So You Have an Opinion on the Economy?
What is it?
You think Obama’s Stimulus package is a good idea? Is it enough? Is it too much? Can it create jobs? Can it get ‘things’ going?
Maybe you think Obama’s Stimulus package is a terrible idea. Maybe you think that having the government spend all this money is not a good thing.
It really doesn’t matter what your opinion is to me unless you have sound reasons and some evidence for your opinion.
I don’t ask much these days, but I get in on the periphery of some discussions from time to time and what becomes evident to me in most cases is that those with opinions about the economy seem to display a distinct ignorance about money itself. At least what passes for money.
It seems to me that in order to have an intelligent discussion about the economy someone should know the basics of money. After all, money is the medium of exchange and plays an important role in what we call the economy. It seems that in order to understand things about the economy, one should first understand the medium of exchange that drives the whole thing. Seems I am asking for too much.
If you get into a discussion about the economy and you ask “Would it be proper to describe the dollar as a debt instrument?” and you get a look like some critter stuck in the headlights then change the subject to the weather. You will get a lot more out of the conversation. Trust me. Worse, and I mean no insult here, if you don’t understand the question it is better to have no opinion about the economy until you get some education.
Fortunately, it is much easier to get such an education these days and you can do a lot of it right here on this blog. Don’t be put off by the implied complexity of the question noted above. The subject is not that complicated. And you can get a good handle on it in just a few hours of study. Take it in small bites and it ends up being pretty fun when you get into it. There are two movies that you can watch that’ll get you more than halfway there. I highly recommend these movies.
The first one is here. It sets the stage and lays out a few basic principles regarding liberty.
The second one gets into money itself and after viewing it you will understand the question, “Would it be proper to describe the dollar as a debt instrument?”
Continue:
An Overview
The Revolution: A Manifesto by Ron Paul, ch. 6 (audiobook)
Gold, Peace, and Prosperity (.pdf) by Ron Paul; also available in mp3 audio
“Money, Banking, and the Federal Reserve” (documentary, via Google Video)
What Has Government Done to Our Money? by Murray N. Rothbard
The Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar by Murray N. Rothbard; a new edition of What Has Government Done to Our Money containing this work can be purchased here. (The two are also available on mp3 audio here.)
The Case for Gold by Ron Paul and Lewis Lehrman
The Gold Standard: Perspectives in the Austrian School, ed. Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. (online in .pdf here)
A History of Money and Banking in the United States from the Colonial Period to World War II by Murray N. Rothbard;
online here (.pdf)
The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve by G. Edward Griffin
“The Myth of the ‘Independent’ Fed” by Thomas J. DiLorenzo
“Did Greenspan Deserve Support for Another Term?” (.pdf) by Joseph T. Salerno (mp3 audio)
“The Path to Sound Money” (mp3 audio) by George Reisman
“The Economics of Inflation” (mp3 audio) by George Reisman
The Case Against the Fed by Murray N. Rothbard (online here; free audiobook here)
The Business Cycle
What makes the economy experience periodic booms and busts? Contrary to what Karl Marx claimed, these are not an inevitable feature of a market economy. Economist F.A. Hayek won the Nobel Prize in economics for showing how central banking (the Federal Reserve System in the American case) and its manipulation of the interest rate initiates unsustainable booms that lead inevitably to a bust. This is known as the Austrian theory of the business (or trade) cycle, and it’s the subject of this section.
The Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle and Other Essays (online here; free audiobook here). The ideal place to start on this subject. This short book consists of short essays on Austrian business cycle theory. No prior knowledge is necessary.
“Business Cycle Primer” by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
“Sound Money and the Business Cycle” by John P. Cochran
“Who Predicted the Bubble? Who Predicted the Crash?” (.pdf) by Mark Thornton
“Mises vs. Fisher on Money, Method, and Prediction: The Case of the Great Depression” (.pdf) by Mark Thornton
“Predicting Booms and Busts” (mp3 audio) by Mark Thornton
Banking and the Business Cycle (mp3 audio) by Joseph T. Salerno
America’s Great Depression, 5th ed. (online in here, and in .pdf here) by Murray N. Rothbard
What About Deflation?
Because the possibility of “deflation” is so often raised as an objection to a commodity standard, we include a separate section of articles and lectures refuting this specific claim. Much of the material in this section is for the advanced student.
Articles:
“Deflation and Depression: Where’s the Link?” by Joseph T. Salerno
“Apoplithorismosphobia” (.pdf) by Mark Thornton. (Thornton coined the term to refer to the fear of deflation.) Thornton speaks on this topic in this mp3 file
“An Austrian Taxonomy of Deflation — With Applications to the U.S.” (.pdf) by Joseph T. Salerno
“Deflation and Japan Revisited” (.pdf) by Richard C.B. Johnsson
Audio (in mp3 audio):
“On Deflation” by Joseph T. Salerno
“The Economics of Deflation” by Jörg Guido Hülsmann
“Deflation and Liberty” by Jörg Guido Hülsmann
“The Gold Standard in Theory and in Myth” by Joseph T. Salerno
I also recommend Gary North’s Honest Money http://www.garynorth.com/HonestMoney.pdf
from The Bible mandates free market capitalism http://www.garynorth.com/public/department57.cfm which he wrote back in the mid 80’s with the one caveat that in my opinion Gary has a problem with the ‘us’ and ;they’ distinction and an even bigger problem with ‘conspiracy theorists.’ I have addressed this issue elsewhere.
I recommend Gary’s work because he IS SO GOOD at explaining things and this is from a treatise that is Biblically based and perhaps the earliest and best researched material when it comes to economics and the Bible.
