United States President Donald Trump signed three presidential proclamations on July 20, 2026, under section 338 of The Tariff Act of 1930 also known as the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, “. . .

“The financial power elite can sleep well at night regardless of who wins.”
—Murray N. Rothbard

To celebrate the Year of Rothbard, the Mises Institute is giving away a different Rothbard book—for free—each month through December 31. Request additional copies—up to five copies per order, one order per person—to share with friends and family.

“That’s easy; he would have been assassinated.” — Hartnett T. Kane when asked what would have happened had Huey Long not been assassinated.

Who are they? People just like you. People who care deeply about human liberty and human flourishing. People who care about real economics. People who oppose state power, central banks, and war. People who care about truth and honest history.

They come from all walks of life. Some give $20, some give more. But they are all people like you, people who understand the threat statism poses to our world.

Testimony of

Alex J. Pollock

Senior Fellow, Mises Institute

To the Committee on Financial Services

U.S. House of Representatives

Hearing on “Strengthening the American Economy:

 Promoting Growth, Opportunity, and Prosperity”

September 2, 2026

Promoting Housing Affordability

“In a defeasance transaction, the borrower posts US government securities as collateral with a licensed trust or escrow agent.”

The August personal consumption expenditures price index, the Fed’s main inflation gauge, saw an increase of 3.4%, year over year. Meanwhile, the core PCE, excluding food and energy, rose by 3%. 

In a 2007 interview, Lew Rockwell was asked if he considered himself to be a libertarian. The context of the questions was the same then as it would be today for the same question. The question is really this: do you still call yourself a libertarian in spite of all the beltway, pro-government, pro-state intellectuals and activists who also call themselves libertarians? Rockwell answers “yes” because, of the reasons that he states below. 

It is always encouraging to find Rothbard receiving scholarly attention at institutions other than Mises today, particularly his writings on war and foreign policy. While Rothbard is, of course, remembered primarily as an economist, historian, and political theorist, foreign policy was never peripheral to these areas of study, nor indeed beyond his expertise.