U.S. History

Like FDR, George Bush got his war, writes Joseph Potts, but Bush went his Democratic predecessor one better—a big one better.

Presented at the San Jose State Workshop in Applied Political Economy; 2 May 2005.

People apparently are not supposed to fret that gas is relatively more expensive, writes Robert Murphy, because in an absolute sense, it is still cheaper than other commodities. Well, this leaves out a rather important fact.

The economy is not depression proof, writes Lew Rockwell. If the government and the Federal Reserve are willing to work hard enough, they can kill off even the most robust economic expansion.

Lew Rockwell shares some thoughts on the rise of red-state fascism in America, and the libertarian response.

This year is the bicentennial of the birth of Alexis de Tocqueville, one of the most famous political commentators about America. 

Thomas Woods reflects on the response to his popular history book, a book written in-between two other works serving primarily academic markets. When they stop attacking you, he concludes, you have ceased to do real history.

Black reconstruction after the Civil War did much better than the dire predictions made. The black population recovered quickly. Many moved to urban areas. They deliberately had fewer children. Mortality declined. Income increased. No government assistance was handed out.

There was a sea change in money and banking in the U.S. as a result of the Civil War. Government became the primary regulator. Metal coins gave way to paper. Mistakes of one bank infected others – it was contagion.

The Confederate government blockaded the Southern economy by bad policies like impressment and trying to run the blockade themselves. The government declared that fifty percent of all cargo space had to be for the Confederate government.