The Onrushing Demise of Central Banking & Fiat Currency

Money, Banking and the Federal Reserve

A Mises Media Classic: Money, Banking and the Federal Reserve

Wednesday, May 18, 2011 – by Mises Institute

Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson understood "The Monster". But to most Americans today, Federal Reserve is just a name on the dollar bill. They have no idea of what the central bank does to the economy, or to their own economic lives; of how and why it was founded and operates; or of the sound money and banking that could end the statism, inflation, and business cycles that the Fed generates.
Dedicated to Murray N. Rothbard, steeped in American history and Austrian economics, and featuring Ron Paul, Joseph Salerno, Hans Hoppe, and Lew Rockwell, this extraordinary new film is the clearest, most compelling explanation ever offered of the Fed, and why curbing it must be our first priority.
Alan Greenspan is not, we're told, happy about this 42-minute blockbuster. Watch it, and you'll understand why. This is economics and history as they are meant to be: fascinating, informative, and motivating. This movie could change America.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

-- George Santayana

Put the best and brightest minds you can find into a room and task them with stabilizing the price and supply of a given commodity. Provide them every resource and unfettered powers of enforcement - they will fail spectacularly in comparison to the free market. The principle applies equally whether the commodity happens to be corn, cars, or currency! Every system that rests on the foundation of Central Planning rather than on the discipline of free markets always results in a MEGA-BUST when it finally grinds to a complete halt. Though it may well see its last hurrah over the next 18-24 months, the world reserve currency of the 20th century will in all likelihood no longer be accepted as a medium of exchange within a generation. When its inevitable demise has entered the history books, you can be sure that many an 'expert' will recount its final plunge using phrases like 'perfect storm', 'impossible to foresee', and the like. The cold, hard reality though, is that many of today's so-called prophets of doom have continued to forewarn of the dangers inherent in such a misguided approach.