Meltdown | Thomas E Woods, Jr.

Bestselling author and Mises Institute senior fellow Thomas E Woods, Jr., discusses the current economic crisis and why government intervention will only make things worse. Recorded at the University of Colorado, Boulder; 3 April 2009.

[@soapbxprod]

Dr. Woods is the BEST! And so are Joe Salerno, Tom DiLorenzo, His Honor Andrew Napolitano, David Gordon, Roger Garrison... EVERYONE at the MISES Institute! I LOVE YOU!

[@soapbxprod]

I can't list all of you WONDERFUL PEOPLE- but I wish to say- God and/or Darwin BLESS YOU! MURRAY ROTHBARD is alive!

[@U2GuitarTutorials]

One of the most amazing econ lessons ever. Tom is articulate and brilliant.

[@Jekyll_Island_Creatures]

Get this guy on Joe Rogan's podcast!!

[@EnFuegoDuo]

@@creepsomber 100% correct. Rogan can't think his way out of a paper bag. Those that are popular on a large scale have to appeal to the sub-par intellect of the masses who have no idea what critical thinking is, never mind inductive and deductive logic, nor the trivium or quadrivium that was scrubbed from education with the Marxist department of education ported their Prussian "create good worker drones" style of education. Done, of course, precisely so sophists like Rogan would be popular pushing the dogma of statism and collectivism, as opposed to those making a rational, logical case as to why indentured servitude is a bad thing... because apparently now days that needs to be explained.

[@KowBoySpace]

I have only been watching and listening to Tom for a couple of weeks now, he has become my favourite source. Because I am from the UK I never even went through the Ron Paul thing. I can safely say, this bunch are the only ones speaking any sense. It is pretty evident from their detractors too, even reading comments. The best the opposition can do is throw abuse and try the "wave of the hand" and are completely incapable of refuting what they have to say. The problem is people are so invested in the mainstream belief system any attack on that results in a backlash. They cannot contemplate deviation from what they have now. It's like trying to tell a Christian "there is no God". Or telling a feminist they already have more than equality. People are literally trained from birth to believe more interference is the only ever solution, the idea of stepping back is inconceivable

[@TheKlink]

yay! island buddies! i first heard of this guy cos max keiser kept bashing him. so i looked him up and thought he makes a lot of sense.

[@gergenheimer]

It's an amazing thing to have your mind switched-on by ideas like those of Tom Woods, Ron Paul, etc. and once you have been awakened, it is impossible for mainstream propaganda to lull you back into a trance. It's like being unplugged from the Matrix.

[@Jekyll_Island_Creatures]

Do you listen to his podcast? It's great!

[@LibertarianRF]

gergenheimer godbless you and that statement

[@EnFuegoDuo]

I know this is an old comment, but it is an excellent one. And never more relevant than during this government made fake pandemic.

[@letters_from_paradise]

I hope that one day I get to see Woods live, he's such a charismatic guy.

[@marcorubio2962]

4:44 Peripheral factors/ symptoms, not untrue but missing root cause (propounded by right wing) 5:05 - 7:10 Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac. Shared premise: pvt profit, socialized risk 7:11 CRA (Community Reinvestment Act). Lowering lending standards to protect against litigation alleging discrimination in lending. Higher risk. 9:37 Federal Reserve System as root cause 10:32 Alan Greenspan 11:18 Steven Glass. Deifying Greenspan 13:07 Hayek introduced. Nobel Prize 1974. Business cycle theory 15:00 Hayek's theory. Clustre of error (Lionel Robbins). 17:07 Actor introducing discoordination in the market: Central Bank (The Fed) 17:45 Interest rates. Come down how: (1) Saving more. (2) Forced rate reduction by Central Bank 18:38 Interest rates performing coordinating function (across time): Signal when consumers shift time preference (defer consumption by saving more). 19:30 Two results. (1) Business engage in long-term production when interest rates lower (cheaper to do so). 20:15 The longer-term the investment, the more interest rate-senstivie it is. 20:20 Capital goods, mining, etc. - things far removed (temporally) from finished consumer goods. 20:36 Coordinating function. Consumers signal (saving), and businesses act accordingly (invest in production). 20:55 Saving as releasing resources for use. Wherewithal for seeing production processes through to completion. 21:17 (2) Interest rates lowered via central bank manipulation. Forces rates down _artificially_. 21:50 Result: short-term, _apparent_ prosperity. Interest rates that come down as result of real saving produce genuine economic growth. *Second method (central bank) produces the boom and bust cycle*. 22:30 When central bank lowers interest rates, it is NOT (necessarily) a market signal indicating that consumers are deferring consumption to the future. Public may even be consuming more. 22:43 Discoordination. Firms investing in long-term projects while public is saving less, consuming in the present. Smaller, fixed pool of resources. However, lower interest rates create _illusion_ that ample saved resources exist. 23:00 Unsustainable trajectories. Will inevitably result in a bust (crash). 23:10 Forcing interest rates do not release genuine resources for use by investors. 23:30 Investors encourage to engage in long-term production processes for which the necessary saved resources do not exist. 23: 38 All of these new projects drawing from the same, fixed pool of real (saved) resources. Not enough resources for all of these projects to succeed (go through to completion). 24:08 Soon, costs (inputs) increase, because resource pool unchanged (supply decreases). Result: need to borrow more. Pool of resources continues to shrink, and so on. Vicious cycle. 24:28 Master builder analogy. 26:00 Analogy applied back to economy.

