U.S. History

It is during "emergencies" when we learn who really holds political power, and how ineffective are constitutional measures designed to limit the regime.

Governments in the US subsidize immigration through a bevy of welfare programs. The effect of subsidization is predictable: you get more of what you subsidize. This is true for student loans, ethanol, immigrants, and more.

The United States survived the first Great Depression, although it permanently changed the role of government. Will excessive government spending and money creation lead to Great Depression II?

Mises Institute President, Tom DiLorenzo joins Bob to discuss his early days getting into economics, and some of his important work on antitrust policy.

What were Abraham Lincoln’s religious beliefs? Not what most Americans would think. While a scoffer for much of his life, his wartime speeches spoke of “Providence” and developed a fatalistic worldview.

Princeton “historian” Allen C. Guelzo’s newest hagiography of Abraham Lincoln focuses on Lincoln’s supposed love affair with commerce, albeit “commerce” based upon protectionism and government tariffs. As David Gordon notes, Guelzo has a problem getting his economic history correct.

As the federal government's debt approaches $35 trillion, default one way or another is inevitable. Many US states already have used that method to eliminate their debts.

David Gordon reviews Paul C. Graham’s Nonsense on Stilts: The Gettysburg Address and Lincoln’s Imaginary Nation, examining Lincoln's logic and finding it wanting.

Few economists—even the free-market advocates—understand what caused the Great Depression. No, the Fed didn’t cause the Depression by failing to inflate the currency. Instead, it was the Fed’s inflation that led to the disastrous early events.

While Thomas Paine might be one of the most obscure "Founding Fathers" of this country, he was a powerful intellect who helped move people to choose liberty and independence.