In his writings, Milton Friedman blamed central bank policies for causing the Great Depression. According to Friedman, the Federal Reserve failed to pump enough reserves into the banking system to prevent a collapse in the money stock.1 The adjusted money supply (AMS), which stood at $26.6 billion in March 1930, had fallen to $20.5 billion by April 1933—a decline of 22.9 percent.2 According to Friedman, as a result of the collapse in the money stock, economic...
Read More »The US Savings Bond Scam
Remember savings bonds? They were popular before the central bank made sure that safe, low-interest investments became a thing of the past. Original Article: “The US Savings Bond Scam“. This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Millian Quinteros. You Might Also Like A Review of Stephanie Kelton’s The Deficit Myth The good news is that Stephanie Kelton has written a...
Read More »Both Theory and Praxis: Rothbard’s Plan for Laissez-Faire Activism
It should be self-evident that a just and moral political regime can only exist in the long term if a sufficiently large number of people actually believe in it. Original Article: “Both Theory and Praxis: Rothbard’s Plan for Laissez-Faire Activism“. This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Millian Quinteros. You Might Also Like How Historians Changed the Meaning of...
Read More »Talk of “Unity” Is Both Hypocritical and Delusional
Grand invocations that “I will unify us” are actually shorthand for “We mean to get our way, regardless of others’ well-being and desire.” Original Article: “Talk of “Unity” Is Both Hypocritical and Delusional“. This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Millian Quinteros. You Might Also Like What Germany Must Do for a Speedy Recovery On June 29, the German parliament...
Read More »James Mill: Laissez-Faire’s Lenin
[An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought (1995)] James Mill (1771–1836) was surely one of the most fascinating figures in the history of economic thought. And yet he is among the most neglected. Mill was perhaps one of the first persons in modern times who might be considered a true “cadre man,” someone who in the Leninist movement of the next century would have been hailed as a “real Bolshevik.” Indeed, he was the Lenin of the radicals, creating...
Read More »Here’s What Donald Trump Should Do Before Inauguration Day
Even if he loses, Donald Trump still has time to change military policy, pardon allies, unseat the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, and throw a wrench in the deep state apparatus. Original Article: “Here’s What Donald Trump Should Do Before Inauguration Day“. This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack. You Might Also Like The COVID Crisis Supercharged...
Read More »Curt Carlson on Innovation Champions
Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights Austrian economics sees an economy in motion, perpetually renewing itself. Economic agents (firms, customers, investors) constantly change their actions and strategies in response to outcome they mutually create. This further changes the outcome, which requires them to adjust afresh. Entrepreneurs live in a world where their beliefs and strategies are constantly being “tested” for survival within an outcome these beliefs and...
Read More »Election 2020: Choking on the Political Red and Blue Pills
Presidential election 2020 is the same as every other, except in the ways it isn’t. Allow me to expand on this. What is the same? The purpose of all elections is to allow a band of people called the state to legitimize their claim of control over everyone and everything within a given jurisdiction. In his book The Rise and Fall of Society, the Old Right libertarian Frank Chodorov defines the state as “a number of people who, having somehow got hold of it,” use “the...
Read More »Lockdowners and “the Desire to Dominate”
. In many years of lecturing at Mises University, Judge Napolitano has given the same—terrifying—ending to his introductory speech. Not until the horrors of this year did it dawn on me that perhaps his point has its basis in reality. The dear judge often mentions, almost like a joke, the libido dominandi—the desire to dominate, or the will to power, harking back to Augustine of Hippo’s centuries-old writing. We find similar notions in Friedrich Hayek’s “Why the Worst...
Read More »The Idea that Democracy Is the Same as Liberty Is a Weapon in the Hands of Despots
As Americans approach a date with their polling places and “get out the vote” campaigns crescendo, there is plenty of rhetoric that all but deifies democracy. Unfortunately, while democratically determining who will be entrusted with the reins of government may generally represent the best hope to enable governments to change without bloodshed (exemplified by John Adams just going home when he lost the presidency to Thomas Jefferson), democracy is not the defining...
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