The Creature from Jekyll Island - an interview with G. Edward Griffin (Financialsense.com)

Quotes and comments;

1. If there are any Christian professors out there who are interested in learning about the Federal Reserve (i.e. the central bank of the U.S.) these are a couple of good places to start.

2. The creature from Jekyll Island - an audio lecture by G. Edward Griffin (It's floating around the internet, but you'll have to find it on your own.)

3. The Fed was created by the richest people in the U.S. (including JP Morgan)

4. The legislation was drawn up in secrecy, on a private island (Jekyll Island)

5. The Fed is a banking cartel; it's not a government institution at all. (i.e. it's legalized monopoly)

6. The Fed creates money out of thin air... and gives it to the State. (i.e. to the politicians)

7. The 'dollar' buys less and less because there are more and more of them.

8. The more dollars in circulation the more 'interest' the banks make... so they have an obvious bias toward printing money.

9. This creation of fiat money is a hidden tax; a tax people don't know anything about.

10. The pols didn't call it [The Fed] a central bank, because congress said it didn't want one.

11. It's the bankers that hate savings; ie. people who save; people who finance their own homes, businesses, etc. with savings. (Savings mean bankers don't make money off of loans.)

12. He wants to redefine usury as 'any interest made off of fiat money...'

Notes;
1. Lenin of course was a big fan of 'central banking' long before Morgan and his crowd created the Fed.

Who is Jesus? - an audio talk by Ravi Zacharias.

Quotes and comments;

1. A great presentation of the gospel; it moved me greatly.
- it's available on the internet, in various places.
- I believe this was a talk given at the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City.
- If you haven't listened to the gospel message this year, I encourage you to listen to this powerful talk.

The 'Cultural' Critique of Capitalism - Shawn Ritenour (Mises.org)

Quotes and comments;

1. A short but incisive critique of the NEA, and government sponsorship of the arts.

2. A great quote from Gresham Machen. (Unfortunately I can't remember it will enough to quote it.)


Notes;
1. 1998 Mises Institute Supporters Summit, Palm Springs, California; February 27-28, 1998. [24:44]

The Struggle for Liberty - an audio lecture series by Ralph Raico. (Available free at Mises.org)

Quotes and comments;

1. With the alarming rise of fascism in the United States, this is a vital series [ten 60-90 minutes lectures] for everyone. (Most especially for our collectivist clergy.)

2. Lecture 6. (The anti-capitalism of the Intellectuals) 'Critics of the industrial revolution need to ask; 'what would have happened if it had Not happened?' (e.g. maybe something akin to the Irish famine.)

3. 'There are far too many people going into universities... (i.e. the bigger the percentage of the population that goes into university, the dumber the colleges become.)

- To an ever increasing extent, the average college educated person hates the idea of going into the 'private' ('business') economy.... (i.e. they want a government job; preferably one micromanaging the PC religion.)

4. Mises blamed the anti-capitalist views of the intellectuals on bitterness (resentment) and envy.

5. Mises claimed that when intellectuals fail, they then blame the society.

- In other words, they always feel they deserve better; that 'education' should some how automatically lead to high social status.

6. Mises talked about the hatred of business; and that it stemmed from the fact the 'intellectuals' are sheltered from the market by view of the fact they live off taxes.

Crisis and Liberty: The Expansion of Government Power in American History - an audio lecture series by Robert Higgs (Available for free at Mises.org)

Quotes and comments;

1. This is a full course of lecture; ten lectures that average around 90 minutes each. (Based roughly on the book 'Crisis and Leviathan' by Higgs.)

2. I've listened to five of the lectures; and recommend them highly.

3. I was going to add some quotes from the lectures, but I've decided not to, as I don't want to offend any seminary professors, who are still enchanted by Statism and collectivism, and still defend them.

Notes;

1. I remember listening to a lecture by one seminary professor (William Edgar) who claimed the 'Right' were wrong to speak out against big government and socialism. "It wasn't the size of the State that mattered, but only the quality of the people who ran it." This was almost identical to what Keynes said. In a response to Hayek he admitted that Statism would be a nightmare if run by the 'wrong' people, but if run by the right people (his Bloomsbury crowd) there was nothing to worry about, and it could in fact lead to a utopia. (I seem to remember him talking about 'cities of wonder' or some such thing.)

- The mind boggles at such naivete. (These people understand nothing about the effects of Statism.)

God's success manual; and economic commentary on the book of Proverbs - by Gary North (2007) Available free at GaryNorth.com

This is volume #20, in North's economic commentary on the bible.

Quotes and comments;

1. 'This book makes clear that the society we live in is governed by ethical cause and effect. It is not governed by impersonal natural law. It is not governed by an evolving system of impersonal social laws. It is not governed by impersonal fate or impersonal chance. It is not governed by luck, either personal or impersonal. It is governed by God’s covenants. It is therefore governed by a comprehensive system of biblical law and the sanctions associated with this law'. (page 2.)

- While most Christians, even 'reformed' ones, tend to mock this effort; I appreciate it greatly.

- I remember hearing a lecture by Ronald Nash, when he ridiculed these books by comparing North's project to some obscure multi volume work, of a couple sisters I think, [might have been Mormons, I can't remember] who tried to develop mathematics from some few banal references to numbers, in the bible. He dismissed it as being all a joke. He was something of an 'Austrian' (and admitted his and North's economics were similar). What he failed to understand was that Austrian economics has no basis in anything but wishful thinking. True economics stands upon a foundation of moral law; and the only absolute law that there is, is God's law.

- I've only started it; but it's good stuff. (Especially helpful for young people, and for new Christians.)

Notes;
1. My favorite of the commentaries is still the one he did on Genesis; especially a major essay in the appendix, called 'From cosmic purposelessness to humanistic sovereignty'.
2. The great weakness of Libertarianism (which I have a lot of respect for) is it lacks a foundation for ethics and morality. All its proponents can say is; "I like this, and I don't like that... and don't you agree with me?" (This is all any Humanist thinker can say.)
3. I admit to having read every word of this economic commentary, and I might be the only one :=)