[@Jekyll_Island_Creatures]

This should be up at the top.

[@ferelgreat]

Never thought I would say this, but good on you Marco Rubio.

[@patrickbateman783]

Not a fan of you Mr Rubio but thanks 🙏🙏🙏

[@Astra2012]

Tom is one of my favorite people!

[@connorism69]

Haven't heard anyone explain the Austrian theory of the business cycle as clearly as this guy. Great stuff!

[@johnarmon7818]

A timeless speech! Fantastic!

[@Keesvanloomacklin-bu1fj]

I enjoyed sitting in Mises U and listening to Tom. This is one of the best lectures I’ve ever seen, even if the sound quality is lacking.

[@WeirdestGuy29]

This guy is truly amazing. If only we had some more like him in our crazy government....

[@SebastianLundh1988]

I bought his book that year, in the fall if memory serves me right. Oh, how I wish I could relive those days.

[@Whutup549]

This should be played on a continuous loop on Mainstream TV, to bring light to the unknown dark masses of regular people.

[@VoluntaryRon]

Tom, you are awesome. Thanks.

[@saterias]

Wow, that speech was great and very easy to understand. Anyone who can't look at this video and see the apparent truths, needs to have their head examined.

[@tallswede80]

Great talk, Tom Woods.

[@siddbastard]

Thank you so much for all your videos, mr woods ! I learn so many thing listening to em ! -Sid, from France.

[@Simpleton_X]

Beautiful! Best explanations of austrian economics on the planet. And he does it with unmatched charisma.

[@willyevans]

Tom Woods is awesome.

[@ForbiddenStallion]

Brilliant lecture. This has been one of the most informative and well-thought-out (and funny) lectures I've heard. Fantastic job, Tom.

[@Tracywithafacey]

Very, very good speech

[@treetoplovermusic]

WOW I can't believe how much that guy in the audience is coughing. FYI everyone, if you can't stop coughing, leave the room.

[@Ethercruiser1]

Wow, great lecture. Too bad nobody in a position of power in the USA listened to it from 2009 up until today. We continue to make the same idiotic mistakes!! Tom Woods & Judge Napolitano for 2016!!!

[@BarrySlisk]

That was one of the better Tom Woods speeches although the sound quality was bad.

[@urielwizzy4680]

One of the best speeches of Thomas Woods. If not the best. Too bad the audio is not clean.

[@jeffro0685]

Even if you're not an Austrian sympathizer (which admittedly I am) this man is very easy to listen to.

[@Br0k3nS41nt]

True nuff. Take the government out of the equation, totally.

[@CaptainSkeletor]

I am so happy that I can take part of this information. Internet is a wonderful thing! And it is so sad that Americas all knowing good government wants to regulate it. So end these idiots in charge and vote for Ron Paul! For real change!

[@maambomumba6123]

Thomas Woods : King of Analogies!

[@emichik86]

Great video. Very informative

[@Pwecko]

@malkooth Ha ha ha. Very good. The Austrian school created all the ills that we are now experiencing? Wonderful. Thanks very much for that. I was feeling a bit down today but that's really cheered me up. Do you do stand up? I would pay to see you.

[@supergopi]

wow ! we got a rock star economist who is daring and not boring !!!

