Money and Banks

Bob uses U.S. economic history, centering on the greenback era, to work through some subtle but important distinctions in Austrian monetary theory.

Many economists believe that expanding the money supply helps create and facilitate economic growth. That is not the case.

The dangers posed by a paper fiat currency were well-known even in the early days of the U.S. republic.

The dangers posed by a paper fiat currency were well-known even in the early days of the U.S. republic.

While Bitcoin in its early days promised freedom from the tyranny of fiat currency, those days are gone. Instead, Bitcoin owners are now satisfied if its value goes up against the dollar.

While Bitcoin in its early days promised freedom from the tyranny of fiat currency, those days are gone. Instead, Bitcoin owners are now satisfied if its value goes up against the dollar.

The Fed was a government-sanctioned cartel engineered by the Morgan, Rockefeller, and Kuhn, Loeb interests to enable coordinated inflation.

With the Democrats ascendant under Wilson, the reformers repackage the Aldrich Plan as the ostensibly decentralized, government-supervised Federal Reserve—with Morgan-allied interests securing control.

The Panic of 1907 becomes the catalyst. Rothbard traces the response.

Around 1906, Jacob Schiff and his relative Paul Warburg rally the American Bankers Association and its leading commercial bankers behind banking reform.