Murray Rothbard made the point to us in his US Economic History class at UNLV that economic downturns used to be called “panics.” But, the government believed that word to be too scary for the general public, so, “depression” began to be used to describe downturns. Then, the word “depression” was felt to be, well, too depressing, so “recession” was substituted in and is now employed, and as was the case of 2008, “great recession” was rolled out.

Classical Economic Theory and the Modern Economy
by Steven Kates
Edward Elgar, 2020, 264 pp.

Per Bylund (per.bylund@okstate.edu) is Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Records-Johnston Professor of Free Enterprise in the School of Entrepreneurship in the Spears School of Business at Oklahoma State University, a Fellow of the Mises Institute, and an Associate Fellow of the Ratio Institute in Stockholm.

Media Wars: The Battle to Shape Our Minds
Walter Donway and Vinay Kolhatkar
Independently Published, 2020, 330 pp.

William L. Anderson (banderson@frostburg.edu) is professor of economics at Frostburg State University.

To maintain his life and well-being, an individual must have at his disposal an adequate amount of consumer goods. These goods, however, are not readily available. Without tools at his disposal and by means of his bare hands, the individual can only obtain from nature very few goods for his survival.

On August 15, 1971, the last remains of what had been a magnificent monetary system died a terrible death, and the American academic, political, business, and media elites led the cheers. The Dow Jones Average jumped by more than 32 points the next day. A de facto national default was spun as a great liberation from a tyrannical financial arrangement that had plagued humanity for generations.

Despite high domestic economic growth and solid global recovery, the Chinese market is down on the year. At the close of this article, the Shanghai CSI 300 is down 5 percent versus the S&P 500’s +18 percent. In the past five years, it has risen 51 percent, a decent but modest figure compared to the S&P 500’s +103 percent.

Almost fifty years ago, on August 15, 1971, the US administration under President Richard Nixon (1913–94) abolished the gold redeemability of the US dollar. It was through this unilateral decision that the world’s major currencies were turned into irredeemable money: money that is no longer backed by physical gold. This surprise coup put an end to the system of Bretton Woods, which had been adopted in 1944.

He may not be a household name, but the letter Senator Joe Manchin (D) from West Virginia wrote to the Federal Reserve chair Thursday is worthy of consideration. The notable part is where he writes:

I moved aside and watched our twelve-year-old van pull into the driveway. My wife opened the door, smiled, and told me she got the job. Putting the basketball down, I hugged her and told her I was proud. The job was a part-time evening and weekend position at the local country health food store, a good fit considering my wife’s interests. But deep down, a sense of sadness and partial defeat rolled over me.