[@cacapoopoo2327]

@cooljoeshmo Also, Tom Woods is a Austrian economist. The whole Austrian school spelled out in detail what was happening and why years before the initial effects were seen and felt. The Federal Reserve is the root cause.

[@maambomumba6123]

This man understands!!!

[@philwohlrab7588]

There's no greater example of Government waste than American Dream/nightmare Mall in East Rutherford NJ. A state run boondoggle for decades, (It actually has escalators to nowhere) No sooner did it open than it effectively went bankrupt.

[@n0us3rn4m3s4v41l4bl3]

Tom Woods is a pimp. Meltdown is the shit. He actually knows how to write.

[@ohedd]

@malkooth How can central banking and corporate power emerge if government intervention is low? That would be like suspecting water to turn into ice even though it's 100 degrees. It's just not possible. You need the government and the fed in order to create corporate power.

[@maambomumba6123]

Few individuals can explain the recession as lucidly and memorably as this. If any!

[@Br0k3nS41nt]

This guy is a beautiful beautiful person.

[@asierra1492]

Its an Analogy. What he is saying is that there is a free market interest rate and if you manipulate it by either causing it to be above or below the market equilibrium it will cause disruptions in the market that will have consequences.

[@tallswede80]

Now i understand what ron paul is talking about.

[@runr100]

@ohedd Only those who get their paychecks from the government or government institutions seem to support Keynes. The Czech Republic and Switzerland don't teach Keynesianism as a valid theory in Econ classes, and I suspect the same is true in Hong Kong and other free places. Keynesianism is so illogical it can't survive without govt support.

[@residentzombie]

@17:30 Woods is referencing Paul Krugman and John Meynard Keynes.

[@bdwilson100029223]

A++++

[@magnus4g63]

All business accounts in banks here in Denmark have negative interest rates on deposit ... its a crazy world.

[@residentzombie]

@WideWorldOfWisdom Ah ok thanks for the clarification. I knew for sure Krugman was one that he was referring to. I just guessed that the other was Keynes.

[@cacapoopoo2327]

@cooljoeshmo You are glib Mr. Shmo. The only reason they made risky loans in the first place is because of guarantees by the Federal Reserve. In a free market their practices would be punished by them going out of business. One result would be prudence on the part of the individual about where he or she puts their money. That does not exist today because of government involement in something that they have no business being involved with in the very first place.

[@WideWorldOfWisdom]

@MisterDajjal If you notice he's also kind of channeling Gerald Celente there too. That's what made it extra funny for me

[@margyrowland]

Satisfy me

[@SirTenenbaum]

Does Woods explain financial instruments like derivatives, credit default swaps, etc. in the book?

[@runr100]

@malkooth Corporations must please the consumer every day. Government has no such responsibility, particularly if it disarms the people. As a result, it is much easier for governments to get out of control with power than with corporations with no government ties to do the same.

[@amibrainwashed]

It's ridiculous the Austrian school gets shit on so much. I mean, I like to dictate my worldview on what is replicable and accurately predictable which seems to be what the Austrian school provides. Unfortunately, it requires people being free to voluntarily exchange goods and services between themselves. I suppose that's the part our overlords has issue with. "we will only allow so much economic growth as long as we can benefit from it."

[@emichik86]

@cooljoeshmo WTF? How does this guy get 20 thumbs up? This guy was said it a million times that the FED caused the boom and now this bust of the past and caused THIS ONE too. Did you watch the entire video?

[@scawarren]

Are you familiar with the RD (rural development) loan?

[@sfiorare]

@pretorious700 - gdp was up every quarter, last year

[@cywt]

Tom Woods for President 2016

[@Jaycephus01]

chickenwingerpag: "why doesn't the builder get more bricks?" It is an analogy, not a real person. The builder is the whole economy, his bricks are all the saved resources available. The interest rate being low encourages him to believe that the saved resources in the economy are high, so he starts a large project. But actually the real saved resources are much less than he believed & are also being consumed by consumers who aren't actually in a savings mode. A bust is inevitable.

[@sfiorare]

@KennyGMoneyMaka - what grade are you in?

[@Woodchuckk]

@malkooth Search on youtube " Zimbabwe bread for gold" That's where your path leads, on a global scale.

[@ctbsancho2516]

I bet you he didn't see the bat flu coming.

[@mrssalina]

We need worldwide negative interest rates!!!!

[@amibrainwashed]

Who you going to listen to, The economist who is caught blindsided by a recession, or the economist that can predict it?

