Recent Podcast Episodes

Mark Thornton traces America’s rising political violence to big government, Fed inflation, and the collapse of the old limited-government consensus.

The only way to fund Social Security is with current tax dollars, inflicted on current workers and families. There is no pot of money somewhere that current retirees "paid into."

There is a simple way for housing markets to adjust to the new realities of higher interest rates. Prices need to come down. That's how markets are supposed to work. 

Ryan McMaken welcomes Mises Institute Senior Fellow Alex Pollock, a longtime expert on real estate finance, for a discussion on how Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Reserve have created a socialist housing market in America. But it's socialism for the rich, and the system has made housing much more expensive for ordinary people. 

Many socialists define socialism by their ideal goals rather than the process—the expansion of the taking mechanism of the coercive state.

We often remember the thinkers who defended liberty when its prospects looked bleak, and for good reason. But we should also remember the people who supported them and made their work possible without knowing what would follow.

Jonathan Newman joins Dennis Tubbergen to discuss Federal Reserve independence, the relationship between the Fed and U.S. Treasury, debt monetization, interest rates, Modern Monetary Theory (MMT), and his forthcoming Anti-MMT book.

Dr. Mark Thornton joins Darrell to discuss declining trust in government, rising interest in Austrian economics, and why he believes the current monetary system is creating deeper problems for savers and the middle class.

Contrary to propaganda from unions and the maritime industry, the Jones Act creates hardships and is helping to drag down the US economy. The only proper outcome is to repeal it immediately.

Lew Rockwell revisits Justin Raimondo's great biography of Murray Rothbard. 

Dr. Mark Thornton warns that surging long-term interest rates could expose deep vulnerabilities across the US financial system. He argues that government intervention is failing to stop rising rates while America’s enormous debt burden continues to grow. Thornton also warns that the AI boom may represent another technology-driven bubble fueled by years of artificially low interest rates and excessive investment. He says declining confidence in the US dollar and the erosion of dollar dominance could ultimately put America on the road to hyperinflation. Thornton explains why gold, silver, financial independence, and broader personal preparedness could become increasingly important as these risks intensify.

For more than a century, the Supreme Court has tried to interpret equality before the law in different and conflicting ways. While the law can divide people, it cannot be the source of bringing them together.

“Libertarian Realism” in foreign policy is based upon the interests of those who actually make policy decisions, as opposed to discussing abstract ideals of a false “national interest.”

European politicians keep pushing for conscription and more recruits. Ryan McMaken and Zachary Yost discuss how the French Revolution gave us modern military conscription, and why governments have long wanted forced military service.

Government agents claim they are protecting us from enemies, foreign and domestic. If that is the case, then the best thing these agents can do would be to liquidate the government itself.

There is no "trust fund" or contract. Social security is nothing more than a scheme to take money from current wage earners and hand it over to others. It is functionally a welfare program. 

Socialism's failures are well-known, but true believers abound that insist that this time we can make it work. The question is why anyone still believes in it at all.

Mark Thornton asks whether precious metals are coiling for a breakout as fiat money, Fed policy, global flows, and market manipulation put pressure on gold and silver.

Populists have spent the past decade rebelling against a political system they correctly recognize as rigged. But they keep focusing on its surface-level symptoms while ignoring the institution at its center.

Dr. Mark Thornton joins Julia La Roche to explain why the bond market is the pivotal story right now. The 10- and 30-year Treasury yields are back above 5%, the national debt is over $40 trillion, and deficits are running at about $2 trillion a year.