Introduction by Patrick Newman
The prolific Murray Rothbard (1926–1995) worked on four major treatises during his life. The first, Man, Economy, and State with Power and Market, was a three-volume work on economic theory written in the 1950s and published in 1962 and 1970. The second, Conceived in Liberty, was a four-volume series on early American history largely written in the 1960s and published throughout the 1970s (1975, 1976, and 1979). The third, The Ethics of Liberty, was a single volume on the political philosophy of natural rights libertarianism written mainly in the 1970s and published in 1982.
Preface by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.
I have lost track of how many volumes of new material by Murray N. Rothbard have been released since his death in the early days of 1995. Rothbard has achieved in death more scholarly output than many scholars can hope for in a lifetime.
The reader can learn about the background to this volume and the Conceived in Liberty series as a whole in Patrick Newman’s capable introduction. How this book finally came to light after its recovery had seemed hopeless—Rothbard’s indecipherable handwriting an apparently insuperable stumbling block—makes for a delightful story.
In the weeks following the United States shutting down over what has turned out to be mainly a nursing home epidemic, the economic geniuses on CNBC and Bloomberg discussed the various letter recoveries. The consensus had been that the US would experience a V-shaped recovery over the next several months.
Foreword by Judge Andrew P. Napolitano
When Professor Patrick Newman first asked me to write the Foreword to his painstakingly and brilliantly crafted fifth volume of Murray N. Rothbard’s iconic Conceived in Liberty, I had two initial reactions. The first was “What fifth volume?” By now, the reader knows that Rothbard wrote the guts of volume five by hand and Professor Newman—who, in addition to his economic expertise, is now an expert in Rothbard’s unique handwriting—“translated” it all for us.
Q: We’re in a very odd situation right now in terms of evaluating the state of the economy. We can see there is rising unemployment and there is likely to be a wave of missed mortgage and rent payments. Is this all just due to the government-mandated “shutdowns” or are there deeper economic issues here?
President Bill Clinton’s favorite freedom fighter just got indicted for mass murder, torture, kidnapping, and other crimes against humanity. In 1999, the Clinton administration launched a 78-day bombing campaign that killed up to fifteen hundred civilians in Serbia and Kosovo in what the American media proudly portrayed as a crusade against ethnic bias. That war, like most of the pretenses of US foreign policy, was always a sham.
I have recently been reading Helen Zia’s Last Boat out of Shanghai, which presents a narrative history of a handful of refugees who fled Shanghai as the Communist Party took control of China in the late 1940s. In framing this flight from the city, Zia details the experiences of the refugees during the Japanese occupation during the Sino-Japanese War, as well as just after the Chinese Civil War.
Bank lending is contracting, and it is important to understand why. At this stage of the credit cycle, which began expanding following the aftermath of the Lehman crisis over a decade ago, a sharp contraction of bank credit to nonfinancials is normal. It is what drives periodic recessions, slumps, and depressions, and monetary stimulus by central banks is intended to help commercial bankers recover their mojo and resume lending.
During the postcolonial period, most of the African countries which had opted for socialism as their economic system also adopted protectionism as an economic measure to favor certain politically preferred industries.
Joseph Schumpeter once observed, “capitalism stands its trial before judges who have the sentence of death in their pockets.” Capitalism is to be condemned no matter what, even if the executioners have yet to settle on the specific reason for its condemnation.
