In "Historical Controversies", Mises Institute scholar Chris Calton debunks the history you may have learned in government schools. Armed with facts, theory, and a Rothbardian appreciation for historical narrative, Calton enlightens and entertains in a podcast that has something to offer all audiences. 

In the first season, Calton focuses on the history of the war on drugs, busting the myths of state propaganda and exposing the role the US government has played in manufacturing the greatest evils from American's desire to get high.

For further reading, a Bibliographical Essay is available at https://mises.org/EC1Bib

Music: "On the Ground" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Historical Controversies

Hosted by Jeff Deist, The Human Action Podcast (formerly "Mises Weekends") features weekly interviews with leaders in Austrian economics and libertarianism.

The Human Action Podcast

Murray Rothbard's fifth volume of Conceived in Liberty, edited by Patrick Newman, highlights the most important battle of the American project — one that continues to this day — the conflict between those who want to centralize power, and those who choose to stand to defend the American heritage of liberty.

Conceived in Liberty, Volume 5

Murray N. Rothbard's great treatise provides a sweeping presentation of Austrian economic theory, and a rigorous criticism of alternative schools of thought. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.

This audiobook is made possible through the generosity of Thomas Ross.

Man, Economy, and State, and Power & Market | Murray N. Rothbard

[Episode 001] Megatrend forecaster Gerald Celente talks with Jeff Deist about the second American Revolution and how oligarchs have come to power in the U.S.

Gerald Celente: Political Atheism

[Episode 002] Entrepreneur and businessman Helio Beltrão talks to Jeff Deist about crony capitalism and the upcoming FIFA World Cup, and why the Liberty Movement is like a soccer team.

Helio Beltrão: World Cup Cronyism and the Liberty Movement in Brazil

[Episode 003] Jim Bovard talks with Jeff Deist about his incendiary career as a journalist, the American people as Mencken's "Booboisie", and why the Nanny State has him stocking-up on cigars.

Jim Bovard: Libertarian Muckraker

[Episode 004] Eric Peters discusses with Jeff Deist the automobile as a symbol of libertarian autonomy, why statists love public transportation, how moronic government regulations make all cars look the same, and why you should go buy an old V8 or an old motorcycle while you still can.

Eric Peters: Anarcho Road Warrior

[Episode 005] Jeff Deist and Mark Thornton discuss Mark's recent experience as an opponent of the drug war at the Oxford Union debating society, his influence on Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, and how Wikipedia demonstrates a kind of stateless spontaneous order, complete with private dispute resolution.

Dr. Mark Thornton: Wikipedia and Spontaneous Order

From interstate wars to local stabbings, violence is the ultimate expression of political action.

For more information and to subscribe, visit https://Mises.org/P&MPod

9/11, Charlie Kirk, and Political Violence Everywhere

Men can be trained to regard their exploiters as the virtuous architects of safety and prosperity, as so many so-called "citizens" in America are so relentlessly trained to do.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/why-government-so-loved-so-many

Why the Government Is So Loved by So Many

New letters, from Murray Rothbard to Frank Meyer, have been discovered by researcher Daniel Flynn detailing some of Rothbard’s earliest views on Ayn Rand, and what later went wrong. 

This week is our Fall Campaign! Donate $5 today and receive a physical copy of Hayek for the 21st Century: https://Mises.org/RR25 https://Mises.org/RR25

Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard

Radio Rothbard mugs are available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMug 
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Rothbard’s Lost Letters on Ayn Rand

President Trump’s latest anti-broadcast media actions are portrayed in legacy media as being unprecedented. While they definitely are outrageous, they hardly are the first time presidents have used federal agencies to go after broadcast opposition.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/presidents-have-long-history-using-fcc-silence-their-critics

Presidents Have a Long History of Using the FCC to Silence Their Critics

On the latest episode of Minor Issues, Mark Thornton critiques “green” mandates through the seen–unseen lens, contrasting them with conservation grounded in property rights and price signals. He spotlights silver—vital for electronics, medicine, and water filtration, hard to recycle, and mostly a mining byproduct—now in multi-year supply deficits. Subsidies for solar and EVs accelerate silver consumption and divert it from higher-value uses into short-lived installations. Real conservation comes from ownership, profit and loss, and interest rates, not bureaucratic targets.

