Episode
War, Easy Money, and the Working-Class Squeeze
- Podcast
- Minor Issues
- Published
- May 23, 2026
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Summary
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