An Interview with Friedrich Hayek: Part II
Gary North presents: “An Interview with Friedrich Hayek: Part II”
Gary North presents: “An Interview with Friedrich Hayek: Part II”
Henry George's 1886 book on trade is a devastating critique of the arguments of protectionists.
Michael Lind’s study of Lincoln illustrates the old saying, "God protect me from my friends; from my enemies I can defend myself."
Delivered as part of the Mises Institute’s Summer Seminar Series.
The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 had criminalized excessive criticism of government. Jefferson feared it would be used in a partisan way. The Acts violated the Tenth Amendment by encroaching on a state prerogative.
No President should leave a citizen in doubt about his person or property. However, this original comforting view is contrasted with more modern theory of the Presidency in which Wilson held the President to be the “unifying force of the country”. He represents no constituency, but the “whole people”.
The Mexican War 1846-48 involved unpaid debts to Americans, a desire for West coast territory, and the issue of Texas whose independence was not recognized by Mexico. The Southern boundary was in dispute also.
Friedman’s book, Monetary History of the United States, tried to show the depression was caused by a deflation of the money supply by the Fed. Rothbard’s America’s Great Depression was published the next year in 1963. Rothbard argued that the Fed was actively inflating the money supply.
Monetary inflation is the key way to bring about economic fascism. Fascism was a spending, borrowing government, militarism, imperialism, and a planned economy. Keynes’ followers came to power in the 60s with the Kennedy administration. Nixon went on to impose wage and price controls.