Money and Banks

Thorsten Polleit (TP): On November 5, 2024, Donald J. Trump was elected the new US president with a landslide victory.

Mainstream economists are united against deflation, which they claim is the cause of recessions. Austrians know better, as they understand that deflation raises living standards and prevents destructive asset bubbles.

Government paper fiat money does more than just cause economic havoc. It also is an exercise in profound dishonesty and theft.

On New Year’s Eve 1974, President Gerald Ford snuck in an executive order legalizing private gold ownership, revoking FDR’s previous policies banning gold “hoarding.”

No macroeconomics or monetary theory course is complete without introduction of the Equation of Exchange, or MV = PQ. However, this equation explains nothing, praxeologically speaking. Instead, it clouds our understanding of how money fits into our economy. 

We have reached this point: the government keepers of money do not even understand what money is or why inflation is harmful. To them, the real threat to the economy is “deflation.”

Commercial real estate in the US faces major problems despite efforts by the Federal Reserve System to prop it up. Bonds used to finance commercial real estate markets are being hit especially hard, and there is no relief in sight.

Can an increase in the supply of gold cause a boom-bust cycle? Mises believed it was theoretically possible but highly unlikely. Rothbard, on the other hand, said as long as gold is money and there is no fiduciary media, such a scenario was not possible.

Bitcoin is many things to people and it certainly has developed into a valuable asset. It also has been used as a medium of exchange. But is it money? According to Austrian economics, the answer is “no.” At least not yet.

The theme that connected all of the weekend’s talks at the 2024 Supports Summit was “Our Enemy, the State.” It was a gathering of the "remnant," those who recognize that the government is our common enemy. These are selections from several of the talks.