Minor Issues

Mark Thornton

Succinct economic commentary by Dr. Mark Thornton, senior fellow at the Mises Institute.

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#191
August 22 · length unknown
Austrian Economics, Gold, and the Fed’s Confidence Game
Mark Thornton opens with an interview from the Rothbard Graduate Seminar on what makes Austrian economics distinct, why the Mises Institute matters, and how Böhm-Bawerk, Mises, and Austrian business cycle theory help students understand prices, capital, interest rates, socialism, skyscrapers, and the K-shaped economy. He emphasizes Austrian economics as a coherent, deductive approach rooted in human action and useful far beyond economics departments. On Side B, Mark joins VRIC Media and CapitalCosm to discuss the Fed, oil, government debt, Social Security, younger voters, and the future of the dollar. He argues that the Fed’s real priorities are financing government debt and protecting banks and Wall Street. The transcript of the interview with Recep Kocyigit, "Skyscrapers, Böhm-Bawerk, and the K-Shaped Economy: A Conversation with Dr. Mark Thornton," is available in PDF: https://mises.org/MI_191_PDF 2026 is the Year of Rothbard—Murray's 100th birthday—and we're celebrating by giving away free copies of The Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar through August 31. Grab yours today at https://mises.org/issuesfree 20% off listener offer on the insulated Minor Issues tumbler and three of Mark's books: https://mises.org/MinorIssuesTumbler. Use coupon code Thornton. Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues
#185
August 15 · length unknown
Government Intervention and Economic Inequality
Mark Thornton revisits his Mises University lecture on government intervention and economic inequality, arguing that intervention does not merely shrink the economic pie: it changes who gets the biggest slices. Drawing on Rothbard’s distinction between specific and general factors of production, Mark also shows how regulations, subsidies, tariffs, licensing, healthcare rules, and monetary policy reward protected firms, specialized capital, and politically favored workers while forcing everyone else into less productive, lower-paying alternatives. On Side B, Mark joins the David Lynn Show to discuss tariffs, the Fed, the business cycle, the Skyscraper Curse, AI data centers, war risks, diesel and fertilizer shortages, and why today’s boom may be approaching its breaking point. 2026 is the Year of Rothbard—Murray's 100th birthday—and we're celebrating by giving away free copies of The Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar through August 31. Grab yours today at https://mises.org/issuesfree 20% off listener offer on the insulated Minor Issues tumbler and three of Mark's books: https://mises.org/MinorIssuesTumbler. Use coupon code Thornton. Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues
#185
August 8 · length unknown
Republican Party Displacement
Mark Thornton returns to Rothbard’s idea of major party realignment, arguing that ideology—not interest-group politics alone—drives long-term political change. He applies that framework to today’s Republican Party, tracing its roots in crony capitalism, protectionism, prohibitionism, and single-issue coalitions, while arguing that the modern uniparty supports inflation, war, runaway spending, debt, and the erosion of the middle class. On Side B, Mark joins Little by Little to discuss war, business cycles, bond-market distrust, private credit, gold, AI, and the growing divide between official statistics and household reality. He warns that political barriers can delay realignment only so long before pressure builds toward revolution, but closes with optimism: young Americans are increasingly rejecting the parties, the media, and state propaganda—and are more open to Austrian economics than ever. Additional Resources "Major Party Realignment" by Mark Thornton (Minor Issues, Episode 186): https://mises.org/podcasts/minor-issues/major-party-realignment "The Transformation of the American Party System" by Murray N. Rothbard: https://mises.org/mises-daily/transformation-american-party-system "Taking Government Out of Politics: Murray Rothbard on Political and Local Reform during the Progressive Era" by Patrick Newman (Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics): https://mises.org/quarterly-journal-austrian-economics/taking-government-out-politics-murray-rothbard-political-and-local-reform-during-progressive-era "Murray Rothbard’s Lessons for the Right" by David Brady Jr. (Modern Age Journal): https://modernagejournal.com/murray-rothbard-conservative-libertarian/254754 2026 is the Year of Rothbard—Murray's 100th birthday—and we're celebrating by giving away free copies of The Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar through August 31. Grab yours today at https://mises.org/issuesfree 20% off listener offer on the insulated Minor Issues tumbler and three of Mark's books: https://mises.org/MinorIssuesTumbler. Use coupon code Thornton. Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues
