The first two chapters—my “Preface” and Hans’s “Introduction”—were published the week of Rothbard’s birthday here on the Property and Freedom Podcast (PFP315 and PFP314). The other main chapters will be released sequentially weekly on Mondays. The next in the queue:
It’s very interesting and in general I think that it’s a good thing that banking and money creation come to the attention of the general public. However, what I genuinely find astonishing is the following. Tucker Carlson says—and maybe he’s honest about it even if it’s seems incredible—that he was convinced that money creation is limited to central banks and that commercial banks do not create money out of thin air. So, a very important journalist with millions of followers hasn’t a clue about how money works, where it comes from, who controls it. I’m happy that even Werner’s remarks conveyed at least some information to Carlson.
What is even more surprising is that Richard Werner seems to be convinced that he discovered money creation (!) by an empirical research into Japanese banking practice of the late eighties/early nineties. He never mentions, not even in passing, anyone belonging to the Austrian School. As a mainstream economist I can accept that he is not aware of Mises or Rothbard, but Hayek, the controversy between Banking School and Currency School?
As a legal practitioner, for me money creation by commercial banks was an established fact since my first lesson of political economy at a very mainstream Italian university and I understood the inner workings of bank accounting when I first talked about the subject with a good friend who was in charge of accounting for a major Italian Bank. How can Werner claim that money creation by commercial banks is his discovery?
As far as methodology and conclusions are concerned, the interview is interesting as it is a disaster. Werner doesn’t understand the concepts of axioms and apriorism, he thinks that economy is about empirical research, and what is worst, he is genuinely convinced that money creation may be a factor of growth as long as commercial banks limit their lending of newly created money to entrepreneurial ventures: in his opinion inflation comes only from consumer credit and credit for asset purchases. The Austrian business cycle theory is completely lost on him: even Marxist business cycle theory (underconsumption and overproduction), which has some points of contact with the Austrian theory seems to be unknown to him. Further, the doubt that money created out of thin air may be cause of an economic distortion doesn’t even touch him, so it seems. He didn’t even read Hume. This is all consistent with a mainstream attitude towards economic studies but his complete unawareness of a different line of thought is truly surprising if it’s true. One may be opposed to Austrians and to their conclusions but the complete silence is telling. During the interview Werner criticizes Keynes quite harshly and part of his critiques are consistent with Austrian arguments. Can it be possible that doing some research on Keynes he never stumbled even upon Hayek’s critiques?
All in all I tend to exclude ignorance, so what remains is choice. Hence, Werner deliberately decided to present money creation out of thin air as his “discovery” based on empirical research during heroic times in Japan when there was no Internet and you had to wrestle information from the very people engaging in money creation. But this is quite obviously a fairy tale. Hence, there must be an aim that he pursues. His conclusion is that we should go back to a system of many small banks, coordinated by a central bank with money creation performed close to the demand of money by small businesses in line with the traditional German model. He is obviously against CBDCs and in favor of a traditional banking model: the flaw of the system, in Werner’s opinion, is not money creation and central banking as such, but the improper use of the newly created money for asset purchases and consumer credit instead of business credit for productive purposes. The system is safe, it’s just that it is used for the wrong purposes. So, he ends up being as Keynesian as any other mainstream economist. The idea of a daring scientific discovery by an independent researcher and Tucker Carlson’s show of being surprised by the information that Werner gave him during the interview can be useful for the banking lobby. I see this as part of the construction of a plan B: even if the CBDCs fail, there is the possibility to go back to a previous situation where centralization was limited to the central banks directing money creation and where lots of little local banks could satisfy the myth of the elastic money supply. So, we would be exactly back where we started.
Stephan Kinsella: I’m not convinced this is part of a Plan B. Werner is too egocentric to be part of anyone else’s plan. I’m not even sure he is spreading more confusion than prevails anyhow in regard to all matters monetary and financial.
Saifedean Ammous: I have been coming round to the idea that CBDCs are essentially a red herring. Everything that they can supposedly do can already be done with with regular banking. I think the psyop is to get people to focus on opposition to CBDCs while banks and central banks implement all their control mechanisms anyway. I tweeted this before:
Unpopular fact:
The US dollar is a Central Bank Digital Currency. There is no meaningful distinction between the two.
Unless it shuts down the US dollar, anti-CBDC legislation is meaningless.