Donate $5 today to support the Mises Institute’s Fall Campaign and receive a physical copy of Hayek for the 21st Century: https://mises.org/mi25

A special bonus offer for Minor Issues listeners: donate to the Mises Institute’s Fall Campaign and receive a signed copy of Free Trade in the 21st Century: https://mises.org/mi25

Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues

Silver, Subsidies, and the Green Paradox

On the latest episode of Minor Issues, Mark Thornton uses vitamin K2 (MK-7) as a case study in how technocracy goes wrong, elevating cutting-edge findings and bureaucracy over experience, incentives, and real-world diets. Mark explains why K2 is linked in emerging research to bone health, arterial calcification, and even neurodegenerative conditions, and highlights a paradox: many food sources rich in K2 (beef, eggs, butter, chicken liver, European cheeses, salami) are officially discouraged, while “approved” sources (natto, kefir, sauerkraut) are niche. The takeaway isn’t medical advice, it’s a critique of a compliance-driven health regime that sidelines decentralized knowledge and choice.

Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues

Vitamins vs. Technocracy: Lessons from MK-7

A long-enduring myth about money is that we need a flexible or “elastic” currency for the economy to grow. Economist Jonathan Newman joins us to talk about why this has never been true. 

Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard

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Does Economic Growth Require an Elastic Money Supply?

During the Middle Ages, taxation was considered to be appropriate only as an extreme measure in times of emergency, and as a last resort. Kings were expected to subsist on revenues from their own private property.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/why-taxes-were-so-hated-middle-ages

Why Taxes Were So Hated in the Middle Ages

“Science” is now indistinguishable from politics. As the “acid rain” hysteria showed back in the 1970s and 1980s, “follow the science” is just a political slogan, unrelated to actual science.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/acid-rain-scare-and-science-industrial-complex

The "Acid Rain" Scare and the Science-Industrial Complex

The yearning for a state-controlled system is not born of compassion for others but rather of infantile selfishness.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/economics-and-infantilization-culture

Economics and the Infantilization of Culture

Ryan and political scientist Joseph Solis-Mullen talk about how taxes, war, and the state are all part of a centuries-old formula for impoverishing the productive class while enriching the government class.  

Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard

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Taxes, War, and the State are Freedom’s Biggest Enemies

Mark Thornton lays the groundwork for understanding gold and silver before politics gets involved. Mark explains why monetary metals emerge from market “evolution,” how their non-consumptive use creates massive above-ground stocks, and why the same metal serves multiple markets (money vs. consumption) with one price. He explains how demand shifts trigger conservation and recycling, why new mining lags price spikes, how “near-monies” substitute when people economize on cash balances, and why any apparent stability (even par relationships) reflects underlying market conditions, not decree. Today’s price volatility is largely the artifact of intervention, not the metals themselves.

Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues

Monetary Metals 101: How Gold and Silver Work in a Free Market

Mark Thornton shares a timely conversation from the Liberty & Finance podcast with Elijah K. Johnson. Mark explains why $50 silver is a psychological barrier, and how decades of tech shifts, by-product mining, and central-bank gold buying shaped today’s divergence between gold and silver. The thread tying it all together: easy money seeds malinvestment and fragility; metals hedge the fallout.

Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues

Silver’s $50 Moment

The US Constitution as originally written and understood no longer exists. The first wave of “progressives” reinterpreted it to their liking before later generations of progressives finished the job.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/how-progressives-broke-constitution-and-praised-themselves-it

How Progressives Broke the Constitution and Praised Themselves for It

In this episode of the Human Action Podcast, Bob unpacks Lerner’s Symmetry Theorem—the classic result that, under tight conditions, an import tariff is equivalent to an export tax. He applies the framework to recent 100% China‑tariff headlines, explaining why the dollar might strengthen in theory yet sometimes weakens in practice once retaliation and policy signaling are factored in.

