Surprised Again! The Covid Crisis and the New Market Bubble

About every ten years, we are surprised by a financial crisis. In 2020, we were Surprised Again! by the financial panic of the spring triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic. Not one of the 30 official systemic risk studies developed in 2019 had even hinted at this financial crisis as a possibility, or at the frightening economic contraction which resulted from the political responses to control the virus. In response came the unprecedented government fiscal and monetary expansions and bailouts. Later 2020 brought a second big surprise: the appearance of an amazing boom in asset prices, including stocks, houses, and cryptocurrencies.

Alex Pollock and Howard Adler lived through this historic instability while serving as senior officials of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Their book lays out the many elements of the panic and its aftermath, from the massive elastic currency operations which rode to the rescue by financing the bust with unprecedented government debt, to the consequent asset price boom, which included a renewed bubble in house prices financed by government guarantees. It considers key leveraged sectors such as commercial real estate, student loans, pension funds, banks, and the government itself. It reflects on how to understand these events both in retrospect and prospect.

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The Myth of the Social Contract: Refuting Common Arguments for Government Authority

Why does the government get to order you around? Why are you obligated to obey? There are a variety of platitudes and theories that are popular among average people. In this compact, to the point booklet, Andrew Kern takes them all on. Find out why overused phrases like "if you don't like it, leave" and "taxes are the price we pay for civilized society" are at best meaningless bromides, and at worst have no historical or theoretical ground to stand on. This is your guide to why the standard attempts you've heard at justifying government authority don't stand up to scrutiny.

A very short but very powerful book. Perfect for giving to you friends or family who believe in a political social contract.

 

How to Think about the Economy

by Per Bylund

Breaking Away

by Ryan McMaken