Folgen

  • Politics as Power: Elites, Inflation, and the Austrian Answer

    Politics as Power: Elites, Inflation, and the Austrian Answer
    Jun 27 2026
    Mark Thornton opens this episode of Minor Issues by tracing how politics shifted from the classical ideal of justice and community order into a Machiavellian struggle for power, privilege, and control. He argues that modern politics is dominated by entrenched elites, special interests, propaganda networks, and a two-party system designed to keep ordinary voters alienated and powerless. On Side B, Mark joins Adrian Day and Rich Checkan for a wide-ranging discussion of inflation, debt, financial repression, gold, commodities, artificial intelligence, the Austrian business cycle, and the rise of socialist sentiment among younger Americans. Mark explains why learning Austrian economics is essential for understanding markets, government failure, and the crises ahead. 2026 is the Year of Rothbard—Murray’s 100th birthday—and we’re celebrating by giving away free copies of Keynes the Man through June 30. Grab yours today at https://mises.org/issuesfree 20% off listener offer on the insulated Minor Issues tumbler and three of Mark’s books: https://mises.org/MinorIssuesTumbler. Use coupon code Thornton. Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues
    Mehr anzeigen Weniger anzeigen
    1 Std. und 46 Min.
  • Hantavirus: Market versus Government Disease Control

    Hantavirus: Market versus Government Disease Control
    Jun 26 2026
    Pandemics offer an alleged challenge to libertarians, as some argue that governments should have the power to order quarantines and impose vaccine requirements. It turns out that statism makes things worse—and that free markets offer the best solutions. Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/hantavirus-market-versus-government-disease-control
    Mehr anzeigen Weniger anzeigen
    10 Min.
  • 3. The Beginnings of the “Reform” Movement: The Indianapolis Monetary Convention

    3. The Beginnings of the “Reform” Movement: The Indianapolis Monetary Convention
    Jun 26 2026
    The first organized big-business push for banking reform. Rothbard recounts how the 1896–97 Indianapolis Monetary Convention, backed by Morgan- and Rockefeller-tied elites, enlisted economists to press for the gold standard and a centralized, more “elastic” banking system.
    Mehr anzeigen Weniger anzeigen
    35 Min.
  • 7. Jacob Schiff Ignites the Drive for a Central Bank

    7. Jacob Schiff Ignites the Drive for a Central Bank
    Jun 26 2026
    Around 1906, Jacob Schiff of Kuhn, Loeb and his relative Paul Warburg launch the explicit campaign for a U.S. central bank, rallying the American Bankers Association and its leading commercial bankers behind banking reform.
    Mehr anzeigen Weniger anzeigen
    15 Min.
  • 4. The Gold Standard Act of 1900 and After

    4. The Gold Standard Act of 1900 and After
    Jun 26 2026
    The reformers’ first victory—the Gold Standard Act of 1900—and the maneuvering that followed, as Treasury secretaries Lyman Gage and Leslie Shaw used government deposits to aid the banks and inch the country toward central banking.
    Mehr anzeigen Weniger anzeigen
    15 Min.
  • 9. The Final Phase: Coping with the Democratic Ascendancy

    9. The Final Phase: Coping with the Democratic Ascendancy
    Jun 26 2026
    With the Democrats ascendant under Wilson, the reformers repackage the Aldrich Plan as the ostensibly decentralized, government-supervised Federal Reserve—essentially the same central bank under a new name, with Morgan-allied interests securing control.
    Mehr anzeigen Weniger anzeigen
    10 Min.
  • 10. Conclusion

    10. Conclusion
    Jun 26 2026
    Rothbard’s summation: the Federal Reserve was a government-sanctioned cartel engineered by the Morgan, Rockefeller, and Kuhn, Loeb interests to enable coordinated inflation—achieved only with the legitimizing support of technocratic experts and academics.
    Mehr anzeigen Weniger anzeigen
    1 Min.
  • 1. The Progressive Movement

    1. The Progressive Movement
    Jun 26 2026
    Rothbard frames the 1913 Federal Reserve Act as part of the Progressive drive from laissez-faire toward centralized statism. Having failed to cartelize through the free market, big business turned to government to do the job—with intellectuals supplying the ideological cover.
    Mehr anzeigen Weniger anzeigen
    7 Min.