The Human Action Podcast

We've all heard about negative interest rates, but we may not really understand how and why they arises in recent years. Here to explain is our returning guest Dr. Patrick Barron, a longtime professor in the graduate school of banking at the University of Wisconsin. How and why would interest rates ever be negative, when everyone prefers current consumption to future consumption? Can the "natural"...

Our last show for 2016 is bittersweet, featuring a lecture by our great friend and Senior Fellow Ralph Raico. Dr. Raico, who died earlier this month, was an intellectual giant known for his brilliant — and often revisionist — understanding of history. Speaking at Mises University in 2009, Dr. Raico delivered a witty and razor-sharp exposition of what liberalism really means. We know you'll find it...

As our great friend Dr. Bob Murphy said on an earlier show, knowledge of economics is necessary—but not sufficient—to be be a good investor. A new book entitled 'Austrian School for Investors' (https://mises.org/P11022), co-authored by our guest, Ronald Stöferle, bridges the gap between understanding the economy and understanding how to invest money, in a highly readable and succinct format. The b...

Statistics issued by the federal government about the economy—from CPI to GDP—are fake, and our guest John Williams of Shadowstats.com explains how and why. John is a vocal critic of modern economic reporting, which is manipulated to make the economy appear stronger than it is. So, he devoted his professional life to telling the real story, through statistics he painstakingly compiles himself. And...

The western media's fawning treatment of Fidel Castro demonstrates the enduring mystique of socialism-- while recent Harvard and Rasmussen polls suggest that perhaps half of young Americans hold unfavorable attitudes toward capitalism. No matter how many millions perish in collectivist bloodbaths, the Left remains committed to its ideology of radical egalitarianism and enamored of murderous revolu...

Justin Raimondo, editorial director of Antiwar.com, joins Jeff for a great discussion of what Trump's election really means for libertarians. Does 2016 mark the end of globalism's inevitability, or are Brexit and Trump mere speed bumps for progressive elites? Does Trump represent a real threat to the War Party, or will he succumb to neoconservative control over foreign policy? What are the best-ca...

Jeff Deist and James Rickards to discuss 'The Road to Ruin', his latest book outlining what financial elites have planned for the next financial crisis. Rickards highlights a number of policy tools governments and central bankers have created for themselves, and points to their handling of recent crises in Cypress and Greece bail-in approach as patterns for the rest of the world. But, with the Fed...

On this week's Mises Weekends, Jeff Deist is joined by Allen Mendenhall of the Blackstone & Burke Center for Law and Liberty (http://allenmendenhall.com/the-blackstone-center) to discuss the aftermath of Donald Trump's surprising victory in this week's presidential election. Jeff and Allen discuss questions such as: Will Trump's election genuinely transform American politics? Why aren't progressiv...

On Mises Weekends this week, Jeff Deist joins Andy Duncan of the Fin Tales podcast (finlingo.com/podcast) to talk about next week's Presidential election. Going beyond the electoral horse race, Jeff and Andy also discuss the impact each candidate could have on the Federal Reserve, gold prices, and US foreign policy.

Our guest this weekend is Nomi Prins, a prolific writer and speaker on the subjects of central banking, financial markets, and Wall Street cronyism. She is a former managing director at Goldman Sachs and Bear Stearns, but left investment banking to speak out against what she perceives as global financial malfeasance by commercial, investment, and central banks. Nomi is a dedicated progressive who...

Even well-read fans of Austrian economics often have a hard time understanding and conceptualizing what the Fed really does. So we asked our good friend Dr. Jeffrey Herbener to join us and make sense of it all. We cover the basic blocking and tackling of central bank mechanics: how commercial bank reserves are created, the difference between the monetary base and the money supply, and how the Fed...

Lew Rockwell, Chairman and Founder of the Mises Institute, delivered a moving message at our event in Boston, last week. Entitled "Our Prospects are Bright", Lew's talk serves to remind us that the future of true liberalism was much darker during the life of Ludwig von Mises. For most of the 20th century, only a handful of libertarian activists existed. Today, millions around the world interact an...

On Mises Weekends, this week, Jeff joins our friend John O'Donnell at Power Trading Radio to dive deeper into the the broken state of modern economics. Along with touching on what is really being taught in American econ programs today, Jeff and John discuss the college federal loan scam, and the unique role the Mises Institute plays in economic education.