Tom DiLorenzo:When Tucker Carlson interviewed Ron Paul only two years ago he said that he was covering the Paul for President campaign in 2008 as a journalist, and when thousands of students at Michigan State University began chanting “End the Fed” he had no idea what was going on. Tucker confessed that he knew nothing at all about the subject that he was supposed to be covering as a journalist. He has also interviewed Dave Smith who spoke of the Austrian School during the interview, but it apparently went in one ear and out the other.
The U.S. has 20 years before the math stops working and the government’s response will be capital controls. At the Bitcoin 2026 Conference, James Poulos of the Foundation for American Innovation moderates one of the year’s most rigorous philosophical panels on the ethics of money creation. Mises Institute senior fellow Guido Hülsmann, Strive Inc.’s Avik Roy, and Rhino Bitcoin COO Hector Alvero walk through fractional reserve banking, the moral case for sound money, the inevitable fiscal collapse, and why decentralizing the fiat-to-Bitcoin exchange is the most urgent project in Bitcoin today. [continue reading…]
Unequivocally not, says Christian Pastor Chuck Baldwin who recently celebrated his 50th year in the Christian ministry. His ministry is “Liberty Fellowship” in Kalispell, Montana (libertyfellowshipmt.com). He gave up his tax exemption so that he can speak truth to power without being persecuted by the IRS.
What really drives financial booms and devastating busts? In this insightful interview, economist and author Douglas E. French dives deep into the historical roots of speculative bubbles and the critical role money supply plays in shaping economic cycles. From early market manias to modern day financial instability, French unpacks how expansions in money supply have repeatedly fueled unsustainable growth only to end in collapse. This 4th expanded edition brings fresh analysis, updated insights, and a compelling look at patterns that continue to influence global markets today. If you’re interested in economics, financial history, or understanding the forces behind inflation and market crashes, this conversation offers powerful perspectives you won’t want to miss.
N.b.: Malone may be insightful on this issue, but according to one comment: “Malone has spent a lot of time recently spreading Israeli propaganda on Palestine, Iran, Trump, Tucker Carlson, and opponents of Israel. I am suspicious of him, and suspect he was parachuted onto the medical freedom movement to use his credibility to push war.” See: Jeremy R. Hammond, The Health Ranger’s Denouncement of MAHA’s Alliance with Zionism (Oct 30, 2024): “Health freedom advocates are faced with a choice this election of whether they believe that all children’s lives matter, or not.” And various tweets by Hammond: 1, 2, 3, 4.
What a century-old school of economics predicted about the pandemic state — and why its vocabulary still fits the record better than anything in mainstream discourse[continue reading…]
Arch-enemy of Covid lockdowns and hysteria Jeffrey Tucker,1 previous PFS speaker2 and founder of the heroic anti-lockdown Brownstone Institute and architect of the Great Barrington Declaration, often rightly criticizes libertarians who supported lockdowns or vaccine funding or mandates, or who were slow on the uptake.3
When Javier Milei took office as president of Argentina in December 2023, the global libertarian movement witnessed something that had never happened before: an avowed anarcho-capitalist became a head of state. Milei had come to power, moreover, having frequently cited legends of the Austrian School of Economics such as Ludwig von Mises and Murray Rothbard. Yet, like any political movement, Mileism[1] would also draw on the ideological support of intellectuals. In this case, these were not the usual intellectuals of statism, but rather intellectuals who had built their careers by advocating against statism itself. From the outset, this posed a challenge to justifying full support for any head of state. And this support arrived. Academic leaders from all over the world endorsed Milei. Nonetheless, some academics associated with the Mises Institute—the global hub of Austro-libertarianism—played a prominent role. Led by Jesús Huerta de Soto (JHS), a scholar of exceptional prestige and Senior Fellow at the Mises Institute, these academics took it upon themselves to promote Milei and his administration as a kind of Austro-libertarian revolution for posterity.
By Dr. Robert Malone who discovered Austrian economics by reading What Has Government Done to Our Money and Anatomy of the State by Murray Rothbard two years ago. He was so excited by his discovery that he devoted one of his 500,000 reader Substack columns to it. Upon hearing of this, Karen DeCoster and I immediately invited him to speak at Mises University, which he did. His lecture is the most viewed video in the history of the Mises Institute with almost 2 million views.
He was fascinated by the tour of some of Rothbard’s original works that we took him on and sent him home with a box of books. I subsequently invited him to speak at a Mises Circle (along with Tom Woods and myself) on the topic of “Our Enemy, The Bureaucracy”). He is an awfully quick study, as shown in the linked article.
