The Fed

Wise citizens would do well to stay tuned to the penny and observe what it reveals about monetary policy and the future of the dollar.

Hayek was arguing that whenever and wherever credit is expanded beyond market dictates by a central bank, the result will be economic distortion.

The Fed has destroyed our money, funded unjust wars, given rise to a ghastly bureaucratic state, and pumped up more credit bubbles than we can count.

It is reality vs. fiat, independence vs. dependence, value that lasts vs. value that is the whim of the transitory political class.

Mises proposed ending the government money-supply monopoly — which he identified as the root of the problem — and returning money to the free market.

Wars are a principal means for the state to increase its power.

"To prop up the unhealthy, malinvested markets, governments must cannibalize the healthy markets to find the needed cash to transfer the wealth."

The Fed has already taken several drastic actions in an attempt to prevent deflation, but it remains to be seen whether it is even possible for it to achieve such a goal without destroying the dollar and the entire financial system.

"When you think about the current Fannie Mae-Freddie Mac crisis, you must remember Mises's theory of intervention."

The early 1920 was the last time laissez-faire ideas were used to help the nation recover from a depression.