#185
August 1 · length unknown
Gold, Socialism, and the Crisis of the Dollar
Mark Thornton opens this triple-header episode with a live Radio Rothbard appearance from Mises University, joining Ryan McMaken to discuss inflation, the K-shaped economy, asset prices, debt, the dollar, and why Austrian theory explains what mainstream accounts leave out. Thornton argues that monetary inflation benefits asset owners and government-connected interests first, while working households face higher prices long before wages catch up. On Side B, Mark joins Freedom Works interview on democratic socialism, where he explains why young Americans are drawn to socialism, how government intervention created many of their grievances, and why free markets remain the real path forward. The episode closes with Wall Street Bullion to discuss gold, silver, energy, debt service, the weakening dollar, BRICS, the petrodollar, and the economic fallout from war in the Persian Gulf. 2026 is the Year of Rothbard—Murray's 100th birthday—and we're celebrating by giving away free copies of The Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar through August 31. Grab yours today at https://mises.org/issuesfree 20% off listener offer on the insulated Minor Issues tumbler and three of Mark's books: https://mises.org/MinorIssuesTumbler. Use coupon code Thornton. Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues
#185
July 25 · length unknown
Stocks, Manure, Gold, and Socialism: Markets and Bad Ideas
Mark Thornton opens with an update on the “Stocks versus Manure” prediction contest, where agricultural stocks are beating the S&P 500 year to date. He then joins Maggie Lake on Wealthion to discuss gold, silver, mining stocks, Kevin Warsh, Fed policy, interest rates, the dollar, and why the long-term thesis for precious metals rests on debt, deficits, monetary inflation, and financial repression. On Side B, Thornton appears on NTD to discuss the rising appeal of democratic socialism among younger Americans. He argues that young voters are reacting to real burdens—debt, unaffordable education, healthcare, housing, and Social Security promises—but are being drawn toward policies that cannot solve them. Mark also explains why socialism fails in theory and practice, from the calculation problem to incentives, and why education is essential to reversing the trend. 2026 is the Year of Rothbard—Murray's 100th birthday—and we're celebrating by giving away free copies of The Origins of the Federal Reserve through July 31. Grab yours today at https://mises.org/issuesfree 20% off listener offer on the insulated Minor Issues tumbler and three of Mark's books: https://mises.org/MinorIssuesTumbler. Use coupon code Thornton. Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues
#185
July 18 · length unknown
Major Party Realignment
Mark Thornton looks at the growing strength of democratic socialism inside the Democratic Party and asks whether the United States may be entering another era of major party realignment. Drawing on Rothbard’s analysis of long-term ideological change, Mark explains how younger voters, burdened by debt, unaffordable housing, healthcare, and education, are understandably angry—but are turning toward policies that helped create the crisis. Mark also examines how war, inflation, government intervention, and broken political promises are reshaping both major parties. On Side B, Thornton joins the Liberty and Finance podcast to discuss monetary disorder, central bank digital currencies, programmable money, AI-driven surveillance, the war on cash, and the need for education and resistance against the next monetary reset. Additional Resources "Keith Knight’s Top Ten Problems with Democratic Socialism" (Human Action Podcast) with Bob Murphy: https://mises.org/MI_186_A "How Democratic Socialists of America Has Developed Into a Movement Party" by David Duhalde: https://mises.org/MI_186_B "The Myth of Democratic Socialism" by Murray Rothbard: https://mises.org/MI_186_C "How Democratic Socialism Created California's Housing Crisis" by Chris Calton: https://mises.org/MI_186_D "Democratic Socialism IS Totalitarianism" by Bill Anderson: https://mises.org/MI_186_E "How to Fix the Economics of Healthcare" by Bob Murphy: https://mises.org/MI_186_F 2026 is the Year of Rothbard—Murray's 100th birthday—and we're celebrating by giving away free copies of The Origins of the Federal Reserve through July 31. Grab yours today at https://mises.org/issuesfree 20% off listener offer on the insulated Minor Issues tumbler and three of Mark's books: https://mises.org/MinorIssuesTumbler. Use coupon code Thornton. Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues
