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\ Mises Memo
News From THE LuDWKJ von Mises INSTITUTE 1'ALL 1996

\ The Limits
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of Politics Jekyll Island Debate

Politics can be fun, but it
won't save us from the miasma
of democratic socialism.
Whether the mainstream candi
dates run to the right or the
left—for political relations rea
sons, mainly—even their best
proposals are still too timid to
restore liberty and prosperity.
High taxes, economic con
trols, and monetary manipula
tion are clobbering a shrinking
middle class, while public and
private debt zooms. Meanwhile,
Washington-approved plans
don't deal with fundamental is
sues, much less address the hid
den costs of a SI.7 trillion
government.
The long-term answer lies
not with politics, but with de-
politicizing society through in
tellectual activism. We don't
need a new crew of managers,
bur a different philosophy ofso
ciety itself: one that repudiates
government control. That is the
work of the Mises Institute.
Intellectual activism can be
both serious and fun. We prove
it at "The Case Against the Fed
eral Reserve," September
13-14. It is held at Jckyll Island,
Georgia, the once-secret hide
away— and now plush re
sort—where the Federal Reserve
Act was originally drawn up by
the government/banking elite.
We'll hear from leading ex
perts such as Joseph Salerno,
Hans-Hermann Hoppe, Roger
Garrison, and Tom DiLorenzo,
with special guest speaker
JoAnn Rothbard.
We'll never get our fiscal
house in order, or stop the ero
sion of the dollar, until we curb
and, ideally, eliminate the Fed.
It's the engine of big govern
ment and the elite's bludgeon of
choice against middle-class
wealth. We'll discuss what we
can do about it, and what the
future of the dollar holds if we
don't act now. Call Now For
Reservations.
As we warned, the Nafta
treaty, the epitome of managed
trade, has discredited free trade
itself. We worked harder than
anyone to show why Nafta
would be a disaster. Now we
find ourselves rescuing free
trade from the protectionist
marauders.
Thus we have distributed
Murray N. Rorhbard's The
Dangerous Nonsense of Protec
tionism, a powerful short case
for trade unhampered by tariffs
or treaties. We received large
reprint orders on articleson trade
in The Tree Market by JamesShee-
han, Lawrence Vance, Mark
Brandly, and others, which
have also appeared in news
papers and magazines.
At the same time, there is
continuing interest by our read
ers on Nafta and Gatt, and
some of our early critiques are
being reprinted in collections
for use in college courses on
trade.

\ Tin-: Mises University. 1996

There's no excuse for feeling blue about our country's long-term prospects, or even the sad state of economic
education. America's brightest students gathered at Auburn University for the eleventh annual Mises University, the
world's most respected training ground for market economics and the Austrian School.
From dawn until late at night, the students learn from top minds, studying the works of the Austrian School
economists, and applying them in new ways. These students are the cream of the crop, attracted by the program's
reputation for excellence.
As they complete their studies, and begin their careers as teachers, writers, and professionals, they become the
intellectual leaders in their fields. They are better trained and more passionate than their opponents, and, just as
important, a permanent part of a growing and vibrant scholarly community.
Among our many programs, we love the Mises University. The students who go through it can think about issues
in an entirely new way. And what fun to trounce conventional wisdom with the truth. This year's program was
exceptional in every way: focussed, rigorous, and inspiring. Write us for a full report.
 Economics
That Endures
One sign of bad economics is
easy to recognize: it claims that gov
ernment intervention is necessary be
cause of some particular new
circumstance. This can be recession,
environmental change, an empirical
study, or whatever.
In its publishing program, the
Mises Institute avoids that trap by
producing books that explore the
eternal verities. That's because good
economics seeks to elucidate social
laws that go beyond time and place.
The advantage: our books stay
constantly in demand by students,
professors, journalists, and people in
all walks of life. We recently pro
duced new editions of some of our
more popular works, including Philo
sophical Origins ofAustrian Economics by
David Gordon, Austrian Theory of the
Trade Cycle widi essays by Ludwig von
Mises and Murray Rothbard, Introduc
tion to Austrian Economics by Thomas
Taylor, and Economic Calculation in
the Socialist Commonwealth, Mises's
classic attack on socialism. •
Deep Research
No intellectual revolution has
succeeded without a serious forum
for debate and deep research. We're
not talking about a conventional aca
demic journal, which publishes arti
cles read by 2.7 people (according to
one study). The great thing about The
Review ofAmman Economics is that it is
widely accessible to students,professors
in all disciplines, independent intellec
tuals, business people, and anyone
concerned about the free society.
