Booms and Busts

Recorded at the Mises Circle at Furman University on November 13th, 2010.

When governments try to confer an advantage to their exporters through currency depreciation, they risk a war of debasement. In such a race to the bottom, none of the participants can gain a lasting competitive edge.

Central bankers cannot be trusted with the printing press, especially when there is no formal check on their inflationary policies. It is no coincidence that gold is hitting such heights as investors the world over hunker down for what may very well be a collapse of the dollar system.

The key to avoiding "busts" is to avoid the credit expansion and "booms" that cause them. Booms are not periods of prosperity but of the squandering of wealth. The longer they last, the worse is the devastation that follows.

God forbid someone anger the hyperactive trade unions. They will use force, seize the economy, and fervently hunt down anyone who dares to think that each worker is responsible to consumers and not to union leaders.

We've only had 294 failures this cycle, but it is a big deal: adjusted to current dollars, the Depression banking crisis was $100 billion, the S&L crisis was $923 billion, and the current crisis is nearly $8 trillion.

Recorded at the Ludwig von Mises Institute; Auburn, Alabama; 9 October 2010.

Recorded at the Ludwig von Mises Institute; Auburn, Alabama; 9 October 2010.

Recorded at the Ludwig von Mises Institute; Auburn, Alabama; 9 October 2010.

Recorded at the Ludwig von Mises Institute; Auburn, Alabama; 8 October 2010.