Mainstream economists insist that data alone can explain economic events, permitting them to test economic theories. In truth, without sound theory, data is meaningless.

Narrated by Millian Quinteros.

Audio Mises Wire

Can Data by Itself Inform Us about the Real World? | Frank Shostak

President Trump has deployed naval vessels off the coast of Venezuela, citing its escalation of the war on drugs. However, the true motivation for Washington’s involvement in the region is likelier related to disputed oil claims affecting well-connected energy companies.

Read the article here: https://mises.org/mises-wire/venezuela-military-deployment-about-cronyism-not-national-security

The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Hayek for the 21st Century. Get your free copy at https://mises.org/Hayek21

Be sure to follow the Guns and Butter podcast at https://Mises.org/GB

The Venezuela Military Deployment Is About Cronyism, Not National Security

On the latest episode of Minor Issues, Mark Thornton takes a provocative look at America’s path toward hyperinflation. Mark walks through Ludwig von Mises’s three stages of inflation, contending the US is moving from complacency to active flight from cash. Mark ties today’s risks to sanctions policy, BRICS efforts to bypass SWIFT with gold-leaning systems, and foreign central banks rotating from Treasuries into gold. At home, Mark sees households hedging with real estate, older savers turning to precious metals, and younger investors to crypto: classic signs of eroding demand for dollars.

Additional Resources

"The Gold-Silver Ratio” (Minor Issues, Episode 119) : https://mises.org/MI_119

"Exorbitant Privilege: The Rise and Fall of the Dollar and the Future of the International Monetary System" by Mark Thornton (Book review, Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics): https://mises.org/MI_136_A

"Exorbitant Privilege Gained and Lost: Fiscal Implications” by Zefeng Chen, Zhengyang Jiang, Hanno Lustig, Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, and Mindy Xiaolan (Journal of Political Economy): https://mises.org/MI_136_B

The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Hayek for the 21st Century. Get your free copy at https://mises.org/IssuesFree

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

The Road to Hyperinflation

Since becoming president, most of the actions taken by President Trump have been anti-economic growth, and the US economy now is sputtering. Unfortunately, Trump seems to believe that a combination of trade restrictions and inflation is what the economy needs.

Read the article here: https://mises.org/mises-wire/trump-digging-his-own-economic-grave

The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Hayek for the 21st Century. Get your free copy at https://mises.org/Hayek21

Be sure to follow the Guns and Butter podcast at https://Mises.org/GB

Trump Is Digging His Own Economic Grave

Political elites insisted that the 9/11 attacks occurred because the US Government lacked power and authority. Unfortunately, the elites got their wish and Americans received war, economic calamity, and massive government debt in return.

For more content like this, visit Mises.org.

The 9/11 Attacks Exposed Major Government Failure, But Americans Learned the Wrong Lessons

Senator Tim Kaine’s definition of “rights” as things created by government and human law is extremely dangerous because a government that creates rights can also abolish them.

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

Senator Tim Kaine Declares that Rights Come from Government

Modern political life in the U.S. is increasingly defined by violence and toleration of violence against one's perceived enemies. The murder of Charlie Kirk has exposed the left's endorsement of deadly violence as a political tool.

The Dehumanization of Charlie Kirk Came from the Establishment

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

Newly released jobs data this month shows that the jobs narrative from the media was based on bogus numbers.

The Jobs Picture Is Worse than They Told You

On the latest episode of Minor Issues, Mark Thornton argues that “black swans” aren’t root causes but announcement effects of imbalances created by the Fed’s cheap-credit booms. He highlights Ball State economist James McLure’s idea of "sequestered capital"—R&D, financial innovations, and opaque private assets shielded from public information—which proliferate under artificially low rates. From the Dutch Tulip Bubble and 1929 investment trusts to today’s candidates—hedge-fund private deals, AI data centers, commercial real estate, and crypto—the pattern is the same: policy-driven credit expansion seeds the very “unknowns” that later trigger crises. The fix isn’t more regulation; it’s removing the fuel line of easy money.

See also "Sequestered Capital: An Overlooked Lacuna in the Capital Structure” by James McClure: https://mises.org/MI_137_A

The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Hayek for the 21st Century. Get your free copy at https://mises.org/IssuesFree

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

Black Swans, Sequestered Capital, and the Next Bust

Since the French Revolution, leftism has served as the impetus for many of the state’s worst massacres and totalitarian impulses.

The Unique Evil of the Left

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.