The Depression Reader

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There is No Such Thing as a Free House

Someone once remarked that the best indicator of a recession is the number of times "Mises" "Hayek" or "Austrian" appear in the newspapers. During the boom, no one wants to listen to the lessons of the Austrian economists. No one wants to hear that we need to live within our means – that the Federal Reserve does not have the power to print us into prosperity by artificially creating credit. So while the writers of LewRockwell.com were warning against the housing bubble and the inflationary nature of the Fed, the mainstream was touting the economic wisdom of Bernanke and Greenspan. When this recession hit, it seems everyone except the Austrians was caught off guard. Commentators, bureaucrats, and politicians began panicking, "Something must be done! This is Something…therefore it must be done!"

Instead of looking to the mainstream for answers to this crisis, why not look to those who saw it coming?

For those new to Austrian economics, this reader will offer an introduction to this unique school of thought. It is unlike any other school of economics you have likely come across. Instead of focusing on unrealistic mathematical models, the writers here build their thinking on human action and observations of how the economy actually runs.

What’s important is not necessarily the specific political opposition to this bailout, but rather educating people about the dangers of nationalization, central banking, and government regulation. Only when people recognize the dangers of the government’s "socialism for the rich" will we be able to get back on the road to prosperity. Unfortunately, a correction is necessary. There is no such thing as a free house. The more the government intervenes, the longer and more painful it will be. But this crisis gives the country a chance to rethink its previous assumptions about the economy and the government’s role in it. Hopefully, this reader will be a first step for many into an exciting, growing branch of economic thought.

The Bailout

• Don’t Trust the Brain Trust, Lew Rockwell, October 7, 2008.
• The Bailout of Abominations, Robert Higgs, October 6, 2008.
• The Political Class Crosses the Rubicon, James Ostrowski, October 6, 2008.
• Lipstick on a Bailout, Ron Paul, October 2, 2008.
• The (Near) Death of the State, Lew Rockwell, September 30, 2008.
• The Good News About the Bailout, Geoffrey Pike, October 8, 2008.
• Democracy’s Debunking, Becky Akers, September 20, 2008.
• Herbert Hoover’s Depression, Murray Rothbard.
• Dispossession by Decree, William Norman Grigg, September 20, 2008.
• Stop the Bailout, Lew Rockwell, September 11, 2008.
• The Government is Not Promoting Stability, Bob Murphy, September 22, 2008.
• Day of Reckoning, Pat Buchanan, September 27, 2008.
• Economic Depressions: Their Cause and Cure, Murray Rothbard.
• Notes on the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac Bailout, Bob Higgs, July 17, 2008.
• Get Out of the Way, Anthony Gregory, July 18, 2008.
• The Mises Institute’s Bailout Reader

The Bubble

• Blame the Government, Murray Sabrin, October 10, 2008.
• The Month When Reality Invaded, Gary North, October 4, 2008.
• Blaming the Victim: The Free Market, Gary North, September 27, 2008.
• Looting the Responsible, Kevin Duffy, October 8, 2008.
• The Denouement, William Norman Grigg, September 18, 2008.
• Understanding the Crisis, Lew Rockwell, September 20, 2008.
• The Impending End of the Housing Bubble, Bill Bonner, September 19, 2006.
• Is the Housing Bubble Popping?, Mark Thornton, August 8, 2005.
• Pop Goes the Bubble, Gary North, August 23, 2003.
• The Land-Price Bubble, Doug French, June 10, 2003.

The Banks

• Could Your Bank Fail?, Bill Sardi, July 23, 2008.
• Anatomy of the Bank Run, Murray Rothbard.
• More Bank Failures, Doug French, August 25, 2008.The Fed

• What Hamilton Has Wrought, Thomas DiLorenzo, October 6, 2008.
• Financial Dictatorship Comes to America, Michael Rozeff, October 6, 2008.
• How to Avoid a Depression, Michael Rozeff, October 4, 2008.
• The Fed’s Failure, Michael Rozeff, September 17, 2008.
• War and Inflation, Lew Rockwell, June 9, 2008.
• Why Not Abolish the Fed, Jacob Hornberger, February 5, 2008.
• A Run on the State, Bill Huff, September 27, 2008.

Short Selling

• The SEC Short Sells Us Down the River, Art Carden & Bob Murphy, October 10, 2008.
• Don’t Sell Short Selling Short, Gary Galles, April 7, 2007.

Ron Paul and Austrian Economics

• The Austrian School and the Meltdown, Ron Paul, September 26, 2008.
• The Creation of the Second Great Depression, Ron Paul, September 25, 2008.
• Ron Paul Against the Bailout, Ron Paul, September 25, 2008.

We Told You So

• Fannie and Freddie, Ron Paul, September 10, 2003.
• ‘Bull’ Market?, Mark Thornton, February 9, 2004.
• We Told You So, Mark Thornton, March 24, 2007.
• Falling Oil Prices: Told You So, Dom Armentano, September 10, 2008.

Podcasts

• The Problem With Fiat Money, Guido Hulsmann, October 10, 2008.
• The Counterfeiting Federal Reserve, Joe Salerno, October 8, 2008.
• Thanks for the Inflationary Depression, Peter Schiff, October 6, 2008.
• Doug French on Fractional Reserve Banking, October 1, 2008.
• Guido Hulsmann on Hyperinflation, September 29, 2008.
• Ron Paul on the Panic of ’08, September 18, 2008.
• Lew Rockwell on the Michael Reagan Show, September 26, 2008.
• Robert Higgs on War and the Economy, September 25, 2008.
• Steve Berger on Financial Markets, July 31, 2008.
• Robert Higgs on the "Crisis," September 24, 2008.
• Joe Salerno on the Broke Banks, July 23, 2008.

Books

• America's Great Depression, by Murray Rothbard
• The Causes of the Economic Crisis, by Ludwig von Mises
• The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism, by Robert Murphy
• Economics in One Lesson, by Henry Hazlitt
• Prices and Production, by F.A. Hayek
• The Mystery of Banking, by Murray Rothbard
• The Case Against the Fed, by Murray Rothbard
• How Capitalism Saved America, by Thomas DiLorenzo

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