[@mrssalina]

The real reason for all this is to enable continued wild government spending.

[@dvictorbrown]

Making loans more accessable to economically depressed individuals is NOT the same as "predatory lending practices." That is, actively seeking out people who may or may not have been looking for a loan, and/or engaging in deception, cohersion or concealment during the loan processes, which in point of fact many of these rapacious companies are EXECTLY guilty of! Further, more than Fannie and Freddy got bailed out who WERE/ARE privately owned!!

[@sulimanthemagnificent4893]

Yeah but didn't you hear his analogy of basketball? at 44:00

[@jscottupton]

Brilliant. It's ironic that Greenspan, in his youth, was a libertarian.

[@dsn1964]

@sfiorare Name-calling will get you nowhere. And it's not CFA.....it's CRA (Community Reinvestment Act)....And I mentioned it along with several other things, and the list is not all-inclusive. Nothing I say is 'all over the map'....The progression of the housing and credit mess is easy to follow by timeline, and well-documented. Also...Please note I'm not pointing fingers at particular Partys...Plenty of blame to go along. The fact remains...Guys like Woods were warning about the

[@Mannypacquia0]

anyone else, thinks hes like the austrian economics verison, of andrew napolitano? anyone?

[@WideWorldOfWisdom]

@residentzombie Keynes died 23 years before the economics prize (which is not really a Nobel, btw) was created. I would have to guess he was talking about Krugman and Stiglitz. For info on the lottery called the "Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics", see link below: blog.mises.org/8759/

[@PrivateAckbar]

I was talking about them. Marxism is just hate and fear is what I mean.

[@sierrahun1]

@stratvic Mostly because they included a long negotiation with the communist party how they formulate the constitution before holding free elections in 1990. So it was rather an agreement between the communists and the democrats than a revolution. Also they count more examples and all of them are false. If you think the people did no agression in the Philippines just explain how they captured the radio (like us back in 1956). Free from foreign intervention and influence there is no nonv.-rev

[@ludwigvanel9192]

It makes me wonder(I buy into the explanation of distorted signals, mind you) Hoe about when banks can lend out money they don't have? Fractional reserve banking) - which is a cause of inflation in itself. But if they have no money they can still loan out some digital money as easy as0001 0011 0111, even if the consumer chooses to spend instead of to save .

[@hadensbigfatclipstackaroon2695]

Fractional reserve banking causes the business cycle via the same function, but without a central bank cartelizing them, their money creation would be quite limited. If there was free and open competition in banking, the trend would be much closer to full reserves even if the fractional reserve system wasn't abolished. The reason is that, when banks make loans and people spend that money through whatever means, those claims on money go to other banks, who then request the compensation at the end of the month. If you made a loan of $100 that was only backed by $50 in reserves, you would have to send $100 to another bank at the end of the month, unless you had coordinated to inflate simultaneously. This would be nearly impossible in a free market, though, because anyone could start a bank that operates outside of the cartel and demand full redemption, acquiring huge proportions of the money from the other banks quite rapidly, causing the other banks to adjust their ratios upward to compensate. Even the threat of this possibility would increase reserve ratios to prevent sudden bank failures if this were to happen unexpectedly. This doesn't happen in our society only because it is illegal to start a bank without becoming part of the cartel. In a free market, the only safe option would be a very high reserve ratio, or better yet abolishing fractional reserve banking in the first place, as it is inherently fraudulent to claim to "lend" something which you do not own.

[@rapidfireXring]

@sfiorare There are few people who don't promote their own books. And what he asks for is money, he would undoubtedly accept silver or gold too. A prostitute to knowledge and understanding? You should be so blessed.

[@FilAmFan]

News Flash from Reuters: By Rick Rothacker: Fri Aug 10, 2012 8:41am EDT "(Reuters) - U.S. regulators directed five of the country's biggest banks, including Bank of America Corp and Goldman Sachs Group Inc, to develop plans for staving off collapse if they faced serious problems, emphasizing that the banks could not count on government help." What do they mean "if they faced serious problems"? Do they mean to imply that the banks are not facing serious problems now?

[@ohedd]

@malkooth Or you just fail to see that 1+1=2

[@sfiorare]

@rapidfireXring - ron paul was 100% wrong in his 1988 prediction there hasn't been a depression in nearly 80 years

[@WillC3030]

chickenwingerpag - nobody has made the bricks

[@sfiorare]

@rapidfireXring - so you went to private schools?