The newest issue of the RAE is
dedicated to the memory of Murray
Rothbard, and it reflects his ener
getic spirit. Like Rothbard, Richard
Wagner asks of the national debt,
"who owes what to whom?" and
concludes it should be repudiated.
Hear him out; this may be the fairest
route to solving the debt crisis.
Meanwhile, Jesus Huerta de
Soto vastly improves our knowledge
of startlingly relevant medieval
economic thought in money and
banking. Also in this issue: Israel
Kirzner, Roger Garrison, Tom
DiLorenzo, Pascal Salin, and George
Selgin and Lawrence White.
In addition, Peter Klein explores
the literature on the size of firms, and
sketches an Austrian theory. He has
also been asked by the Encyclopedia of
Law & Economics to write a long en
try on the troubling "new institu
tional economics." •
Just Dessert
Students and Members revel in
The Mises Review, which provides
thoroughgoing refutations of the
worst and often influential new
books. The summer issue featured a
blistering analysis of Robert Heil-
broner and J.K. Galbraith's new vol
umes pushing socialism. Before the
New York Times even noticed Michael
Lcrner's new book, David Gordon
had already explained what the "poli
tics of meaning" really means.
But it's not all bad news. A work
condemning Supreme Court power
by William Quirk and Randall Brid-
well was warmly received, as was an
overlooked attack on market social
ism. As to a book on empowering the
underclass through court decisions,
Gordon advised the author to reread
the Constitution. •
The Gold Standard
Give credit where it's due: by
advocating a gold standard, Steve
Forbes put the idea of sound money
back into play. We've tried letting
Alan Greenspan be the monetary
master, but the resulting market in
stability has kept the public con
stantly on edge and caused the U.S.
government to become banker to the
world. Meanwhile, the dollar's value
continues to erode.
Since its founding in 1982, the
Mises Institute has been the leading
advocate of the gold standard, pro
viding popular and scholarly cri
tiques of fiat money and the Federal
Reserve. Our books on the gold
standard, our film about the Fed
News Fkom the Luowk; von Mises Institute
(which appears on cable channels na
tionwide), and our regular analysisof
monetary policy is appreciated by
Wall Street watchers and political ac
tivists alike.
A special thanks to On Wall Street,
RealMoney, and The Moneychanger'for
articles by and about Mises Institute
scholars and the gold standard. For a
virtuoso treatment, see Michael
Prowse in the Financial Times. He be
gins by asking "do we need central
banks?" and concludes, no, they can be
replaced by a pure gold standard.
Roger Garrison's article on busi
ness cycles caused by paper money,
from the RAE (vol. 5, no. 1) was
reprinted in The InternationalLibraiy
of Austrian Economics (Manz Wirt-
schaft, 1996), along with other
pieces from our journal and articles
from The A ustrian Economics Newslet
ter by Leland Yeager, Murray Roth
bard, and Charles Baird. •
Intellectual I Iistory
Murray Rothbard's two-volume
Austrian Perspective on the History ofEco
nomic Thought is still being reviewed, a
year and a half after it was first publish
ed. The Financial Times of London
calls it "the most readable history of
economic thought ever written."
Meanwhile, die summer Austrian
Workshop at Auburn made it through
a good part of volume two. The par
ticipants in this student-led program,
directed by Mark Thornton, agree
with Roger E. Backhouse of the Uni
versity of Birmingham (England) that
Rothbard's work is "extremely excit
ing" {History of Economic Thought,
Summer 1996). Thornton alsopartici
pated in an academic conference on
development economics. •
Hulsmann's Manifesto
Jorg Guido Hiilsmann, who
teaches at die Mises University, came
to the attention of American Austrians
with his article on banking in the RAE
(vol. 9, no. 1). Now his first book is
out (so far, only in German), The Logic
of Currency Competition (Akademie
Verlag). Ralph Raico reports that
Fall 1996
Hiilsmann did an extraordinary job
in translating Raico's new book on
classical liberalism into German. •
Always Independent
Authors tell us it's run to write for
The Free Market: because of its intelli
gent and influential readership, and
because it gives authors the chance to
speak their minds on government and
the economy. For sheer intellectual
power, writes one reader, it "is in die
best of the Austrian tradition."
A reporter for a major national
financial daily called to congratulate
the Institute for daring to reject the
conventional wisdom, even when it
comes from powerful politicians os
tensibly on "our side." You are "alone
among think tanks," he said, "in hav
ing the courage to do so." •
The Pillars
George Koether, a dear friend of
Mises and the Mises Institute, helped
us acquire two beautiful bronze
busts: Murray N. Rothbard and F. A.
