a brief explanation of why the Austrian view is better and actually gets the job done.

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Mark discusses something bigger than the Disney layoffs: the Wall Street Journal’s April 25 frontpage article on investing in gold. It would seem that the recent rise of the price of gold is the result of tired, dumb, and disillusioned crypto currency investors throwing in the towel to "chase shiny new object—gold." Mark explains that the rational reasons for investing in gold loom larger than the entire Magic Kingdom!

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Mark looks at the price of Apple stock—one of the best performing stocks over the last quarter century, and one of the largest holdings in stock indexes, mutual funds, and Berkshire Hathaway portfolio. Market watchers have kept a keen eye on Apple as it heads for a new all-time high; but, Mark is concerned that a downturn would have a huge ripple effect on the overall market—possibly equivalent to a tsunami. 

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Mark takes a look at the good news on price inflation and why it is better than reported, but probably short-lived. Other statistics are worsening and, amazingly, even landlords are starting to feel the pain!

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This episode explores precious metals. Gold (Au) is the main precious metal, followed by Silver (Ag), Platinum (Pt), and Palladium (Pd). These are distinct from valuable industrial metals such as copper (which served as money historically), nickel, and zinc, which have served as token coins in modern times. There are many different ways and forms you can own precious metals.

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Mark is not fooling around today. He looks back at the history of gold and its price, which some believe is too erratic and too unstable (like Bitcoin) to serve as a basis of a monetary system. Mark shows that it is not gold that destabilizes events in the real world, but rather real world events related to political decision-making that has made the price of gold unstable. The price of gold is a "minor" indicator of what governments are really up to.

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In this episode, Mark looks at the far away minor issue of the impact of hyperinflation in Zimbabwe. Even though they have switched from Zim dollars to US dollars, ordinary people are still suffering. Their government and its inflationary monetary policy is manifesting itself in some interesting ways.

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SVB Bank and Signature Bank failed this week and were bailed out. Mark explains why the banks failed and why it was bound to happen. The minor issue is that the total FDIC bailout fund is actually smaller than either one of the banks.

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Mark talks about the recent price inflation reports, as well as reports of job openings from private sector job placement companies. Inflation was higher than expected and job openings declined. What will the Fed do? People are making painful adjustments—Domino’s reported disappointing sales, because their customers are "eating in".
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Mark uses Intel Corporation, the computer chip manufacturer, as a barometer of the business cycle. He looks at the stock price in recent years, its production capacity expansion, and the company’s very recent cost- and dividend-cutting moves.
Check out Mark Thornton’s free book, The Skyscraper Curse: And How Austrian Economists Predicted Every Major Economic Crisis of the Last Century: Mises.org/Curse
Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.

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Economists like Paul Krugman have claimed that practice of austerity in government would damage the US economy. As Mark Thornton points out, the opposite is true: austerity works.

Original Article: "Austerity: A Real Solution to Help Heal the US Economy"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. 

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As we enter the holiday season stock owners have been the big losers of 2022, but jobs are still plentiful and nominal wages are rising rapidly. The Wall Street Journal reports “Stiff Demand Drives Gains in Jobs, Wages” (December 4). Faced with a stagnant stock market, nothing bolsters confidence more than the plethora of job openings, seemingly everywhere, and for all types of jobs.
The number of job openings is a statistic worth paying attention to as a gauge of the overall economy, but certainly not the only one. Here we examine it in relation to economic conditions and other statistics. This reveals some good, some bad, and some ugly insights into the economy, but overall, the signs all point to the business cycle and the turn toward economic crisis.
The Good

Austerity works. We know what it is and don’t like it, but it works. It usually means cutting your consumption and spending, paying down your debts, pawning assets, and working more hours to restore your economic situation.
You might invoke “austerity” because you lost your job, your house burned down, or you have an unexpected child on the way. You might take similar actions if the economy was in crisis. It’s essentially the same thing as cutting expenses to save for a down payment on a house, paying for a child’s education, or accumulating a fund for retirement.
Companies do likewise; delaying expansions, laying off workers, cutting expenditures, working longer hours, and selling off assets. The accounting aspect of the problem is straightforward: cut expenses,

My previous article demonstrated how the free market solves a boom-bust crisis and is the only solution, its effectiveness depending upon the magnitude of the crisis and, more importantly, how much the government intervenes in response. The bigger the problem created by the Fed, the greater the crisis and the more government intervenes, and the slower the economy recovers.
Here we consider how the market works most effectively, with the efficiency of the process maximized by policy restraint. Like most illnesses, recessions can be “cured” with rest, hydration, nutrition, and fresh air, rather than major surgeries and dangerous medications.
The solution begins with getting rid of the initial monetary causes and allowing market participants, especially