[@kimberHD45]

Spoken like a true statist.

[@timbitsnomson]

Tom Woods even talks in academic language.

[@pretorious700]

0:52:26 is a lol moment

[@robertbrothers2099]

Not just that--but votes are binary. Aggregate demand actually measures the degree of the want in the holistic context of all other wants-on average.

[@robertbrothers2099]

+Robert Brothers It can be obstructed though by adding rigidity to the structure. But it is a much more natural measure.

[@robertbrothers2099]

+Robert Brothers In addition, the vote changes nothing about the conflict of interest between the system and the civilian.

[@robertbrothers2099]

+Robert Brothers The more it fails, the more money it makes, and the more power it gets.

[@sfiorare]

@dsn1964 - one more time show me the evidence for the cra being a primary factor in the recent crisis, show me a source for the assertion or admit you just made it up send any links in a pm or show the site title so i can google it

[@rexmann1984]

Ahh... Naive Tom. 😂🤣 If only they stopped at 1%....

[@sfiorare]

@dsn1964 - as is usual with scatterbrains like you, your comments are all over the map, let's take one issue at a time i'm quite familiar with the cfa and you seem to suggest it's a primary factor in the recent crisis; either show me the evidence for that, show me a source for the assertion or admit you just made it up send any links in a pm or show the site title so i can google it

[@rapidfireXring]

@sfiorare You seem to know more about prostitutes than you are revealing. Now about lying: You stated "at 2:45 ron paul said, "I anticipate, and many Austrian free market economists anticipate, that the recession that's coming will not be a recession at all but it will a depression and it will probably be bigger than the one we had in the 1930s" You stated he was lying, whereas he told the truth and was accurate in his assessment. He has an accurate grasp on facts and cause and effect

[@timbitsnomson]

Notice the more free market economists get, the more funny they get?

[@1oceanwave1]

See the pure math of the problem. PLEASE check out Mike Montagne's website at perfecteconomy com It will will open many eyes to the whole scam of money.

[@delatroy]

lol nice

[@probablynotmyname8521]

Tom needs to work on his tie, the knot is always too small.

[@sfiorare]

@KennyGMoneyMaka - not only is the austrian school archaic, its views are so cranky and idiosyncratic that one can only wonder that they have been taken seriously by anyone

[@Woodchuckk]

@malkooth I have no idea WTF your talking about, are you trying to insult me for being Christian ? (i am atheist by the way) or are you implying that Christian Republicans are at fault for the bad economy ? Anyone know wtf this malkooth guy is saying?

[@dsn1964]

@sfiorare Guys like Woods (et al) were warning about the housing/credit house of cards in 2006, 2007, and even into 2008 when the rest of the geniuses were still touting investing in REITs and the stock market. Big oops, huh? The fact remains....Disaster struck, and here you are calling Woods an idiot for it (and by extension, calling me one) when he and his economic confederates in the Austrian School had nothing to do with it. Wake up, man.

[@PrivateAckbar]

Dude you don't need to rant at me. I only mean that a person can put hate down. Like American History x if you've ever seen that film. It's bullshit that you need to be schooled in. I think everyone is libertarian at root.

[@ohedd]

Is there really anyone supporting Keynesianism, central banks and shit like that anymore?

[@mites7]

I work in the field, if you have any questions feel free to ask And dont worry, I dont work for one the big guys, we hate them too lol

[@fastphys]

Just because someone is horribly wrong and perhaps stubborn or close minded does not mean they are stupid. It means they are a force to be dealt with. I would like to see you debate Keynes himself. You can even have an extra half century of knowledge. Who do you think would left feeling stupid? Name calling gets us nowhere.

[@MrLibertarian94]

lol

[@JakeNonphixion]

@cooljoeshmo You obviously stopped listening to this lecture 10 minutes in. What your saying is completely false. The factors that you describe are SYMPTOMS of the problem. You miss the point entirely. These SYMPTOMS would fizzle out without the federal reserve pouring gasoline in the flames. Woods gives plenty of facts to back this account.

[@sfiorare]

@KennyGMoneyMaka - i don't have to say anything to discredit the mises institute, that do it to themselves the only school of economic thought that's more archaic than keynesians are the austrians

[@sfiorare]

@KennyGMoneyMaka - evidently you have no clue what proof is