Hayek. We have long displayed the
bust of Ludwig von Mises, donated
to us by Margit von Mises upon her
death. The three together, the pillars
of the modern Austrian School, are
an inspiring sight. •
Understandinc Russia
Russia, birthplace of full-blown
socialism, continues to fascinate all
of us. As Yuri Maitsev explained in
the Journal of Commerce, its politics
offer a distorted mirror image of our
own: social democrats versus demo
cratic socialists.
Anne Williamson, a former Wall
Street Journal reporter, is writing a
book on Russia for Farrar, Straus, &
Giroux. She said in a letter to us:
"Being an economic ignoramus was
something of an impediment to my
work. Then one lucky day, I received
some material from the Mises Insti
tute. What a revelation! Great fogs of
confusion disappeared from my mind.
Suddenly this dreadful stuff known as
economics made sense to me. I've
been profiting ever since." •
Em.l 1996 News Fuom the Ludwig von Mists Institute
Alchemy at the
White House
Hillary Clinton took a lot of rib
bing for her seance with Jean Hous
ton, the New Age guru who helped
the First Lady conjure up Eleanor
Roosevelt. Houston said accounts of
their meeting were distorted, but
we're not so sure. She admits that
one of the subjects they discussed
was the glory of "the Gramecn
Bank," the third-world lending
racket first exposed in The Free Mar
ket by editor Jeffrey Tucker. •
An Actual Alternative
What a treat to see a recent issue
of the newspaper Altcrnativa, pub
lished in Romania. It featured large
photographs of Rothbard and Mises,
a long discussion of the Austrian
School, and a review of The Case
Against the Fed. m
GOLUMNING
Among Institute columnists,
Lew Rockwell leads with more than
50 published this year alone, while
Mark Thornton, Yuri Maitsev, and
Jeffrey Tucker are catching up.
It's remarkable that this much
appears in print, given the radical
nature of Institute commentary. But
newspapers are hungry for material
that is well written (something we
insist on) and also reflects the anti-
government orientation of American
public opinion.
Especially noted was our reprint
of Rockwell's talk on "How We Can
Win," which caused William Peter
son to say of the Institute, "Lu Mises
himself smiles down on this grand
human action." Meanwhile, Fob
James, Governor of Alabama, loved
it so much he made it mandatory
reading for his entire administration.
Also take a look at the recent issue
of Vital Speeches, which features the
Reform Party's Richard Lamm, the
AFL-CIO's John Sweeney, and, in a
different mode, Rockwell, who called
for 'An American Classical Liberalism."
Thinkof it asgood government vs. big
government vs. no government. •
Work. Children. Work
Insight magazine called on Lew
Rockwell to defend "child labor"
against the hysteria generated by the
union-backed attack on Kathic Lee
Gilford. His point: not every coun
try, especially not the third world, can
afford to keep kids away from work
for 18 years. In the absence of factory
jobs, these young people arc forced
to turn to more dangerous, less remu
nerative work in the underground, or
starve.
Exploring the issue even further
in The Free Market is AU graduate
student Bill Anderson, who writes
that the factory where Gilford's
clothing line was made is part of a
wonderful network of capitalist enter
prises in Honduras, now endangered
by labor-union demagoguery. •
True Advances
Adjunct scholar Williamson
Fivers has been appointed by Califor
nia Governor Pete Wilson to a new
commission on academic standards.
AU student and Mises fellow Pe
ter Calcagno has had a paper, written
with John Jackson, accepted for pub
lication by the famed journal Public
Choice. Calcagno explores the con
nection between PAC money and vot
ing behavior. And AU student and
Mises fellow Doug Walkertakes issue
with a redistributionist tract in an
upcoming Southern Economics.
Paul Gottfried's new book, After
Liberalism: Mass Democracy and the
Managerial State (Princeton University
Press) promises to be a pathbreaking
and radical analysis of the modern
welfare state. He shows how our
present government differs from
every other form in history. Mean
while, his magazine World will fea
ture a symposium on "Politics and
Regimes" including an essay by
Hans-Hermann Floppe, "The Western
State as a Paradigm: Learning from
Flistory."
