The Free Market 5, no. 4 (April 1987)

Not all hard-money supporters favor the gold-coin standard or any Treasury minting of gold coins. A few “purists” charge those of us who advocate a gold standard with being “gold socialists” because the Treasury would, at least initially, be minting the gold coins. Why not, they say, simply start minting gold coins privately by weight (in one ounce, half ounce, etc. denominations), and encourage people to use these coins as money, thereby bypassing the entire statist monetary system?

The Free Market 5, no. 5 (May 1987)

I look back with special pleasure and deep respect on that giant of our age, Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973). How he shone in his students’ lives and minds, gently schooling us in the meaning of human action and the free market.

The Free Market 5, no. 6 (June 1987)

A truism among free-marketeers is that collectivism is flawed because it flies in the face of human nature. But many writers on our side also ignore a key aspect of human nature. They write about politics and economics as if they were logic or mechanics. Pull lever X for output Y. Disseminate the evidence of capitalism’s success and collectivism’s failures, and the capitalist paradise, in time, will come.

The Free Market 5, no. 6 (June 1987)

A truism among free-marketeers is that collectivism is flawed because it flies in the face of human nature. But many writers on our side also ignore a key aspect of human nature. They write about politics and economics as if they were logic or mechanics. Pull lever X for output Y. Disseminate the evidence of capitalism’s success and collectivism’s failures, and the capitalist paradise, in time, will come.

The Free Market 5, no. 7 (July 1987)

During patriotic holidays, the news media applaud the Founding Fathers. But rarely does anyone mention some important facts about them: that they were smugglers, tax evaders, and traitors.

Not only is this important, it is also praiseworthy; it produced the most advanced civilization ever known.

The Free Market 5, no. 8 (August 1987)

The press is resounding with acclaim for the accession to Power of Alan Greenspan as chairman of the Fed; economists from right, left, and center weigh in with hosannas for Alan’s greatness, acumen, and unparalleled insights into the “numbers.” The only reservation seems to be that Alan might not enjoy the enormous power and reverence accorded to his predecessor, for he does not have the height of a basketball player, is not bald, and does not smoke imposing cigars. 

The Free Market 5, no. 8 (August 1987)

To most Americans, economists don’t leap instantly to mind as treasures, let alone national treasures. Whether making arrogant and fallacious mathematical predictions; filling the minds of college students with Keynesian and socialist buncombe; or giving a theoretical cover to State inflation, taxation, regulation, and spending—the typical economist is not a friend of liberty.

The Free Market 5, no. 9 (September 1987)

As long as bureaucrat-bashing remains sport royal, there is hope. But how much? Even now, confronting bureaucracy’s relentless encroachments and entanglements, whoya gonna call?

The Free Market 5, no. 10 (October 1987)

The Institute thanks Margit von Mises for her gracious permission to print excerpts from this un-published talk. ed.

The Free Market 5, no. 11 (November 1987)