Money and Banks

In What Has Government Done to Our Money? Murray Rothbard changes your whole view of the world—not just money.

The First World War was critical to boosting the influence of that child of progressivism and Wall Street corporatism: the Federal Reserve System. 

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.

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.

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.”

Federal oversight of each recycled metal transaction would be an intrusion into the daily life of the individual and business on an unseen scale.

When the bankers called for a central bank in the US, they claimed to only want a way to stop bank runs. It turns out that they wanted—and got—much more. The permanent regime of inflation and asset bubbles is the result.

Contra Marx, the laws of economics are immutable and are the same no matter what historical epoch exists. Economies cannot flourish unless market prices, private property rights, and profits and losses are unhampered.

A common belief among economists is that the central bank determines what interest rates should be. But is that accurate? Indeed, there is more to the story.

Not all news from the gold and monetary fronts is bad. In fact, gold made a number of advancements in seven states, including exemptions from taxes and attempts by states to restrict Federal Reserve behavior. Gold is alive and well.