Before the Hoppening—when the Mises Institute removed Hoppe as its Senior Distinguished Fellow—1 the MI displayed playful life-sized cardboard cutouts of Hoppe, Rothbard, Hoppe and Gülçin Imre Hoppe, for attendees to use for photos. [continue reading…]
In Loving Memory ★ 22/02/1948 † 24/05/2026 Death Notice With deep sorrow we announce the passing of Anton Peter Müller. He was a beloved man who leaves behind memories that will remain forever in our hearts. May God grant strength and comfort to his family members and friends in this time of grief. The funeral service will take place on the 25th at 07:00 in the OSAF – R. Itaporanga, 436. The family thanks you for your participation and loving support.
We are saddened to announce the passing of our friend and fellow PFS member Antony Müller (Feb. 22, 1948–May 24, 2026), an economist from Germany and professor of economics at the Federal University of Sergipe (Brazil) (more detail at Rest in peace, Antony Mueller).
Antony P. Mueller holds a doctorate in economics from the Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen and Nürnberg (FAU) and teaches currently at the Mises Academy in São Paulo, Brazil.
The ruling model of the liberal democracy is in crisis. In the United States and many European countries, confidence in the political system is in decline. There have been many attempts to explain this disenchantment with politics and the state. Few, however, consider the role of political parties. For the public in general but also for most political theorists, a social order without politics and thus without political parties seems inconceivable. In this article, we investigate the proposition, eloquently put forth in the early 1940s by Simone Weil, that political parties should be banned. [continue reading…]
The first two chapters—my “Preface” and Hans’s “Introduction”—were published the week of Rothbard’s birthday here on the Property and Freedom Podcast (PFP315 and PFP314). The other main chapters will be released sequentially weekly on Mondays. The next in the queue:
Tom, Hans’s comments here also remind me of other point he has made about it is typically those states with large economies and relatively liberal internal policies that tend to be more aggressive and imperialistic. From Hoppe on Liberal Economies and War:
Hans’s comments about how “bad people” rise to the top in “large” democracies reminded me of the sentences following Lord Acton’s famous “power corrupts” quote. The full quote is as follows:
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority; still more when you superadd the tendency of the certainty of corruption by authority.
This was from an April 3, 1887 letter to Biship Mandell Creighton. In that letter Lord Acton also wrote that “There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.” I would argue that ever since Lincoln the office of American president has been “sanctified” by the state and its minions in the media, a politicized clergy, and popular culture in general. That in turn led to a “sanctification” of the state in general.
Here is a source for this and other Lord Acton quotes.
From The Editorial Board, “Old McDonald Had a Race Preference: A lawsuit settlement helps end discrimination at the USDA,” Wall Street Journal (May 22, 2026):
One of the worst sources of race preferences has been the federal government, so cheers to the news that some discriminatory programs have been sent out to pasture. The Agriculture Department recently settled a lawsuit and agreed to end race and sex preferences in federal farm programs.
Adam Faust is a Wisconsin dairy farmer who found his Holstein milking operation harmed by USDA programs that used race or sex preferences to allocate financial benefits. The Dairy Margin Coverage Program, which farmers use to cover fluctuations in milk prices, charged him a fee that wasn’t paid by farmers USDA designated as “socially disadvantaged.”
Grok: In this 2012 interview, Doug French, then-President of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, joins Scott B. to discuss the enduring relevance of Austrian economics. French explores the Institute’s mission, his studies under Murray Rothbard, and why the 2008 financial crisis validated the Austrian theory of business cycles. He warns of the massive bubble in U.S. government debt, explains why Wall Street listens while Washington doesn’t, and makes the case for gold and silver as protections against monetary expansion. French also highlights the Mises Institute’s educational programs and emphasizes that real change comes through long-term education in sound economics rather than politics. A compelling discussion on economic freedom, financial reality, and the power of ideas.
Dr. Scott Beaulier, of the Manuel Johnson Center for Political Economy, hosts EconVersation, a program that explores the role of free markets in promoting prosperity through conversations with Manuel Johnson Center faculty and guests. In this episode, Dr. Beaulier interviews the president of the Mises Institute, Doug French
Die Ökonomie und Ethik des Privateigentums: Studium der politischen Ökonomie und Philosophie, Zweite Ausgabe (2026), a translation of Hans-Hermann Hoppe, The Economics and Ethics of Private Property, Second Edition (Auburn, AL: Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2006) has been prepared. Text below and pdf here. Translated by Andreas Tank. The paper version will be available for purchase presently.
