Monetary Policy

Separating Money and the State, Part 2: Revoking Government’s Money Monopoly

by Douglas E. French November 1, 1994

Part 1 | Part 2 Every city in America has dozens of fast-food restaurants vying for our business. Which are successful? The ones that deliver on their promise to provide consistently good, quality food. Restaurants that do not, go out of business. If government controlled the fast-food business the same way ...

Separating Money and the State, Part 1: Eighty Years of Destruction

by Douglas E. French October 1, 1994

Part 1 | Part 2 On December 23, 1993, the Federal Reserve System marked its 80th birthday. But few were celebrating. The Federal Reserve Act, which was signed into law in 1913 by President Woodrow Wilson, is described by economist Hans Sennholz as "probably the most tragic blunder ever committed by ...

Some Warnings for the East: What Former Socialist Countries Need to Know

by Richard M. Ebeling November 1, 1992

For the last three years, the Eastern European countries and the republics of the former Soviet Union have been trying to escape from their socialist past. Democratic governments have been elected, and market reforms have been promised. Yet, in each of these countries, the socialist economic structures still exist ...

The IMF Doesn’t Deserve a Capital Boost

by Doug Bandow July 1, 1992

For more than four decades, the U.S. has been the largest contributor to not only the IMF but also to all of the other multilateral-aid institutions, such as the World Bank. Indeed, Washington even provides the largest check to the African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, and ...

Hepburn v. Griswold

by Jacob G. Hornberger June 1, 1992

In 1860, Susan P. Hepburn executed a promissory note in which she expressly promised to repay a loan of one thousand dollars. When the note came due in 1862, Hepburn tendered to Henry A. Griswold, the owner of the note, United States governmental notes totaling the amount of the debt. Griswold refused the tender and sued Hepburn for his ...

Playing Monopoly in the Real World

by Jacob G. Hornberger May 1, 1992

There are three major monopolies in the United States that have plagued the American people throughout most of this century. Yet despite their professed opposition to monopolies, the American people simply cannot bring themselves to end them. But end them we must — for they are among the most tyrannical and destructive aspects of the American welfare-state, regulated-economy way ...

Quick Fixes and Economic Fallacies

by Richard M. Ebeling May 1, 1992

The famous English economist Alfred Marshall is reported to have once remarked that "students of social science must fear popular approval; evil is with them when all men speak well of them. If there is any set of opinions by the advocacy of which a newspaper can increase its sales, then the student . . . is bound to ...

The Heritage of Economic Liberty

by Richard M. Ebeling July 1, 1990

For the Founding Fathers, economic liberty was inseparable from the case for political freedom. Many of the grievances enumerated in the Declaration of Independence concern British infringements on the free movement of goods and men between the thirteen colonies and the rest of the world. It was not a coincidence that ...

On the Edge of Hyperinflation in Brazil

by Richard M. Ebeling March 1, 1990

Monetary expansion and the price inflation that it brings in its wake always eat away at the social and economic fabric of a society. The value of money constantly diminishes. The ability of people to plan their financial future is made more difficult. Money begins to lose its usefulness as a common denominator through which the value of goods ...

Free Market Money – Instead of Political Manipulation

by Richard M. Ebeling February 1, 1990

Money is the most important commodity in an economic system Indeed, money "makes the world go 'round." This is because money is the general medium of exchange. We sell our products and services for money, and then use it to buy the products and services of others. Money also permits us to ...

A Message from FFF’s Founder and President

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 1, 1990

Socialism is morally and intellectually bankrupt. Under the guise of "order" and "security," millions of innocent people have been murdered or enslaved. Under the guise of "taxation" and social justice, untold amounts of income and savings have been plundered and redistributed to the politically privileged. Having gripped the hearts and minds of the people of the world in the ...