In his underappreciated work The Mystery of Banking, Murray Rothbard first explained how a regime of "free banking" would put strict limits on the ability of the private commercial banks to reduce their reserve ratios and inflate the money supply. Then Rothbard showed that the textbook operation of a central bank systematically neutralized the market's safeguards, and paved the way for credit expansion by a cartel of privileged private banks.

The Mystery of Banking by Murray N. Rothbard: https://mises.org/HAP514a

"How Private Banks Can Create Money, But Not Like the Fed Can" (Human Action Podcast): https://mises.org/HAP514b

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

Why Rothbard Thought the Fed Eliminated Market Safeguards Against Bank Inflation

Economist Jeff Degner joins Ryan McMaken to discuss how inflationary monetary policy has changed our culture, and the family with it.

Free Book: Get your copy of Hayek for the 21st Century, featuring Hayek’s classic essays on liberty, knowledge, and markets. Claim yours at https://mises.org/Hayek21

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Inflation and Family Economics

On this episode of Minor Issues, Mark Thornton responds to Charlie Kirk’s “most controversial take” on cannabis and drug policy. Mark contrasts Kirk’s opposition to reclassification with the long history of prohibition as a Progressive project, showing how state intervention—not liberty—is responsible for urban decay, social breakdown, and the failures of drug policy. Drawing on examples from alcohol and cannabis prohibition to today’s welfare state, Mark argues that addiction is fueled less by markets than by the permissive culture and coercive power of government.

"Should America Reclassify Weed?" (Charlie Kirk Show): https://mises.org/MI_134_A

"Drug Warriors Claim Colorado Going to Pot" by Mark Thornton: https://mises.org/MI_134_B

"The Oregon Problem: It’s Not Drugs! It’s the Socialistic Political Culture" by Mark Thornton: https://mises.org/MI_134_C

"The Oregon Problem" (Minor Issues Podcast): https://mises.org/MI_48

"Measure 110 and Property Rights" (Minor Issues Podcast): https://mises.org/MI_55

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

Charlie Kirk on Drugs: Addicted to Progressive Values?

The federal government taking an ownership stake in Intel is neither a promising new approach to governance nor an unprecedented leap into economic fascism. It’s simply Trump embracing the corrupt status quo he ran against with a superficial rebrand.

Read the article here: https://mises.org/mises-wire/real-problem-trumps-intel-deal

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

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The Real Problem with Trump’s Intel Deal

The Power and Market group look at the redistricting fight, try to make sense of Trump’s trade deals, and discuss the possible meeting between Putin and Trump.

Tariffs on India, Redistricting Battles, and a Possible Trump-Putin Meeting

William L. Anderson joins Tho and Connor this week to discuss Trump mobilizing federal agencies to clean up the crime-ridden city of DC and his recent book review of Margeret Roberts’ Blowback: The Untold Story of the FBI and the Oklahoma City Bombing.

Trumps DC “Takeover” and the Lessons of the OKC Bombing

On this episode of Power and Market, the roundtable talks about a new brewing scandal involving the Fed, revisits the conversation on nationalizing Washington DC, and the new "golden age" of the Smithsonian.

Fraud at the Fed, Smithsonian, and DC Council

Assistant editor Joshua Mawhorter joins Tho Bishop and Connor O’Keeffe on the Power and Market Podcast. The three discuss Trump’s acquisition of a stake in Intel, consider how monetary policy contributes to a lot of the national health problems MAHA is focused on, and react to Jerome Powell’s Jackson Hole speech.

Intel, MAHA, and Trump’s Similarities with Richard Nixon

Is Hans-Hermann Hoppe a firebrand revolutionary, or something very different? In this episode of Minor Issues, Mark Thornton traces Hoppe’s American debut in 1986 and follows the controversies that later made Hoppe a lightning rod. The case here is straightforward: Hoppe isn’t a political revolutionary aiming to remake society by seizing state power; he’s a natural-rights theorist whose analysis—grounded in property, history, and Austrian economics—argues for social cooperation without a predatory state. Hoppe is an exacting analyst of what works, not an architect of upheaval.

Additional Resources

A Life in Liberty: Liber Amicorum in Honor of Hans-Hermann Hoppe, edited by Jörg Guido Hülsmann and Stephan Kinsella (PDF): https://mises.org/MI_135_A Or, purchase the book online: https://mises.org/LiberAmicorum

“Understanding the timing and outcome of the Russian Revolution: a public choice approach” (Journal of Public Finance and Public Choice)“ by Gregory Dempster, Robert B. Ekelund, Jr., and Mark Thornton: https://mises.org/MI_135_B

“Rent Seeking as an Evolving Process: The Case of the Ancien Régime“ (Public Choice) by Robert. B. Ekelund, Jr., and Mark Thornton: https://mises.org/MI_135_C

“A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism” by Mark Thornton (in Property, Freedom, and Society: Essays in Honor of Hans-Hermann Hoppe): https://mises.org/MI_135_D

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

Hans Hoppe is No Revolutionary

San Francisco politicians have made it so difficult to build new housing that a black market for apartments has emerged. 

“San Francisco Has A Black Market for Housing. That’s as Bad as It Sounds.” by Chris Calton: https://Mises.org/RR251_A

Free Book: Get your copy of Hayek for the 21st Century, featuring Hayek’s classic essays on liberty, knowledge, and markets. Claim yours at https://mises.org/Hayek21

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

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San Francisco’s Black Market for Housing

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