#185
July 11 · length unknown
The Dupes of War: Mises on Statism, Propaganda, and Foreign Conflict
On the latest episode of Minor Issues, Mark Thornton examines the “dupes of war”—citizens trained by government, schools, and historians to accept false stories about the causes, costs, and supposed benefits of war. Drawing on Ludwig von Mises, Mark argues that war is not caused by isolated incidents or sudden crises, but by statism, nationalism, interventionism, and state worship. He challenges the standard narratives around World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor, wartime “prosperity,” and government-funded innovation, warning that war benefits politicians, bankers, the military-industrial complex, and global power elites while destroying lives, capital, trade, and civilization itself. On Side B, Thornton joins Kai Hoffmann to discuss the three Austrian “bust signals”: asset bubbles, price inflation, and the K-shaped economy. He also covers gold, silver, commodities, war-driven supply shocks, Fed propaganda, and why younger people are increasingly hungry for real economics. 2026 is the Year of Rothbard—Murray's 100th birthday—and we're celebrating by giving away free copies of The Origins of the Federal Reserve through July 31. Grab yours today at https://mises.org/issuesfree 20% off listener offer on the insulated Minor Issues tumbler and three of Mark's books: https://mises.org/MinorIssuesTumbler. Use coupon code Thornton. Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues
#184
July 4 · length unknown
The Vine That Ate the South: Government Solutions vs. Market Solutions
Mark Thornton delays part three of his series on American government in favor of something lighter for the 250th: the story of kudzu, the vine that ate the South. Japanese gardeners brought it to America in 1876 as an ornamental plant. Private interest stayed limited. Then FDR's Soil Conservation Service paid farmers to blanket millions of acres with it—to fix erosion and dust bowl conditions that earlier government policies had helped create. Kudzu grew a foot a day, swallowed trees, houses, and power lines, and became an environmental menace in the Southeast. Government herbicides couldn't kill it. What's actually working is a market solution nobody planned: entrepreneurs who lease goat herds to graze kudzu patches, draining the rootstock over a few years while producing goat meat for the working class. Side B features a Tasty Live interview in which Mark explains all three Austrian business cycle indicators firing simultaneously—the stock bubble, price inflation, and the K-shaped economy—and traces the historical pattern connecting tariffs, strategic stockpiling, and industrial policy to the wars that follow. 2026 is the Year of Rothbard—Murray's 100th birthday—and we're celebrating by giving away free copies of The Origins of the Federal Reserve through July 31. Grab yours today at https://mises.org/issuesfree 20% off listener offer on the insulated Minor Issues tumbler and three of Mark's books: https://mises.org/MinorIssuesTumbler. Use coupon code Thornton. Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues
#183
June 27 · length unknown
Politics as Power: Elites, Inflation, and the Austrian Answer
Mark Thornton opens this episode of Minor Issues by tracing how politics shifted from the classical ideal of justice and community order into a Machiavellian struggle for power, privilege, and control. He argues that modern politics is dominated by entrenched elites, special interests, propaganda networks, and a two-party system designed to keep ordinary voters alienated and powerless. On Side B, Mark joins Adrian Day and Rich Checkan for a wide-ranging discussion of inflation, debt, financial repression, gold, commodities, artificial intelligence, the Austrian business cycle, and the rise of socialist sentiment among younger Americans. Mark explains why learning Austrian economics is essential for understanding markets, government failure, and the crises ahead. 2026 is the Year of Rothbard—Murray's 100th birthday—and we're celebrating by giving away free copies of Keynes the Man through June 30. Grab yours today at https://mises.org/issuesfree 20% off listener offer on the insulated Minor Issues tumbler and three of Mark's books: https://mises.org/MinorIssuesTumbler. Use coupon code Thornton. Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues
#181
June 20 · length unknown
The Fed’s New Face, Same Old Game
