U.S. History

Bob asks Tom about his early career in economics, and then they discuss the various ways in which Abe Lincoln was actually a horrible president.

As Ronald Hamowy put it, Cato's Letters is “unmatched for its breadth and vigor in the literature of the period.”

Debt and recession in the United States are big problems. But in both cases, metrics show a better situation in the US than in the eurozone.

Arguments over the gold standard are not merely technical disagreements. Rather, the gold standard often serves as a proxy for “sound money,” which was a central element in the classical liberal tradition of limiting government’s ability to wreak havoc on society.

The crisis we faced in 2008 has not gone away, as we failed to heed its warning to change course and reduce debt levels. Instead, it has become bigger and more dangerous.

Nock despised plutocratic conservatism, and rightly saw Herbert Hoover as the embodiment of this point of view. Above all, Albert Jay Nock hated militarism and intervention in foreign wars.

"If [the draft bill] is passed, the House will be shoving down the throats of the American people the despotic concept of 'Theirs not to reason why; Theirs but to do and die.'"

"Unfortunately, I have lived long enough to know that history is often not what actually happened but what is recorded as such."

Murray Rothbard details the forgotten history of radical individualist thought in the US. Colonial America did not set out deliberately to be the land of the free.

Contrary to the popular narrative that government police establish law and order, there is good reason to believe that the advent of militarized police in the 1800s led to an escalation of riots and political corruption while offering little law or order.