08/01/11 – Robert Higgs – The Scott Horton Show

Robert Higgs, editor of the Independent Review, explains why the world  won't end if the US debt ceiling isn't raised, administration  scaremongering on US "default" even though there's no risk of missing  bond payments, the government's ability to cut spending, revise budgets  and sell assets to meet debt obligations, the backloaded "cuts" in the  compromise deal that target projected increases in spending and don't  cut the budget at all, what a rating agency downgrade means, and how  likely...

06/07/11 – Robert Higgs – The Scott Horton Show

Robert Higgs, senior fellow at the Independent Institute and author of Crisis and Leviathan, discusses his cherished yet under-appreciated chapter 3 in Crisis and Leviathan, about the rational ideological motivation of collective action; beating back the pervasive myth that war stimulates and improves the economy; how the increase in US GDP following massive post-WWII cuts in government spending undermines Keynesian economic theory; and why there is no such thing as free money: government...

03/02/11 – Robert Higgs – The Scott Horton Show

Robert Higgs, senior fellow at the Independent Institute and author of Crisis and Leviathan, discusses the theory that Islamic terrorists and other “outsiders“ brought about the 2008 financial crisis, rather than loose monetary policy and securitization run amok; how to make a quick buck by pitching ridiculous reports to the Pentagon; the government’s post-9/11 spending binge that permeated throughout government, not just in the Pentagon; why wars are financed with deficits instead of direct...

08/27/10 – Robert Higgs – The Scott Horton Show

Robert Higgs, senior fellow at the Independent Institute, discusses the widening gap between public and private sector pay, an increase in affluent military towns, the disappearance of traditional checks on state power and predation and the incremental 'ratchet effect' of governmental authority that increases 'temporarily' during wartime but never fully recedes.

07/01/10 – Robert Higgs – The Scott Horton Show

Robert Higgs, senior fellow at the Independent Institute, discusses the tiresome rants of gloom and doom survivalists, why those who long for a government or economic collapse should be careful what they wish for, why federal spending can't continue at the current level without a bond market revolt, the none-too-encouraging result of the Soviet Union's collapse and why the US empire may face gradual cutbacks instead of outright abolition.

04/20/10 – Robert Higgs vs. James Galbraith – The Scott Horton Show

Robert Higgs, Senior Fellow in Political Economy at the Independent Institute and James Galbraith, Professor of Economics at the University of Texas, Austin, discuss the folly of government bailouts for insolvent banks, the creation of the Glass-Steagall Act as a means to prevent FDIC insured banks from taking excessive risks, the benefits and detriments of public and private regulation and oversight, the problems of regulatory capture and revolving door politics, divergent opinions on the...

03/24/10 – Robert Higgs – The Scott Horton Show

Robert Higgs, Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute, editor of the Independent Review and author of Depression, War and Cold War, discusses the many factors working against a "V" shaped economic recovery, mainstream economists who don't account for the malinvestment of government stimulus funds, shortsighted economic planning that is focused on election cycles instead of the business cycle, huge bank reserves that could cause inflation if ever lent out and why specific economic...

Hurting the few for the benefit of the many

Like Scott, I quit writing, too. On facebook, Scott posted this link http://news.antiwar.com/2010/03/10/civilians-among-17-killed-in-latest-us-drone-strikes/ About yet another drone strike in Pakistan killing civilians in Pakistan. I posted a comment thumb nailing my current opinion about politics. Someone posted back "Urrr?" I will elaborate here. Some kid in a control room in Nevada X-Boxed those people to death. Why? Well, the same reason Howard Zinn pressed the button to drop iron bombs on...

08/12/09 – Robert Higgs – The Scott Horton Show

Robert Higgs, senior fellow at the Independent Institute and author of Depression, War and Cold War, discusses the archaic concept of demobilizing the military after a war, the end of staunch U.S. anti-interventionism, how the Korean War budget was partly diverted to a general cold-war buildup and the resemblance of U.S. defense spending to a politically untouchable welfare program.

02/20/09 – Robert Higgs – The Scott Horton Show

Robert Higgs, senior fellow at the Independent Institute and author of Depression, War and Cold War, discusses his thesis of 'regime uncertainty' as a major factor of the Great Depression, the crash and recovery of 1921-22, the bubble created by the Fed in the later 'roaring' twenties in order to prop up British interests, how World War II provided the certainty big business needed to start investing again - in arms, why the Cold War buildup was still cheap enough for the economy to continue...

09/26/08 – Robert Higgs – The Scott Horton Show

As part of Antiwar Radio's week long series on the economic crisis in association with the Campaign for Liberty, Robert Higgs, senior fellow at the Independent Institute and author of Crisis and Leviathan: Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government and Depression War and Cold War, discusses the relationship between the inflation of World War One and the roaring ‘20's and the Great Depression, Fed chief Ben Strong's deal with the Bank of England's Montague Norman to inflate in the...

08/20/08 – Robert Higgs – The Scott Horton Show

Robert Higgs, senior fellow at the Independent Institute and author of Crisis and Leviathan: Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government, discusses the legacy of Woodrow Wilson’s Cheney, Edward Mandell House, House’s rise to power and links to big money men, Philip Dru Administrator: A Story of Tomorrow — the blueprint for a fascist America written by House in 1910-11, how House took advantage of Wilson’s narcissism to get America into World War I, the consequences of American...