Martin Ames writes to Richard Russell of the Dow Theory Letter:

I have noticed that to your credit you have finally toned downed your comments waxing elegantly over our fortune of finally getting an "honest" chairman at the federal reserve bank. Not only was he referred to as Honest Ben but was lauded for his studies and knowledge of the Great Depression and how to prevent a repeat of that affair. At the time, I sent an email to you expressing my opinion that Honest Ben was not honest at all, for if he were, he would immediately call a press conference scheduled for primetime TV. He would announce to the American people that they're being lied to every time they are told that the mission of the fed is to fight inflation. He would confess that the fed is in reality the primary engine of inflation and that's its main reason for existence is to monetize the federal deficit, essentially a corrupt wealth transfer device from the American people to politicians and their politically well-connected buddies in Washington. He would confess that most of the antics at the fed were smoke and mirror attempts to mask the inflationary mischief it was causing.

I am now 66 years old and was for years an ardent student of the Austrian School of Economics starting in my middle twenties. I was fascinated and mesmerized by the writings of Mises, Hayek, Rothbard and the others. Finally some sense was being made as opposed to the boring and seemingly useless ECON 101 of my college days. But I eventually began to doubt the validity of their economics during the 1980s and 1990s as the government seemed to always have the ability to pull yet another rabbit out of the hat to fend off disaster and I lost interest in the studies. I also went into a sort of depressed funk after the man I considered to be my personal hero and mentor, the Late, Great Murray Rothbard passed away in 1995. One of the highlights of my life was being at the National Press Club in Washington when he was the keynote speaker.But now thanks to you, Richard, and your remarks concerning Honest Ben and his ability to prevent another great depression along with the recent, disastrous events unfolding, I have returned to the fold. The first thing I did upon reading your remarks was to order two books from www.Mises.org, The Irrepressible Rothbard and Rothbard's America's Great Depression. I'm about half way through the latter and have already concluded that everything Benanke knows about the prevention, causes and cures for a great depression would fit nicely into Murray's pinky toe with a lot of room left over.

So here's the deal, Richard. I'm now making you a bet, should you choose to take me up on it. I will bet one Gold Krugerrand that once you have read Rothbard's America's Great Depression, you will agree that everything that Benanke knows about depressions could easily fit into Richard Russell's pinky toe with room to spare (and hopefully tilt you over in the direction of condemning rather than complimenting the man in your Daily Remarks). I'll trust Honest Richard to make the final decision on this. But in the event that you have already read the book and still chose to make those Honest Ben claims, no fair, the bet is off.