Mark Thornton examines Kevin Warsh’s first Fed meeting and argues that despite the tough rhetoric, nothing fundamental has changed. The Federal Reserve still exists to keep government borrowing cheap, protect banks and Wall Street, and manage appearances while real inflation erodes household purchasing power. Mark explains why real interest rates are already low or negative, how Fed liquidity continues to fuel asset bubbles, and why AI, data centers, government debt, and stock-market leverage all point to late-stage business-cycle danger. On Side B, Thornton joins Murray Sabrin to discuss the economy, the Skyscraper Curse, gold, commodities, and the practical habits that help people navigate a rigged monetary system. 2026 is the Year of Rothbard—Murray's 100th birthday—and we're celebrating by giving away free copies of Keynes the Man through June 30. Grab yours today at https://mises.org/issuesfree Register for our upcoming Mises Circle, Why Is the Healthcare System Broken?, June 27 in Windham, New Hampshire: https://mises.org/events/why-healthcare-system-broken-mises-circle-new-hampshire 20% off listener offer on the insulated Minor Issues tumbler and three of Mark's books: https://mises.org/MinorIssuesTumbler. Use coupon code Thornton. Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues
#181
June 13 · length unknown
Why Politicians Lie—and How Easy Money Keeps the Boom Alive
On this episode of Minor Issues, Mark Thornton opens with a review of John Mearsheimer’s Why Do Politicians Lie?, focusing on strategic deception in international affairs, especially in the Middle East, Israel, Vietnam, Iraq, and America’s own constitutional history. Mark argues that political lies are not merely moral failures; they are tools for empire, war, and state expansion. On Side B, Thornton joins What The Finance to explain how runaway spending, Fed liquidity, and Austrian business cycle theory reveal the deeper mechanics behind today’s markets. He discusses the AI and data-center bubble, the Fed’s role in sustaining malinvestment, the pressure on working families, and why gold, silver, and commodities are benefiting from a long era of monetary inflation and political dysfunction. 2026 is the Year of Rothbard—Murray's 100th birthday—and we're celebrating by giving away free copies of Keynes the Man through June 30. Grab yours today at https://mises.org/issuesfree Register for our upcoming Mises Circle, Why Is the Healthcare System Broken?, June 27 in Windham, New Hampshire: https://mises.org/events/why-healthcare-system-broken-mises-circle-new-hampshire 20% off listener offer on the insulated Minor Issues tumbler and three of Mark's books: https://mises.org/MinorIssuesTumbler. Use coupon code Thornton. Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues
#170
June 6 · length unknown
Taxpayers vs. Tax-Consumers: Rothbard’s Real Theory of Taxes and Spending
Mark Thornton replays his Rothbard University lecture on government spending and taxation, using Rothbard’s framework of binary intervention to overturn the standard civics-story that taxes are “the cost” of government and spending is “the benefit.” Mark argues both are economically destructive and distortionary, and that treating them as neutral is a category mistake. Drawing on John C. Calhoun’s class analysis, he distinguishes net taxpayers from net tax-consumers, explaining how political finance systematically transfers wealth, reshapes production, and undermines saving, family formation, and long-run growth. The lecture closes with a vivid “wagon” analogy: as more people move from pulling to riding, the whole economy slows and eventually stalls. 2026 is the Year of Rothbard—Murray's 100th birthday—and we're celebrating by giving away free copies of Keynes the Man through June 30. Grab yours today at https://mises.org/issuesfree Register for our upcoming Mises Circle, Why Is the Healthcare System Broken?, June 27 in Windham, New Hampshire: https://mises.org/events/why-healthcare-system-broken-mises-circle-new-hampshire 20% off listener offer on the insulated Minor Issues tumbler and three of Mark's books: https://mises.org/MinorIssuesTumbler. Use coupon code Thornton. Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues
#170
May 30 · length unknown
What Adam Smith Left Out of the Pin Factory
Mark Thornton shares his recent Rothbard University lecture on the division of labor, the concept Adam Smith made famous as chapter one of The Wealth of Nations but never fully explained. Smith described workers specializing in tasks and productivity rising, then attributed the result to an invisible hand he couldn't account for. Rothbard accounted for it: the entrepreneur decides how to organize production, the capitalist funds it, and the price system guides both. Without them, the workers in Smith's pin factory would have no factory, no pins, and no wages. Mark traces this insight from Sparta versus Athens to feudalism versus Venice to Henry Ford's assembly line, showing why every system that ignored the entrepreneur failed for the same reason. 2026 is the Year of Rothbard—Murray's 100th birthday—and we're celebrating by giving away free copies of Anatomy of the State through May 31. Grab yours today at https://mises.org/issuesfree Register for our upcoming Mises Circle, Why Is the Healthcare System Broken?, June 27 in Windham, New Hampshire: https://mises.org/events/why-healthcare-system-broken-mises-circle-new-hampshire 20% off listener offer on the insulated Minor Issues tumbler and three of Mark's books: https://mises.org/MinorIssuesTumbler. Use coupon code Thornton. Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues
