Recent Podcast Episodes

Presented by Congressman Ron Paul at “The Failure of the Keynesian State,” the Mises Circle in Houston, sponsored by Jeremy S. Davis.

Presented by Thomas E. Woods, Jr. at “The Failure of the Keynesian State,” the Mises Circle in Houston, sponsored by Jeremy S. Davis.

Price is determined by the equilibrium price and the equilibrium quantity. If your good is not selling, you lower the price. If your goods fly off the shelves you are selling too cheaply and you raise prices.

Why is it that things like bread and water which have high use values are cheap while on the other hand luxury items like diamonds are very expensive? This paradox was not solved until it became understood that people choose only a marginal unit - this loaf or this diamond.

The Federal Reserve was created in 1913 by Morgan men to cartelize the banking system and limit competition. This is fractional reserve banking rather than 100% reserves. Rothbard thinks it is fraud. It increases the money supply in an inflationary manner by creating money out of thin air.

From backstage, the New Deal was an incredible confusion, unable, as Mr.

With WWII, Morgans get their war in Europe; Rockefellers get their war in Asia. Both sides are happy. Rockefellers take over foreign relations and create the Trilateral Commission, while electing Carter President in 1977.

Where did Benjamin Strong - head of the Fed - come from? Rothbard continues to reveal the individuals who shaped our world and wars. Morgan's empire brought us the irrational and useless WWI. Foreign policy today rests upon this Morgan outlook.

Progressive movement came in in 1900 to eliminate political parties. Technocrats and bureaucrats take over political power. Rural versus urban. Eliminate mayors, eliminate voting altogether, have appointed bureaucrats only. The Progressive party was created by JP Morgan interests.

Public housing, planned cities, government power plants, and coerced unionism were all part of the great cooperation between corporations and government through WWI and WWII.

Spooner was an American individualist anarchist with radical opinions on everything. His true calling was writing pamphlets and books on issues of the day. His most famous work was The Unconstitutionality of Slavery. No Treason is his most anarchistic political tract (1867).

State dominated cartels used intellectuals as apologists for the government. Big unionism was to transmit orders to the working class. Public utilities were government monopolies for fifty year terms, run without any checks by the public. It is the function of government to run everything.

When pietists shift to the Republican party, they form the progressive movement of 1900-1920. Rockefeller- McKinley forms alliances with power brokers like Kuhn, Loeb & Co., and Harriman (versus the Morgans).

Economics is a constant fight between the market and the government. The railroad cartel did not work against the free market even with ideal conditions. Airlines were tightly regulated until the small airlines began to compete in quality. Deregulation followed.

The Sherman Act outlawed restraint of trade. The Clayton Act added to that. Anti-Trust hysteria came in the 1940-50s. Whatever you did would be considered monopolistic. The charges didn't come from consumers, they came from whining competitors.

Rockefeller's Standard Oil created a monopoly in kerosene refining by buying others out. A huge drop in the price of fuel followed, benefiting consumers, due to production efficiencies. Rothbard then discusses pietists, prohibitionists and the big political shift of 1896.

The progressive period saw a re-alliance of church and state - secularized extreme Pietism (Protestant sects) with government as savior by intervening in markets. The Pure Food and Drug Act was a prototype for the whole progressive movement toward purity of body, mind and soul.

How does government intervene in the economy? What are the consequences? What are the motivations behind passing these interventions? The lives of the people involved explain why they do these things.

The railroads experienced both enormous growth and enormous government intervention. Land was closed off from settlement, causing farmers to oppose the privileged railroads. Markets were skewed. Waste and inefficiencies were high.