It is no crime to be ignorant of economics, which is, after all, a specialized discipline and one that most people consider to be a “dismal science.” But it is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on economic subjects while remaining in this state of ignorance.

—Murray Rothbard, “The Death Wish of the Anarcho-Communists”

California’s decision to grant reparations to black Americans has galvanized activists across the globe. Activists think that doing so will remedy the black-white wealth gap. Ensuring that blacks are on par with whites, however, is a strange goal, since East Asians outperform whites on several metrics, including education.

With inflation still at high levels, it is becoming overwhelmingly evident to Americans that Federal Reserve notes steadily depreciate in value as a form of currency.

For example, an item that cost a silver dollar in 1913 – the year the Federal Reserve and federal income tax (16th Amendment) began – would cost close to $31.00 unbacked dollars today, as pointed out recently by Dr. Thomas L. Hogan.

In 1900 Churchill began the career he was evidently fated for. His background—the grandson of a duke and son of a famous Tory politician—got him into the House of Commons as a Conservative. At first he seemed to be distinguished only by his restless ambition, remarkable even in parliamentary ranks. But in 1904, he crossed the floor to the Liberals, supposedly on account of his free-trade convictions.

Leaders of the Western democracies are unprepared to deal with the forces that will end the fiat dollar’s dominance as the preferred medium of international trade settlement, in place since the end of the Bretton Woods Agreement in 1971.