The Human Action Podcast on Trump's Tariff Strategy: https://Mises.org/HAP522a 
The Lerner Symmetry Theorem: https://Mises.org/HAP522b

Yes, Tariffs Reduce Imports, but They Also Reduce Exports

Mark Thornton reviews David Howden’s data-driven guide to long-horizon investing in commodities, useful even for Austrians wary of statistics. Mark highlights how a formal model can still complement Austrian fundamentals and capital-allocation thinking, and he previews an upcoming episode on silver that will build on these results.

Purchase The Almanac of Commodities by David Howden at http://mises.org/almanac

Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues

Reading Markets the Austrian Way

On this special episode of Power and Market, Joshua Mawhorter joins Tho Bishop and Connor O'Keeffe discuss the recent Supporters Summit, the legacy of Mises.org, and a few books they are reading.

Memories of Delray and 30 Years of Mises.org

Murray Rothbard’s view of the origins of World War II has an important lesson for us today.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/murray-rothbard-and-world-war-ii-origins

Murray Rothbard and World War II Origins

When studying praxeology, something as trivial as the recipe for chocolate cake can become a way to better teach us Austrian economics.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/recipes-rothbard-what-chocolate-cake-can-teach-about-economics

Recipes with Rothbard: What Chocolate Cake Can Teach About Economics

Speaking at the recent Mises Institute Supporters Summit, Mark Thornton argues that lasting reform comes from the bottom up, not from political edict. Drawing on Hayek’s “worst get to the top” insight, Mark contrasts elite-driven prohibition with the citizen-led wave of decriminalization and legalization across states and abroad. Mark also explains the role of “salutary neglect” by local officials, the Oregon backlash as a failure of property-rights enforcement—not of liberty—and the scholarly case against the drug war. The crux: markets and civil society integrate; top-down policy divides.

Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues

Nothing Good Starts at the Top

Ryan McMaken takes a deep dive on food stamp spending, food stamp recipients, and how Big Ag and other industry lobbyists fight to keep food stamp spending flowing and increasing. 

Why Food Stamp Spending Is Out of Control

On this episode of Power & Market, Ryan, Connor, and Tho take a look at this week’s off-year elections. Were any of the outcomes a real surprise? Does Mamdami reflect the future of the left? Will affordability bring down MAGA? The roundtable discuss these questions and more.

Election Fallout: Is Inflation Radicalizing Our Politics?

Is silver “manipulated,” or are fundamentals doing the work? Mark Thornton sifts the evidence and finds a simpler story. Big players have gamed markets before, but the long arc of silver prices reflects structural forces: the 1960s demonetization that pushed vast coin hoards into private stockpiles, decades of shifting industrial demand, and the rise of by-product mining. Add environmental compliance and hard-to-recycle “green” uses that sequester silver, and the result is stubbornly low real prices.

Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues

Silver: Manipulation or Fundamentals?

November 11 was once known as Armistice Day, the day set aside to celebrate the end of WWI. In this essay Rothbard discusses the war as the triumph of several Progressive intellectual strains from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

World War I as the Triumph of Progressive Intellectuals

On this marathon episode of Minor Issues, Mark stitches together four recent interviews for a fast-moving tour of today’s economy: why gold spiked while precious metals whipsawed, how ballooning US debt and rising servicing costs tilt policy toward monetization, and what that means for inflation, markets, and families. Along the way Mark explains the Austrian lens behind his calls and why using it beats siloed, headline-driven takes.

Highlights include: the recent precious metals pullback and what to watch next; the mechanics of debt monetization; distributional effects that favor asset holders over wage earners; and why hyperinflation risk is slow… until it’s fast.

