Minor Issues

This week's episode begins 2024 by looking at the growing political divide among the American people—and how to solve it.

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In this episode, Mark looks back at 2023 as a great year for the goals and prospects of the Mises Institute moving forward, but a very bad year for the State.

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Stock and bond markets are abuzz this week over Chairman Jay Powell's hints of a "Fed Pivot" in interest rate policy. Mark Thornton explains why this optimism is badly misplaced.

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In this week's episode Mark explains the term "Greenwashing" and describes how Austrian economists might agree with the sentiment behind it. Are Austrian school economists against the environment? Mark thinks not and explains why.  

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The Wall Street Journal reported last month that the ballot initiative to decriminalize all drugs in the state of Oregon is failing, and that efforts are underway to recriminalize hard drugs. Mark points out that decriminalizing drug possession does nothing to improve black market production of drugs, which makes drugs much more dangerous to consume. More importantly, it is Oregon's socialist ideology that coddles homelessness and open hard drug use that is the real problem for the good citizens of the state—and is not helping the drug addicts either. The solution is for society—the nexus of private property owners—to reassert its will. 

See also "Welcome to Needle Park" by Mark Thornton: Mises.org/Minor48_A

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In this week's episode, Mark looks at "All-Time Highs" in such things as stocks, real estate, and stock indexes. Housing prices hit an all-time high this week, and gold is not far behind. While all-time highs—or even "new highs"—are unambiguously good for owners of these assets, it is much more ambiguous as a signal about the future. Gold might be an exception to this rule, as Mark explains.

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In this week's episode, Mark looks at the implications of famed investor Jim Chanos shutting down his hedge fund which specialized in shorting stocks. The closure comes as stock markets in the US hit all time record highs. Mark frames these two events in light of the Austrian Theory of the Business Cycle. 

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Get your free copy of Murray Rothbard's Anatomy of the State at Mises.org/IssuesFree.

"The Social Function of Stock Speculators" by Robert P. Murphy: Mises.org/Minor46_A

"Short Sellers Keep the Market Honest" (Wall Street Journal) by Jim Thanos: Mises.org/Minor46_B

"Jim Chanos, Short Seller Who Took on Enron and Tesla, to Close Hedge Funds" (Wall Street Journal) by Gregory Zuckerman Follow and Peter Rudegeair: Mises.org/Minor46_C

In this week's episode Mark reports on Pimco's former financial guru Mohamed El-Erian and his new views on the Fed. Mark also does some minor deconstruction of recent financial news to paint a clearer picture of imminent recession—something mainstream economists will be reluctant to call until 2025. 

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On this week's episode, Mark looks at the financial condition of the government and of American citizens on the cusp of the next recession. The financial condition of the United States Treasury, the Federal Reserve, and the American citizenry is weak; debt is high and rising, and this is very worrisome in an economic environment of rising interest rates and a weakening global economy. Please share this episode with a curmudgeon.

The U.S. Debt Clock: USDebtClock.org

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On this week's episode, Mark addresses how we the people can prevent the government and the Federal Reserve from grabbing more power and implementing their own preferred "solutions" to economic issues. This is the third round of monetary chaos the Fed has subjected us to in recent history—a history from which valuable lessons can be learned.

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