On the heels of the Fed's annual meeting in Jackson Hole, "extraordinary" monetary policy may be the new normal. Janet Yellen refuses to raise rates for now, and Former Chair Ben Bernanke openly questions whether the Fed's Treasury-laden balance sheet—swollen after successive rounds of QE—will ever be unwound. Real growth is flat, real incomes are stagnant, inflation is higher than the government...

The Mises Institute is in Asheville, North Carolina, this weeked, celebrating our Supporters Summit. We thought you might enjoy hearing a talk that Jeff Deist gave entitled the "The Role of the Mises Institute". Here's a hint: it's not politics, it's not public policy, and it's not lobbying. But, rather, to be a school — a new kind of school — for the 21st century.

Our own Senior Fellow Dr. Mark Thornton recently appeared on Press TV to make the libertarian case for real free trade, as opposed to unholy negotiated trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Brent Budowsky, a journalist for 'The Hill' newspaper in Washington DC, also joined the show to present a pro-union, left-populist perspective. They both conclude that complex trade schemes, which oft...

Our friend and former member of the European Parliament Godfrey Bloom rejoins us for a lively postmortem on the Brexit vote. It's been two months, and the sky hasn't fallen in the UK. In fact, markets are up—and new Prime Minister Theresa May promises that a withdrawal treaty will be negotiated in due time. Mr. Bloom dismisses this, pointing out that her new administration could act swiftly and un...

Dr. Tom DiLorenzo has a fantastic new book out entitled 'The Problem with Socialism' (http://store.mises.org/-P11032.aspx), and his talk summarizing it was a great hit recently at Mises University. This is Tom at his best: witty and provocative, but always bravely revisionist when it comes to skewering sacred cows like welfare, minimum wage, and progressive income taxes. His book—and this talk—are...

Jeff Deist discusses libertarian strategy with Adam Camac and Daniel Laguros of the "Wake Up Call" podcast (WakeUpCallPodcast.com). How can libertarians achieve a freer society, given the depressing state of politics, in both America and abroad? Jeff shares his thoughts on Liberland, the Free State Project, and how modern technology has become “the great leveler” in the battle of ideas.

Judge Napolitano, the great constitutional scholar and legal analyst for Fox News, recently gave a dynamite talk to our Mises U students on the real meaning of the 1st Amendment. While many protections in the Bill of Rights have been almost completely eviscerated by a lawless federal government, the Judge finds reasons to be optimistic about the current state of free speech in America. In fact, he...

Two of the Institute's Fellows—a Frenchman and a German—join Jeff Deist for a freewheeling discussion of the political and economic situation in Europe. Can Austrian economics revive Europe's liberal tradition, or will statist impulses thwart any hope for liberation from Brussels? And can the Mises Institute and its fellow travelers have an impact on academia on the continent? Sascha and Louis see...

Dr. Robert Higgs delivered one of our most popular and most-watched Mises U speeches in 2013, a terrific exposition entitled "The State is too Dangerous to Tolerate". It's an intellectual tour de force from Higgs, where he demolishes many of the popular misconceptions about (and justifications for) the state in one compelling talk. This is Dr. Higgs at his most formidable, and well worth an hour o...

Jeff joins Daniel Ameduri of FutureMoneyTrends.com for a no holds barred discussion of current events, including Trump vs. Hillary, Gary Johnson's chances, the symbolic importance of Brexit, and why the leftwing focus of groups like Black Live Matter will make society more violent, not less.

The UK is poised to vote on Brexit next week, deciding for the first time since 1975 whether to leave the European Union. The Brexit vote mirrors populist, nationalist, and anti-globalist trends around the world, and if successful it raises serious questions about the viability of the Euro itself. The whole world is watching, and markets are nervous: rarely is globalism so directly challenged. Her...

Conservatives once stood for judicious use of government power and minding our own business in foreign affairs. Today, 100 years after the beginning of the progressive revolution, conservatives don't conserve anything. They vote for big-government schemes, favor globalism over real capitalism, and advocate an aggressive foreign policy that installs American troops around the globe. They've lost an...