In 1996, we produced a documentary titled Money, Banking, and the Federal Reserve. For the next ten years, we distributed copies all around the world, to our students, our members, and the public. Thousands of people were introduced to the evils of the Fed and central banking. At that time, not many people or organizations were calling for the abolition of the Federal Reserve. The Mises Institute was. And that hasn’t changed.
The threat of hyperinflation has haunted fiat money economies throughout history. Although past empires crumbled under the weight of unrestrained money printing, modern bankers at the Federal Reserve assure us that today’s financial system is immune to such a fate. Austrian business cycle theory, however, reveals that current economic stimulation may be propelling us toward a crisis of catastrophic proportions: a crack-up boom that marks the dramatic end of this boom-and-bust cycle.
Every mainstream school curriculum and state narrative regarding American history includes a common story between the years 1919 and 1941, and it is the myth of American isolation. Americans, as they say, foolishly forgot that they too were part of the world and so left themselves and their allies vulnerable as totalitarianism swept across Europe and Asia. The conclusion that is being pushed with this fictitious tale is shockingly unsubtle.
The US government’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is flush with debt. The NFIP owes the US Treasury roughly $25 billion. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the NFIP will pay $280 million in interest in 2022. “The program was never intended to generate a profit. It was established because due to the nature of flood risks, commercial insurance was not generally available.”
Rent control sounds like a good, humanitarian idea. Certainly, few if any tenants would quarrel with this policy. Nor would any person of good will, given the recent skyrocketing of rents. Landlords? Ok, they may be excused for not saluting at this particular flagpole, but even the decent ones (are there any such?) cannot but at least be cognizant of the financial plight of many renters.
The word “chaos” has been the buzzword this week in Washington, largely directed toward Rep. Matt Gaetz’s successful coup against former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy and the resulting void in Republican leadership. In an era where most outcomes in Washington are predictable, best illustrated by yet another kick-the-can-down-the-road continuing resolution on spending passed the preceding weekend, the first successful use of a motion to vacate the speakership in American history greatly shocked the system.
