Centrally planned economies all experience problems caused by government interventions and controls. Our centrally controlled money system- our monopoly cartel called the Federal Reserve - has delivered reduced purchasing power per money unit every year since 1914. The Fed’s mandate was to stabilize the dollar. The dollar had been stable for seven generations. Then, with the Fed in control, the dollar (by 2015) has lost 98% of its purchasing power.

Inflation is an increase in the money supply. Our money supply since 1971 has been pure fiat paper. It is easy to print or digitize. Commercial bank credit expansion of our fiat money supply, which is not backed by private pools of savings, is the cause of booms which must lead to busts. However, there is enough gold and silver to create a worldwide monetary system any time that such a hard money movement will lead us back to sound money.

Presented to homeschool parents and students on 29 September 2006 at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama.

Jefferson and James Madison proposed that each state had the power to void a bad law (nullification). This essential idea was the Principles of ’98. It is not mentioned; 2) the story that all businessmen are evil and that government has to step in and save consumers. J.D. Rockefeller turned guck oil into essential kerosene to light homes and made it affordable to all. He developed three hundred separate products out of the guck; 3) Andrew Carnegie made everybody better off by efficiently making steel cheaper. We are told that big business engages in predatory pricing, making big profits by having driven competition out. However, you won’t find any real examples of this. Entrepreneurs dive into the gaps wherever profits are created. Herbert Dow produced bromine cheaply.  A German cartel told Dow he could not sell in Europe. The Germans tried to put him out of business, but Dow out smarted them; 4) the Great Depression lasted for year after year with no growth, yet the textbooks say thanks to the US government we got out of the depression.  One policy introduced was to help farmers. The government did this by destroying ten million acres of cotton so the remaining farmers could get more for cotton. Then they killed six million pigs, while people were hungry. Then the government paid farmers not to produce. This has been applied to oranges and sugar. It was a failed program.

You will never hear about these happenings because the gatekeepers of education have an agenda of government is good, private producers are bad.

Presented to homeschool parents and students on 29 September 2006 at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama.

The Tenth Amendment has been made irrelevant. The Executive branch issues orders on its own. The Legislative branch believes there are no limits to their powers. The Judicial branch commits atrocities like the Interstate Commerce Clause applying to a bushel of wheat produced for personal consumption.

Is the Constitution a flexible, living document? Yes, by amendment, but no by whimsical changes. Would you like to have living breathing rules for basketball or poker? Of course not.

Presented to homeschool parents and students at the Mises Institute, 23 September 2008.

The Cinder Buggy tells how the Age of Iron changes into the Age of Steel.

Presented to homeschool parents and students on 23 September 2008 at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama.

Presented to homeschool parents and students at the Mises Institute, 23 September 2008.

The Fed's goal is inflating the money supply in order to have unlimited access to money for any project, e.g. warfare and welfare. Otherwise, the government would have to tax citizens openly rather than by stealth. Inflation destroys dollar purchasing power and redistributes wealth to the friends of the bankers from the poorest citizens. This money hydrant turns on the boom-bust cycle. Bailouts of failing industries reward bad managers and destroys wealth.

It is a good thing that the Federal Reserve is finally being exposed to economic laws. People are open to hearing about what is wrong with central banks and this shaky system.

Presented to homeschool parents and students at the Mises Institute, 24 September 2008.

Presented to homeschool parents and students on 23 September 2008 at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama.