The Henry Hazlitt Memorial Lecture, March 18, 20221

Many thanks to the Mises Institute and to sponsor Yousif Almoayyed for this opportunity to be with you all today as we consider one of the truly remarkable developments in the history of American central banking, money printing, and credit inflation.

Describing attorney Clarence Darrow, the great H.L. Mencken wrote, “The marks of battle are all over his face. He has been through more wars than a whole regiment of Pershings. And most of them have been struggles to the death, without codes or quarter.” 

March 23, 2020 was one of the greatest stock market buying opportunities of all-time. CNBC gives an account of the event:

The S&P 500 would not bottom until March 23, a week later. From the Feb. 19, 2020, high to the March 23 bottom, the S&P would decline about 34%.

Five months later, as if moved by some Miraculous Monetary Technique:

The Mises Institute’s Economics for Business seeks to educate budding entrepreneurs in the field of economics. It is a vital service because, as I have argued previously, in order to be a successful entrepreneur, one must think like an Austrian. By its nature of trying to educate new entrepreneurs and managers, its natural competition are business schools everywhere.

Not that long ago people, especially those in government, were consumed with the most-significant crisis in world history, or so we were encouraged to believe – the so-called global pandemic, which, left to run its course un-diverted by government intervention, would end humanity as we knew it. So significant was the threat of this contagion, that civil liberties were suspended, businesses were closed, false-idols and talismans such as mRNA vaccines and masks were mandated across the globe.

Thank goodness for memes! A witty, well-placed caption on a still frame from a movie, cartoon, etc. provides welcome comic relief amidst the steady drip of stressful news these last few years.