Over the weekend Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin explained to the American people what’s really wrong with US foreign policy. Some might find his conclusions surprising.

We frequently read today about war crimes, such as bombing hospitals. In World War II Britain bombed civilians in Dresden and the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In war, we are told, “anything goes.” Abraham Lincoln followed this barbaric policy, and those who treat him as a “hero” have much to answer for.

In his definitive book War Crimes Against Southern Civilians (Pelican 2007), the historian Walter Brian Cisco blames Lincoln for a brutal campaign of Terror against the South:

Reports from Harvard and Yale reveal that about 80% of students at both institutions receive As, with mean GPAs reaching 3.7 at Yale and 3.8 at Harvard.

I was recently given a coin collection that belonged to another relative. Most of the coins in it are not in circulation anymore, and while you don’t see them every day, they are definitely not rare. Most aren’t in good condition either. In fact, they look much worse for wear than the coins you get as change at the grocery store. So, why would anyone bother to save these when they could have spent these coins? The reason is because, up until 1964, our American coins were minted in 90 percent silver.

The 1920s in the Weimar Republic, Germany, constitute a unique chapter in the global economic narrative, a chaotic symphony of financial forces that culminated in one of the most prominent hyperinflations ever witnessed. In this ephemeral period, the upward curve of price indices tested the limits of economic understanding and monetary stability.