Introduction

Bob Murphy: I thought today I would go through two recent tweets that I believe underscored a basic misconception in economic theory, certainly from the Austrian perspective. Joe Weisenthall reacted to some guy who had been saying recessions are a good thing and weisenthall didn't think so. And then Elon Musk, you guys know Elon, right? He just today, as I'm recording this, tweeted out that money is a database. So strictly speaking, that's not right. But it'll be a good springboard for me to discuss what the Austrian view is on recessions and the possible social function of if you will.