Minor Issues

Dive into the intriguing world of central banking as elite policymakers gather in Jackson Hole. Uncover the evolution of this exclusive symposium, once a quaint agricultural meeting transformed into a high-stakes stage for economic strategy. Explore the complex relationship between central bankers and public perception, plus the historical echoes of past financial turbulence. The real insights often lie not in formal speeches but in candid, off-the-record conversations that shape our global economy.

What happens when a society consumes its seed corn? What is capital consumption, and why does it matter? In this episode, Mark Thornton examines how inflation, deficit spending, and distorted market signals quietly erode the productive assets that fuel economic growth. Drawing on Austrian economics and insights from investor Rick Rule, Mark explains how governments and central banks incentivize the misuse of capital, leading to stagnation, underinvestment, and long-term decline. Understanding this unseen destruction is key to making sense of today’s economic malaise.See also "Rick Rule: Shortages In Key Natural Resources To Define Next Decade": https://mises.org/MI_132_ARegister for the 2025 Mises Institute Supporters Summit in Delray Beach, Florida, October 16–18: https://mises.org/ss25Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues

Why do gold and silver coins often cost more than the spot price, and why do those premiums seem to disappear when you try to sell? On this episode, Mark Thornton dives into the misunderstood world of precious metal premiums. Mark explains how market forces—not shady schemes—drive the spread between retail and wholesale prices, and why that spread has shifted dramatically in recent years. From minting costs to shifting demand between retail buyers and institutional giants, Mark unpacks what’s really behind those price tags, and why your shiny coins might be worth less than you think, even as spot prices rise.Register for the 2025 Mises Institute Supporters Summit in Delray Beach, Florida, October 16–18: https://mises.org/ss25Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues

On this episode, Mark Thornton gives a crash course on the sleight-of-hand world of inflation, how it really works, why the official story doesn’t add up, and who benefits from the illusion. Drawing on Austrian insights, Mark dissects the politically engineered cycle of government overspending, Treasury bond issuance, and Federal Reserve money creation. You’ll learn how inflation doesn’t just “happen”: it’s a deliberate policy that distorts markets, transfers wealth, and props up an elite few while undermining the productive economy. The Fed’s role isn’t heroic. It’s central to the problem.Additional Resources"What Is Inflation? Clarifying and Justifying Rothbard’s Definition" by Kristoffer Hansen and Jonathan Newman (Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics): https://mises.org/MI_130_A"Too Much Money Portends High Inflation" by John Greenwood and Steve Hanke (Wall Street Journal): https://mises.org/MI_130_BRegister for the 2025 Mises Institute Supporters Summit in Delray Beach, Florida, October 16–18: https://mises.org/ss25Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues

In this episode, Mark Thornton breaks down the political pressure from Trump, market demands for cheap money, and the Federal Reserve’s real fears: a collapsing dollar, rising inflation, and soaring long-term rates. Mark traces the history of interest rate manipulation, the precarious state of US debt, and why Chairman Powell may be clinging to high rates—not for the public good, but to save face before his 2026 exit. With the dollar weakening and deficits exploding, Mark explains why the next crisis could be just one rate cut away.Additional Resources"Trump Is Wrong about Interest Rates" by Ryan McMaken (Radio Rothbard Podcast): https://mises.org/MI_129_A"Will Fed Cut Rates By 3%? Is Massive Inflation Returning? Economist Steve Hanke Answers": https://mises.org/MI_129_B"Federal Funds Effective Rate": https://mises.org/MI_129_C"Nominal Broad U.S. Dollar Index": https://mises.org/MI_129_D"Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 30-Year Constant Maturity, Quoted on an Investment Basis": https://mises.org/MI_129_E"Minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee, June 17–18, 2025" (PDF): https://mises.org/MI_129_F"US FOMC Meeting Minutes (June 17-18, 2025)" by Ksenia Bushmeneva: https://mises.org/MI_129_GRegister for the 2025 Mises Institute Supporters Summit in Delray Beach, Florida, October 16–18: https://mises.org/ss25Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues

Explore the fascinating origins of money, revealing it as a natural solution to barter problems instead of a state invention. Discover insights from economic theorists like Cantillon and Menger, and learn how money evolved from goods to minted coins through individual choices. The discussion also touches on the use of cigarettes as currency in WWII camps. Additionally, the podcast critiques Modern Monetary Theory and argues for a return to commodity money, providing a thought-provoking lens on inflation and the future of monetary policy.

