Mark Thornton, Senior Fellow at the Mises Institute, discusses how the Fed is responsible for economic booms and busts; the increase of economic inequality after the gold standard was abandoned in 1971; and the introduction of negative interest rates.

Gareth Porter, an award-winning investigative journalist, discusses why the Syrian ceasefire is going better than he expected, and why the US doesn't have any reasonable military options to support anti-Assad forces and change the situation on the ground.

Sheldon Richman, a senior fellow of the Center for a Stateless Society, discusses his article "The Constitution and the Standing Army," and why the US Constitution - not the post-WWII National Security Act - created the basis for our current national-security state.

Jason Ditz, news editor at Antiwar.com, discusses his article "ISIS and the End of Cash: How the war on terror became a war on real money," as government officials get serious about eliminating the $100 bill - and then maybe all other physical currency as well.

Marcy Wheeler, a blogger at emptywheel.net, discusses the FBI's fight with Apple about making an alternate iPhone operating system that would allow the government to see the contents of San Bernardino terrorist Syed Rezwan Farook's phone - after the FBI screwed up their first chance to get the information.

Grant F. Smith, director of research at the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy, discusses the IRmep-sponsored polls showing that Americans, and particularly young Jewish students, have an increasingly less favorable view of Israel. Reminder: On March 18, 2016, Grant F. Smith and many notable journalists and academics will participate in the "Israel's Influence: Good or Bad for America?" conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Listeners of this podcast will receive a...