#170
May 23 · length unknown
War, Easy Money, and the Working-Class Squeeze
Mark Thornton replays his wide-ranging Kitco News interview with Jeremy Szafron, connecting today’s “two economies” to Ludwig von Mises’s Austrian business cycle theory. Easy money and credit inflation lift asset owners, big corporations, and government finance, while working families get the bill through higher prices and weaker real wages. They discuss late-cycle signals in tech and AI and broader corporate credit, and how war-driven energy shocks feed into a wider commodity surge. Mark also breaks down Cantillon effects at the kitchen-table level and closes with bottom-up strategies like local resilience, savings, and removing tax barriers to using gold and silver as practical inflation protection. 2026 is the Year of Rothbard—Murray's 100th birthday—and we're celebrating by giving away free copies of Anatomy of the State through May 31. Grab yours today at https://mises.org/issuesfree Register for our upcoming Mises Circle, Why Is the Healthcare System Broken?, June 27 in Windham, New Hampshire: https://mises.org/events/why-healthcare-system-broken-mises-circle-new-hampshire 20% off listener offer on the insulated Minor Issues tumbler and three of Mark's books: https://mises.org/MinorIssuesTumbler. Use coupon code Thornton. Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues
#170
May 16 · length unknown
Predicting Recession
On the latest episode of Minor Issues, Mark Thornton opens with a candid assessment of his own prediction record: what he got right, what he got wrong, and why Austrian economics tells you what must come but not when. He then turns to the current landscape: every major valuation metric is flashing red, market concentration exceeds the level on the cusp of the 1987 crash, deficit spending is at World War II levels, and the Fed is injecting $40 billion a month in new liquidity. Yet Wall Street remains unanimously bullish. The second half features an interview with Kaniki Kojo on gold, fiat currencies, and the Austrian school's growing global influence. 2026 is the Year of Rothbard—Murray's 100th birthday—and we're celebrating by giving away free copies of Anatomy of the State through May 31. Grab yours today at https://mises.org/issuesfree Register for our upcoming Mises Circle, Why Is the Healthcare System Broken?, June 27 in Windham, New Hampshire: https://mises.org/events/why-healthcare-system-broken-mises-circle-new-hampshire 20% off listener offer on the insulated Minor Issues tumbler and three of Mark's books: https://mises.org/MinorIssuesTumbler. Use coupon code Thornton. Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues
#170
May 9 · length unknown
The Petrodollar Cracks, the Skyscraper Stalls, and the Commodity Firestorm
Mark Thornton opens this episode with a strategic assessment of the war's economic fallout: not the headlines, but the second- and third-order effects that are only now becoming visible. Oil production facilities across the Gulf have been destroyed, disrupted, or shut down, and restarting them is not a matter of flipping a switch. Some older wells will need to be redrilled entirely. Meanwhile, the disruption to fertilizer production threatens the next crop season and potentially longer-term food prices worldwide Mark also provides a skyscraper curse update: the Jeddah Tower, once expected to reach record height in early 2027, has been pushed further out as Saudi finances and Gulf logistics are redirected toward reconstruction. The commodity super cycle thesis, he argues, remains fully intact despite the gold correction. The second half features a detailed interview from Palisades Gold Radio in which Mark unpacks these themes further, covering the Austrian micro approach versus the Keynesian macro framework, why the stock market can hit all-time highs while the real economy deteriorates, and why the world is slowly but steadily moving back toward commodity money. 2026 is the Year of Rothbard—Murray's 100th birthday—and we're celebrating by giving away free copies of Anatomy of the State through May 31. Grab yours today at https://mises.org/issuesfree Register for our upcoming Mises Circle, Why Is the Healthcare System Broken?, June 27 in Windham, New Hampshire: https://mises.org/events/why-healthcare-system-broken-mises-circle-new-hampshire 20% off listener offer on the new insulated Minor Issues tumbler and three of Mark's books, signed if ordered by the end of April: https://mises.org/MinorIssuesTumbler. Use coupon code Thornton. Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues
