Recent Podcast Episodes

Some think that beer's history of regulation begins with hops, but beer has been hemmed in by government red tape for much longer.

The gold standard supposed a limit to the fiscal voracity of governments, and suspending it unleashed the perverse proclivity of the states toward indebtedness and to pass the current imbalances on to future generations.

Gold was only included in the plans for the Bretton Woods system because of the veneer of solidity it gave.

The collapse of the monetary order in 1971 reflected the massive dislocations and malinvestment of resources that ultimately turned the decade into one crisis after another. Keynesians are doing something similar today.

Bob gives a brief history of money in the United States, explaining that the dollar was much “harder” in, say, 1810 than it was in 1910.

Robert Murphy joins the show for a fascinating look at Mark Spitznagel's new book Safe Haven. If you're interested in the intersection of investing and Austrian economics, don't miss this episode!

In 1971, Nixon used a fiscal crisis to justify severing the dollar's last connection to gold. It was the same old story: "we must vastly expand government power because of a 'crisis.'" The government never gives up these new powers.

Most Egyptians have lived their whole lives in a country where the government heavily subsidizes bread prices. But now the deeply indebted Egyptian state faces some tough choices, and Egypt's poor may suffer the most.

Victor Davis Hanson's cartoonish conception of how foreign states act is not supported by history and contributes to the US government’s insane defense expenditures and destructive crusades around the globe.

Fifty years after Nixon closed the gold window, prices are heading toward 1970s-era increases. Yet the Fed cannot increase interest rates as long as the politicians keep creating billions of new debts.

Even at a "mere" two-percent level, cumulative price increases over time are nothing to scoff at. Even worse, if we look at what people really spend money on, price inflation doesn't much reflect the conclusions of "official" stats.

Was covid merely the excuse to justify new police powers under the guise of public health—powers politicians will use to impose draconian controls in the future?

After more than a year of unprecedented state intervention in our private lives, have Americans accepted a grim "new normal"?

John Tamny chronicles the profound ignorance and malfeasance of policymakers at all levels during 2020.

Nixon’s closing the gold window should be seen as the end of the last remnant of the gold standard, not some kind of market failure. Governments controlled most of the gold and set its price.

In 1971, David Rockefeller favored a “new international monetary system with greater flexibility” and “less reliance on gold.” Seeing an opportunity to expand his own power, Richard Nixon enthusiastically embraced the scheme.

It's not just the civilian politicians. For twenty years, the military itself pressed for more war, endlessly claiming that victory was right around the corner.

Fear of China and Iran, combined with the more practical desire for continued “free” money from the federal government, will continue to fuel opposition to any serious movement toward secession.

There is no reason to expect the Afghanistan debacle to humble Washington policymakers. Korean War fiascos were swept under the rug, paving the way for the Vietnam War. The cycle didn't end there.

Nixon's decision to end the gold redeemability of the greenback was probably the most comprehensive act of monetary expropriation of modern times.