And Thomas Woods, working on
his PhD at Columbia, is frequently
sought out by the Christian Science
Monitor for its op-ed page. •
 Litigious,
for Good Reason
"Why I Am Suing Gingrich and
Schumer," read the headline in the
Wall Street Journal. It was about
Christina Jeffrey, hired and then
smeared and fired as historian of the
House. But we already knew it: she
announced her suit at a Mises Insti
tute seminar, but then swore us all to
secrecy. By the way, Jeffrey studied
under Mises. •
Suffering
To Go Around
American professors who advo
cate the market economy can have a
tough time of it. But it's not any
better in France, reports Pascal Salin
in a wide-ranging interview in The
Austrian Economics Newsletter. The
economic ignorance of the French
professorate is reflected in the na
tional political stalemate, where vot
ers arc forced to choose among
statists of the left or right (sound
familiar?).
The fall issue of the A EN will
feature an interview with Joseph
Salerno. He covers controversies
within the profession and the Aus
trian School, the connection be
tween economy and culture, and
immigration, monetary reform, and
much more. •
Educational Dead I£nd
California's leading advocate of
tax-funded vouchers, David Henderson
(who also edited a book on the sub
ject), has rethought his opinion. He
now sees vouchers as a "disaster" that
would waste more money and wreck
private schools. In a published inter
view, he credits the Mises Institute
for changing his mind.
With Dole's announcement that
he favors a $5 billion voucher pro
gram, we've been called on to give
the other view. Our position is
against any new education spending,
for keeping private schools inde
pendent, and for tax cuts that would
allow people to pay for tuition them
selves. •
Not an Echo
Also stopping by Auburn was
Harry Browne, presidential nominee
of the Libertarian Party. He shares
our desire for very limited govern
ment, and since people are so upset
with the two parties, this might be
his year to shine. Browne frequently
mentions the Mises Institute in his
media appearances, and recommends
our work in his newest book, Why
Government Doesn't Work. •
Exporting
to Cuua
We hear frequently from the Cu
ban government: that is, the "Scien
tific and Technical Information
Center from the Ministry of Econ
omy and Planning, the head body of
the Cooperation Committee for
Economic Sciences Information, cre
ated by the National System of Sci
entific and Technical Information."
This time they want The Austrian
Economics Newsletter, for free, and
now. •
Mises's Web
The advantage of our web site is
that it puts students and others from
around the world in contact with us
whom we might otherwise not
reach. Computer mavens tell us
ours is one of the best, but we're
working to make it better. We're
expanding the library that can be ac
cessed, and keeping up with all the
Mises Institute publications and con
ferences. Come visit us at: http:
//www.mises.org •
In Memoriam
We were saddened by the death
of Henry Rcgnery, famed publisher
and good friend of the Mises Insti
tute. In the dark years after the pass
ing of the Old Right, he helped keep
free enterprise literature in print,
publishing Mises's student Wilhelm
Ropke and Mises's beloved third edi
tion of Human Action.
Before he died, Regnery wrote to
say how happy he was about our
News From THE I.udwig von Mises Institute
conference on "The Costs of War."
The book, edited by John V Dcnson,
is being published by Transaction
Publishers (and will be featured in
the journal Society). Regnery, a stal
wart of the America First Commit
tee, saw war as the greatest threat to
liberty, and was grateful for the re
vival of this insight.
We also mourn the passing of
three other champions of liberty,
Nancy Follansbee, John W Pope, Sr.,
and Hortense Squires. They too in
spire us by their example of generos
ity and faithfulness to the cause of
liberty, which is the mission of the
Mises Institute. •
Third World. U.S.A.
Rothbard fellow Mark Brandly is
co-author, with Bruce Yandle and
Andy Barnett, of a new study on the
Clean Air Act. Their paper concludes
that environmental regulations arc
costly and ineffective, and lock obso
lete technologies in place.
Newest development on the en
vironmental front: in Washington,
D.C., the city with the bureaucrats
that enforce the Clean Water Act on
the whole nation, the tap water has
become undrinkable. As in the third
world, restaurants now serve only
boiled or bottled water. •
Media Frenzy
The South suffered more of the
usual media attacks and smears dur
ing the church-burning hysteria,
which leftists tried to blame on one of
the few social padiologies diey don't
approve of. Since dien, of course, die
campaign has been shown to be die
work of some commie group trying
out a new fund-raising pitch.
As we pored through the FBI's
data on church fires, and found that
they have actually declined in the past
ten years, we noticed an interesting
omission. There was no listing for
the fire at Mt. Carmcl in Waco, Texas.
As Bastiat pointed out, crimes perpe
trated by governments are not
crimes at all, but merely law enforce
ment. •
Fall 1996