In this episode of Minor Issues, Mark Thornton revisits a prophetic 1970s address by Nobel laureate F.A. Hayek that laid the intellectual groundwork for Bitcoin. Delivered during the depths of stagflation, Hayek’s “International Money” lecture critiques central bank monopoly, exposes the failure of Keynesian inflationism, and calls for the denationalization of money. Mark unpacks how Hayek’s radical proposal for competing private currencies was decades ahead of its time, and why it matters more than ever in today’s age of government-managed inflation and crypto crackdowns.Additional ResourcesChoice in Currency by F. A. Hayek (based on his address, "International Money"): https://mises.org/MI_127_AThe Denationalisation of Money by F. A. Hayek: https://mises.org/MI_127_B"Hayek Predicting Bitcoin" (excerpted from the May 1, 1984, interview with James Blanchard at the University of Freiburg): https://mises.org/MI_127_C"The Last Days of Satoshi: What Happened When Bitcoin’s Creator Disappeared" by Pete Rizzo (Bitcoin Magazine): https://mises.org/MI_127_D"Bitcoin" (1440): https://mises.org/MI_127_ERegister for the 2025 Mises Institute Supporters Summit in Delray Beach, Florida, October 16–18: https://mises.org/ss25Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues

In this episode of Minor Issues, Mark Thornton features his recent appearance on the Liberty and Finance podcast. Mark pulls back the curtain on the geopolitical theater, exposing how monetary control, regime change, and imperial ambition are driving global conflict. From gold's rising value as a gauge of fear to the erosion of public trust in fiat money and the US government, he argues the real war is economic—and it's already begun.Alongside these dangers, Mark offers hope: an informed public, sound money alternatives, and the growing momentum for a monetary reset built on gold and liberty.Additional Resources"Gold/Silver Ratio Signaling Rapid Reversal and Recession Coming" by Mark Thornton (on the Liberty and Finance podcast): https://mises.org/MI_126_A"The Gold-Silver Ratio" (Minor Issues, Episode 119): https://mises.org/MI_119"Preparing for War" (Minor Issues, Episode 123): https://mises.org/MI_123Register for the 2025 Mises Institute Supporters Summit in Delray Beach, Florida, October 16–18: https://mises.org/ss25

On this episode of Minor Issues, Mark Thornton unpacks the unfolding economic crisis through the lens of Ludwig von Mises’s “crack-up boom.” With inflation accelerating, deficits ballooning, and the Fed’s credibility fading, Mark outlines how reckless monetary policy and unsustainable government spending are setting the stage for stagflation—or worse. From gold’s surge to the dollar’s decline, he connects today’s market signals to Mises’s dire warnings about monetary collapse, offering a sobering look at what may lie ahead for the US economy.Additional Resources"Trump (Again) Demands More Easy Money To Help Fund Even Bigger Deficits" by Ryan McMaken: https://mises.org/MI_125_A"Interest Rates Rise Again as Treasury Auction Comes Up Short" by Ryan McMaken: https://mises.org/MI_125_B"Powell, Trump, and the Austrian Business Cycle Time Bomb" (Minor Issues, Ep. 118): https://mises.org/MI_118 "Prospects for Hyperinflation" (Minor Issues, Ep. 116):  https://mises.org/MI_116"Are Economic Crises and Crashes Inevitable?" (Minor Issues, Ep. 112): https://mises.org/MI_112"The Precarious State of the American Economy" (Minor Issues, Ep. 111, with Scott Horton): https://mises.org/MI_111How Inflation Destroys Civilization by Guido Hülsmann: https://mises.org/InflationDestroysLudwig von Mises on Money and Inflation, edited by Bettina Bien Greaves: https://mises.org/MI_125_CThe Inflation Crisis and How to Resolve It by Henry Hazlitt: https://mises.org/MI_125_DRegister for the 2025 Mises Institute Supporters Summit in Delray Beach, Florida, October 16–18: https://mises.org/ss25

On this episode of Minor Issues, Mark Thornton dives into Murray Rothbard’s theory of interventionism. Mark explores how Rothbard sharply delineates the line between voluntary action in the free market and coercive government intervention. He deconstructs Rothbard’s typology—autistic, binary, and triangular interventions—and explains why only free markets improve utility for everyone, while intervention creates winners and losers. It’s a wake-up call for anyone who still thinks regulation and taxation are harmless.Additional Resources"The Economics of Violent Intervention in the Market" by Murray N. Rothbard (Man, Economy, and State with Power and Market, Chapter 12): https://mises.org/MES"The Greatness of Man, Economy, and State" by Lew Rockwell: https://mises.org/MI_124_ARegister for the 2025 Mises Institute Supporters Summit in Delray Beach, Florida, October 16–18: https://mises.org/ss25