I’ll be posting some economics related material in the next few weeks, and I can’t think of a better place to start than with this lecture entitled “Meltdown” by Dr. Thomas E. Woods, Jr. Tom Woods is a New York Times best-selling historian who also writes a lot about economics. He’s of the Austrian persuasion, and in this video he gives a talk at the University of Colorado on the subject of his best-selling book “Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanks, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse.”
Dr. Woods is one of the best speakers out there, in my opinion. He is funny, engaging, has a knack for explaining economics in such a way that it makes sense, and his enthusiasm is infectious.
If you want to know the real reasons why we suffered such a serious financial market collapse, it is well worth your time to watch this video. In it, Dr. Woods explains how the Federal Reserve was largely responsible for the boom/bust cycle, and questions the wisdom of even having a Federal Reserve. He also talks about the Austrian Business Cycle Theory; a theory for which Friedrich Hayek was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1974.
If you’re a small-government minded person who believes we can run our own lives without a meddling parasitic political class, this video is for you.