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Ryan McMaken of the Mises Institute joins Scott to discuss the ill effects central banking has on the country. McMaken wrote an article recently pointing out that the Federal Reserve, America’s central bank, is technically bankrupt. Scott has McMaken explains how that’s true and why the costs of a bankrupt Fed are felt by us all. Scott and McMaken also address some common points about inflation made by the left and examine what they get right and where they go wrong. The two also look at today’s economy to try and work out where we are in the boom-bust cycle. 

Discussed on the show:

• “Why the Fed Is Bankrupt and Why That Means More Inflation” (Mises.org)
• What Has Government Done to Our Money?
• For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto

Ryan McMaken is a senior editor at the Mises Institute. He has degrees in economics and political science from the University of Colorado, and was the economist for the Colorado Division of Housing from 2009 to 2014. He is the author of Breaking Away: The Case of Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities and Commie Cowboys: The Bourgeoisie and the Nation-State in the Western Genre.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott.

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Al Jazeera journalist Jason Leopold discusses the widespread breakdown of safeguards at Gitmo that contributed to prisoner Adnan Latif’s death in 2012; the Guantanamo policy changes that brought on the prisoner hunger strike; and the bipartisan political opportunism that kept Latif imprisoned despite being cleared for release by the Bush and Obama administrations.

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Philip Weiss, founder and co-editor of Mondoweiss, discusses Secretary of State John Kerry’s persistent yet futile push for peace talks in Israel; the never-ending colonization of the West Bank; why most Americans have never heard of the Nakba; and mainstream recognition that a Jewish state isn’t really necessary.

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