Private market discipline is dynamic: prices adjust continuously as participants update their perceptions. Public prudential regulation is static: fixed rules define the playing field, and market participants optimize within those rules, arbitraging every gap. Once public regulation and ownership crowd out private discipline, political overseers add conflicting social objectives that further distort incentives. The 2008 crash was not a failure of free markets but the catastrophic consequence of unleashing Wall Street finance quants on a socialized housing market.

The Meaning of Socialism by Michael Luntley (Open Court, 1990; xviii + 206 pp.)

If one has any awareness of the Panic of 1837 at all, one has likely been treated to the conventional story, wherein—as usual—the economic crisis and ensuing depression were supposedly caused by a lack of sufficient government regulation. In this case, the blame falls largely on Andrew Jackson and his destruction of the Second Bank of the United States. According to this narrative, the Second Bank had served as a necessary restraint on state-bank credit expansion.

The precious metals markets made a big push last year through January before the Warsh nomination and the US started the Israeli war with Iran. That brought on a big correction that was due, in part, and then a bottoming pattern began with gold in the 4,500 to 4,000 range, with silver in the 55-to-70-dollar range.

The nickel is now the smallest denomination coin made for circulation by the United States Mint. At five cents, it is ten times the accounting value of America’s first small coin—the half cent. And “small” is a bit of a misnomer, as the first half cents issued by the United States were 22 mm in diameter, almost as big as today’s 24.3 mm quarters! Made of 6.74 grams of pure copper, the half cent was worth its weight in copper.

An enduring myth in American politics is that wealthy people—and especially billionaires—are hoarding their money and not spending it, which somehow creates inequality and makes everyone poorer. (Of course, when billionaires do spend their money on themselves or their families, politicians like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren complain about that, too).

[Editor’s Note: In this 2014 interview, originally published by the Rutherford Institute, Lew Rockwell discusses the state’s lack of moral legitimacy, and how it is fundamentally a criminal organization. As Lew shows, however, the state a criminal organization unlike any other. It is supported by a vast network of propaganda through its clients through the government schools.

Aggressive interstate war aims at seizing territory, subjugating populations, and establishing political control. By destroying physical capital, war inflicts immense economic damage. Yet one of the most consequential effects of war can occur within the institutional framework of the victim society itself. This phenomenon can be termed the Victim’s Dilemma.