Additional Resources

“Dollar Demise and the New Era for Gold & Silver” (The Freedom Report), November 7, 2025: https://Mises.org/MI_146_A

“GOLD: You Will NOT Get A Second Warning!” (Soar Financially), October 28, 2025: https://Mises.org/MI_146_B

“Gold Ringing Alarm Bells, Silver Setting Up to Skyrocket” (Investing News), October 28, 2025: https://Mises.org/MI_146_C

“The Fed and Runaway Government Debt Undermine the Very Basis of Civilisation” (maneco64), November 1, 2025: https://Mises.org/MI_146_D

Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues

Minor Issues, Major Conversations: Mark Thornton’s Four-Interview Roundup

Mark Thornton traces seven headline “problems” back to one engine: monetary inflation. Drawing on Austrian insights, Mark explains how new money distorts prices and wages; why cheap credit spawns debt booms, asset bubbles, and zombie firms; how deficit finance and central banking turn war into a budget line; and why rising prices erode family formation, savings, and civic trust. He connects the dots to today’s policy mix and sketches a bottom-up remedy: hard budget constraints, sound money, and decentralization that restores real price signals. Mark makes the case that inflation isn’t just “too many dollars”: it’s the hidden subsidy powering them all.

Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues

The Seven Deadly Economic Sins

50-year mortgages are likely to increase the likelihood of more "owners" becoming underwater and walking away from their mortgages. This will lead to more bailouts for the financial sector. Taxpayers will pay the price. 

How 50-Year Mortgages Turn Home Owners into Renters

The first English settlers in America learned a hard lesson about socialist economics in the early years of their new colonies as they faced starvation. Once they embraced free enterprise, however, they had something to be thankful for.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/thanksgiving-celebration-free-enterprise

Thanksgiving Is a Celebration of Free Enterprise

This week Ryan and Zachary Yost take a look at international relations scholar John Mearsheimer’s claim that Europe faces a bleak future as the United States pivots away from NATO. Can Europe thrive without American taxpayers’ money? 

Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard

Radio Rothbard mugs are available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMug 
PROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off

John Mearsheimer and Europe’s Bleak Future

The US regime is gearing up for another war. Get ready for another regime-change disaster like we got in Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria. 

Be sure to follow the Loot and Lobby podcast at https://Mises.org/LL

Why Does Trump Want War with Venezuela?

The US economy is hooked on easy money and artificially low interest rates. Huge credit expansions are not “stimulating” the economy; they are destroying it.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/next-economic-downturn-will-be-here-soon-enough

The Next Economic Downturn Will Be Here Soon Enough

If employment reports continue to show growing economic stagnation, calls for more monetary inflation and government spending will only grow.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/novembers-weak-jobs-report-pushes-fed-toward-more-monetary-stimulus

November's Weak Jobs Report Pushes the Fed Toward More Monetary Stimulus

Ryan and Josh Mawhorter talk about how Thomas Hobbes, even nearly 400 years later, remains a popular spokesman for almost limitless state power. In fact, by Hobbes’s logic, the world should by ruled by a single global dictatorship. 

Be sure to follow Radio Rothbard at https://Mises.org/RadioRothbard

Radio Rothbard mugs are available at the Mises Store. Get yours at https://Mises.org/RothMug 
PROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off

Why We Hate Thomas Hobbes

Instead of market competition, inflation forces young and old into rivalrous competition for housing.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/inflation-and-intergenerational-housing-rivalry

Inflation and the Intergenerational Housing Rivalry

The Minor Issues year-end episode: what 2025 really taught us and what 2026 may bring. Mark Thornton revisits tariffs, inflation, metals, and interest rates; recaps his Bitcoin vs. Gold contest; and explains why a steepening yield curve could arrive even as the Fed cuts short rates. Mark also maps the risks of an un-inversion and why today’s calm in CRE, private credit, and AI capex may mask fragility. Looking ahead, Mark previews the 2026 prediction contest: Stocks vs. Manure.

Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues

Looking Back and Forth

With employment fundamentals so weak, the real way to increase home sales is to cut prices further. That, of course, is not what sellers want to hear. 

