U.S. History

Interviewed by host Paul Molloy on the Freedom Works radio program, Mark Thornton discusses how the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act impacted the America

Tucked deep inside the 1,603-page federal spending measure is a provision that effectively ends the federal government's prohibition on medical marijuana and signals a major shift in drug policy.

The Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914, a bill with racist origins designed to increase the tax burden on non-whites in the United States, was passed 100 years ago today. It has since given birth to an immense police state apparatus.

Mises Daily Monday: James Grant Explains "The Forgotten Depression".

In his new book The Forgotten Depression, James Grant, investor and founder of Grant's Interest Rate Observer, explores the Depression of 1921, a "forgotten" economic bust when the government failed to intervene, thus allowing the economy to cure itself.

The Economic Crash that Cured Itself: A Conversation with James Grant about the Depression of 1921.

Fed management of the economy and the business cycle has only gotten much worse as it has grown more powerful and destructive. As the Federal Reserve has become more powerful, job losses have generally more severe and the duration of the recovery process has gotten progressively longer.

Interviewed by Mo Dawoud of the Wall St for Main St podcast, Mark Thornton explains his prediction of the housing bubble in 2004.

In an effort to open up its economy, a leading merchant in Plymouth Colony led an effort to grant full religious liberty in the colony. But the old ruling oligarchs intervened and blocked the measure's approval.

Writing in Time magazine this week, Darlena Cunha compares the Ferguson riots of today — as well as the Los Angeles riots of 1992 — to the Boston Tea Party, arguing that such events are similar, well within the American tradition of social change.