#170
May 2 · length unknown
Two Important Graphs and Rick Rule
On the latest episode of Minor Issues, Mark Thornton opens with a detailed analysis of the gold correction. Is the three-month decline a sign that inflation is over, or a temporary reallocation driven by war? The answer is in the data: the CRB commodity index continues to climb, the money supply is at an all-time high, and there is no evidence of deflation anywhere in the price structure. The inflation regime remains firmly in place, and the gold correction is a normal feature of bull markets whose real-world zigzags get smoothed away on long-term charts. The second half features a panel interview from VRC Media with Rick Rule, hosted by Darrell Thomas. Rule lays out the case for a decade-long commodity super cycle driven by 30 years of underinvestment in productive capacity. He delivers a sobering calculation: $39 trillion in on-balance-sheet federal debt plus $120 trillion in off-balance-sheet unfunded entitlement promises (a combined $160 trillion against $170 trillion in total private American net worth). The only realistic resolution, Rule argues, is a "dishonest default," inflating away the purchasing power of the dollar, just as happened in the 1970s when the dollar lost 75% of its value. Mark concurs, noting that the money supply is growing at record pace even as Washington insists it's being "restrictive." Mark's "Gold vs CRB Index" graph is available here: https://mises.org/MI175_Graph The original VRIC interview is online here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kMiiC08TNo 20% off listener offer on the new insulated Minor Issues tumbler and three of Mark's books, signed if ordered by the end of April: https://mises.org/MinorIssuesTumbler. Use coupon code Thornton. Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues
#170
April 25 · length unknown
Chemistry 101
On this episode of Minor Issues, Mark Thornton shows what most economic commentary misses: the market’s intricate structure of production. Starting with a single oil-and-gas byproduct—sulfur—Mark traces how it becomes sulfuric acid, a foundational input for fertilizers, batteries, and especially metal mining. The lesson is practical: war and intervention can disrupt these unseen links, shrinking real incomes and quietly raising the cost of everything from food production to data centers, and even your next plumbing bill. In the second part of the episode, Mark features his recent interview on The Julia La Roche Show. 20% off listener offer on the new insulated Minor Issues tumbler and three of Mark's books, signed if ordered by the end of April: https://mises.org/MinorIssuesTumbler. Use coupon code Thornton. Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues
#170
April 18 · length unknown
Mark Thornton on the “Synthetic Boom”
On this Minor Issues episode, Mark Thornton shares his recent interview with "Pinnacle Digest" host Aaron Hodnett. Mark uses Austrian business cycle theory to explain how “cheap money” distorts investment and leaves a fragile financial system that eventually has to correct. They dig into timing and market signals, what might finally expose the long-running “papered-over” boom, and how the Federal Reserve and policymakers typically respond when the cycle turns. 20% off listener offer on the new insulated Minor Issues tumbler and three of Mark's books, signed if ordered by the end of April: https://mises.org/MinorIssuesTumbler. Use coupon code Thornton. Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues
#170
April 11 · length unknown
Why War Is Pushing Gold Down and Oil Up
Mark Thornton unpacks a counterintuitive correlation: as the Persian Gulf conflict escalates, oil spikes while gold and silver slide. He explains how higher oil feeds the CPI, locks central banks out of rate cuts, and pressures precious metals through the dollar and petrodollar system, distinguishing the real monetary inflation gold tracks from the statistical indexes driving Fed decisions. Stick around for a wide-ranging Commodity Culture interview with Jesse Day on the festering world war and the path back to hard money. Plus, an update on the 2026 stocks-vs-MOO prediction contest (fertilizer is running away with it). 20% off listener offer on the new insulated Minor Issues tumbler and three of Mark's books, signed if ordered by the end of April: https://mises.org/MinorIssuesTumbler. Use coupon code Thornton. Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues

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