Home Prices and Sales Fall. Can Sellers Count on Lower Interest Rates?

Father Frost (the Soviet Santa Claus) asks: “To whom do we owe all the good things in our socialist society?,” to which, it is said, the children chorus the reply, “Stalin.”

Original article: https://mises.org/power-market/how-soviets-replaced-christmas-socialist-winter-holiday

How the Soviets Replaced Christmas with a Socialist Winter Holiday

Never forget the Christmas truce of December 1914, when troops refused to be pawns of empire for one blessed day.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-daily/christmas-truce-world-war-i

The Christmas Truce of World War I

Scrooge was never mistreated by his nephew, by Cratchit, or by those seeking charitable donations. Scrooge was always free to refuse them all.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/was-scrooge-victim-christmas-carol

Was Scrooge the Victim in A Christmas Carol?

In the first episode of "Historical Controversies", Chris Calton looks at how American society originally viewed drugs such as marijuana, cocaine and heroine, and he details the origins of prohibition in America.

For further reading, a Bibliographical Essay is available at https://mises.org/EC1Bib

Music: "On the Ground" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

The Roots of Drug Prohibition in America

How did Americans fall for the government's reefer madness? Chris Calton explains how junk science, overt racism, and myths of bloodthirsty soldiers all played a role in the criminalization of marijuana in America.

For further reading, a Bibliographical Essay is available at https://mises.org/EC1Bib

Music: "On the Ground" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

The Attack on Marijuana During the 1930s

Chris Calton looks at the history of opium use around the world. The tale takes us to baby farms in Victorian England, 19th Century China, and even one of the most prominent examples of fake news from the 'Washington Post'.

For additional research, see 'Opium: A History' edited by Martin Booth (St. Martin's Griffin, 1996).

For further reading, a Bibliographical Essay is available at https://mises.org/EC1Bib

Music: "On the Ground" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

The Milk of the Poppy

Chris Calton traces the history of cocaine, showing how it went from common medicine to the target of US military action.

For further reading, a Bibliographical Essay is available at https://mises.org/EC1Bib

Music: "On the Ground" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Culture, Coca-Cola, and the CIA: The History of Cocaine

While the phrase "War on Drugs" was coined by the Nixon Administration, it was FDR who earned the first headlines for his "Narcotic War."

In this episode, Chris Calton details the first arrest made for marijuana in the US, the military's earliest attempts to control narcotics distribution, and how the FBI used drug laws to target black Jazz musicians.

For further reading, a Bibliographical Essay is available at https://mises.org/EC1Bib

Music: "On the Ground" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

The Great Depression, Jazz, and Harry Anslinger: The War on Drugs Before Nixon

The fifth volume of Conceived in Liberty highlights the most important battle of the American project — one that continues to this day — the conflict between those who want to centralize power, and those who choose to stand to defend the American heritage of liberty.

This book features a foreword by Judge Andrew Napolitano, a preface by Dr. Thomas E. Woods, and an introduction by Dr. Patrick Newman. Narrated by Millian Quinteros.

Conceived in Liberty, Volume 5: The New Republic: 1784–1791

Chapter 2. The Depression of the 1780s and the Banking Struggle

Introduction by Patrick Newman

Preface by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.

Foreword by Judge Andrew P. Napolitano

Part I: The Economic Legacy of the American Revolution. Narrated by Millian Quinteros.

Chapter 1. Changes in Foreign Trade

1.03. Further Implications: The Means

1.02. First Implications of the Concept

1.01. Fundamentals of Human Action: The Concept of Action

Preface to Revised Edition

Introduction to the Second Edition by Joseph T. Salerno

The Mises Institute, founded in 1982, is an educational institution devoted to advancing Austrian economics, freedom, and peace in the classical-liberal tradition. Our website offers many thousands of free books and thousands of hours of audio and video, along with the full run of rare journals, biographies, and bibliographies of great economists.

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