In the summer of 2021, Lordstown Motors held a ceremony.
Cameras. Executives in hard hats. A gleaming electric pickup truck rolling off the line in rural Ohio. Politicians gave speeches about the future of American manufacturing. CNBC ran the footage on a loop.
Eighteen months later, Lordstown Motors filed for bankruptcy. [continue reading…]
The current stock market volatility is testing investor meddle once again. The second Trump administration’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcement and the Iran invasion have produced selloffs that have punctuated what has been a constant bull market in stocks. The Great Financial Crisis seems like a long time ago. The crash of 1929 is largely forgotten, let alone previous panics.
Andrew Ross Sorkin has brought the great crash back to life with another bestseller, 1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in History—And How It Shattered a Nation. Sorkin’s telling of the financial debacle focuses on a few individual stories As he writes, A Night to Remember about the sinking of the Titanic was his “narrative touchstone.”
Ralph Raico (1936-2016) presented this informal session at Mises University in Auburn, Alabama, on August 11, 2005.
Professor Raico (Mises.org/Raico) was Professor Emeritus in European history at Buffalo State College and a senior fellow of the Mises Institute. He was a specialist on the history of liberty, the liberal tradition in Europe, and the relationship between war and the rise of the state. [Mises media]
I was reminded of this in a recent tweet by David Beito:
I never played Risk with Rothbard but I did play Trivial Pursuit with Raico and Ron Hamowy (who matched Raico’s wry wit).
In one game, Raico kept missing questions in the history category which were all about soap operas and old TV shows. Finally, Hamowy looked at him and… https://t.co/p5kZ4OV3fq
We’ve named time preference and interventionism so far. Here’s the next important step on our map: capital consumption.
This is what Donald Trump is trying to prevent in the United States, in his own way… with mixed results so far.
Why?
Because he knows it’s the one thing most responsible for America’s manufacturing decline. It’s one thing for a better team to beat you. It’s another thing entirely for your team to give the game away to foreigners. [continue reading…]
Kyle Platt speaks with Doug French, Executive Editor or Agora Financial and former President of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, about Clarence Darrow‘s almost forgotten book, Resist Not Evil, and the the implications of this scathing critique of the American justice system.
As noted here, the 2026 Twentieth Annual Meeting of the Property and Freedom Society will be held from Thursday, September 17, 2026 to Tuesday, September 22, 2026.
To donate with BITCOIN please use the address below. If you would like us to credit your payment (for dues, conference fees, etc.) please email Stephan Kinsella ([email protected]) when you make the bitcoin payment.
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“Property does not exist because there are laws, but laws exist because there is property.” — FrédéricBastiat
“Because the concept of property, for instance, is so basic that everyone seems to have some immediate understanding of it, most people never think about it carefully and can, as a consequence, produce at best a very vague definition. But starting from imprecisely stated or assumed definitions and building a complex network of thought upon them can lead only to intellectual disaster. For the original imprecisions and loopholes will then pervade and distort everything derived from them. To avoid this, the concept of property must first be clarified.” —Hans-Hermann Hoppe, TSC, ch. 2
The Property and Freedom Society (PFS; Facebook) stands for an uncompromising intellectual radicalism: for justly acquired private property, freedom of contract, freedom of association—which logically implies the right to not associate with, or to discriminate against—anyone in one's personal and business relations—and unconditional free trade. It condemns imperialism and militarism and their fomenters, and champions peace. It rejects positivism, relativism, and egalitarianism in any form, whether of "outcome" or "opportunity," and it has an outspoken distaste for politics and politicians. As such it seeks to avoid any association with the policies and proponents of interventionism, which Ludwig von Mises identified in 1946 as the fatal flaw in the plan of the many earlier and contemporary attempts by intellectuals alarmed by the rising tide of socialism and totalitarianism to found an anti-socialist ideological movement. Mises wrote: "What these frightened intellectuals did not comprehend was that all those measures of government interference with business which they advocated are abortive. ... There is no middle way. Either the consumers are supreme or the government."
(A more complete statement of our Principles can be found here.)
AI-assisted audio narration of the main chapters of Rothbard at 100: A Tribute and Assessment (Papinian Press and The Saif House, 2026) is available at this PFS Youtube Playlist; the mp3 files may also be downloaded in this zip file.
In the summer of 2021, Lordstown Motors held a ceremony.
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Jay Baykal
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