The Theory of Money and Credit, Ludwig von Mises, 1953

“[T]he gold standard did not collapse.  Governments abolished it in order to pave the way for inflation.” [p. 420] <Buy>  <PDF>

What Has Government Done to Our Money?, Murray N. Rothbard, 2005

“Money is a commodity.  Learning this simple lesson is one of the world’s most important tasks.”  [p. 19] <Buy> <PDF>

The Case Against the Fed, Murray N. Rothbard, 1994

“The real reason for the adoption of the Federal Reserve, and its promotion by the large banks, was the exact opposite of their loudly trumpeted motivations.  Rather than create an institution to curb their own profits on behalf of the public interest, the banks sought a Central Bank to enhance their profits by permitting them to inflate far beyond the bounds set by free-market competition.”  [pp. 83-84] <Buy> <PDF>

The Mystery of Banking, Murray N. Rothbard, 2008

Under fractional reserve banking, “the deposit banker has suddenly become a loan banker; the difference is he is not taking his own savings or borrowing in order to lend to consumers or investors.  Instead he is taking someone else’s money and lending it out at the same time that the depositor thinks his money is still available for him to redeem. ”  [p. 96] <Buy> <PDF>

The Flight of the Barbarous Relic (novel), George Ford Smith, 2008

“Yugoslavia and Germany present examples of runaway inflation, where during the meltdown’s late stages the value of the currency drops so fast it ceases to function as a medium of exchange.  But as the history of central banking and fiat money makes clear, we don’t need a runaway inflation to create hell on earth.  Ordinary inflation will do just fine.”  [p. 242] <Buy>

The Creature from Jekyll Island, G. Edward Griffin, Fourth Edition, 2002

“What emerged [from the secret Jekyll Island meeting of 1910] was a cartel agreement with five objectives:

1. 1.stop the growing competition from the nation’s newer banks;
   

2. 2.obtain a franchise to create money out of nothing for the purpose of lending;
   

3. 3.get control of the reserves of all banks so that the more reckless ones would not be exposed to currency drains and bank runs;
   

4. 4.get the taxpayer to pick up the cartel’s inevitable losses;
   

5. 5.and convince Congress that the purpose was to protect the public.
   

It was realized that the bankers would have to become partners with the politicians and that the structure of the cartel would have to be a central bank.  The record shows that the Fed has failed to achieve its [publicly] stated objectives.  That is because those were never its true goals.  As a banking cartel, and in terms of the five objectives stated above, it has been an unqualified success.”  [p. 23, emphasis added] <Buy>

End the Fed, Ron Paul

“Following the creation of the Fed [in 1913], the government would discover other uses for an elastic money supply aside from keeping the banking system defaulting on its obligations.  It would prove useful in funding war.  It is no coincidence that the century of total war coincided with the century of central banking.” [p. 63], 2009, <Buy>

Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse, Thomas E. Woods Jr.

“The Fed is the elephant in the living room that everyone pretends not to notice.  Even many of those who blame government for the current mess leave the Fed out of the picture altogether.  The free market, meanwhile, takes the blame for the destructive consequences of what it does.  This charade has gone on long enough.” [p. 9], 2009, <Buy>

The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Great Depression and the New Deal, Robert P. Murphy

“This book will show you what really happened, and arm you against the apologists for the federal juggernaut.  It was big government -- in alliance with some members of big business -- that fueled the 1920s stock market boom and made the 1929 crash inevitable.  It was even bigger government under Hoover and then FDR that kept tinkering with the market, delaying recovery, and leading us into the worst economic downturn in American history -- and it could happen again, if we’re guided by myth rather than fact.” [p. 3], 2009, <Buy>

The Ethics of Money Production, Jörg Guido Hülsmann

“[T]he only way to fight moral hazard without destroying its source, fiat inflation, is to subject the economy to a Soviet-style central plan.  Central planning or hyperinflation (or some mix between the two)--this is what the future holds for an economy under paper money.” [p. 172], 2008,    <Buy> <PDF>

Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles,  Jesús Huerta de Soto

“In short, the ability to create money ex nihilo generates wealth the banker can easily appropriate, provided customers do not doubt his good conduct.  The generation of this wealth is detrimental to many third parties, each of whom suffers a share of the damage caused by the banker’s activities.  It is impossible to identify these individuals, and they are unlikely to recognize the harm they suffer or to discover the identity of the perpetrator.” [p. 191], 2006,   <Buy> <PDF>

Money and Freedom, Hans F. Sennholz

“Inflation is a symptom of the money monopoly; it comes to an end only when the monopoly is dismantled.  The monopoly may swell and retreat--always in accordance with the aspirations of the politicians in power.  Its end result is destruction of the national currency; this is followed by ‘currency reform’ that brings forth another monopoly issue, which in time will be inflated again.” [p. 80] <Buy> <Download>

The Rationale of Central Banking and the Free Banking Alternative, Vera C. Smith, 1936

“A central bank is not a natural product of banking development.  It is imposed from outside or comes into being as the result of Government favours.”   <Buy>  <Read>

America’s Great Depression, Murray N. Rothbard, Fifth Edition, 2000

During the 1920s, “Federal Reserve authorities, in promulgating their inflationary policies, were motivated not only by the desire to help British inflation and to subsidize farmers, but were also guided - or rather misguided - by the fashionable economic theory of a stable price level as the goal of monetary manipulation.”  [p. 181] <Buy> <PDF>

Quotes from additional readings

“[T]he evils of paper money have no end. Its uncertain and fluctuating value is continually awakening or creating new schemes of deceit.” Thomas Paine on Paper Money, 1786

“[T]he U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press (or, today, its electronic equivalent), that allows it to produce as many U.S. dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost.” Ben Bernanke, speech, 2002, <Read>

“In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation.”  Alan Greenspan, “Gold and Economic Freedom,” 1966  <Buy>  <Read>

“No one is in a position to restrain the president, the Congress, or the courts so long as the dollar is as printable as paper.” Lew Rockwell, “The Cause That Won’t Go Away,” 6-3-2008, <Read>

“You can line up 100 professional war historians and political scientists and talk about the twentieth century, and not one is likely to mention the role of the Fed in funding U.S. militarism. And yet it is true: the Fed is the institution that has created the money to fund the wars.” Lew Rockwell, “War and Inflation,” June 9, 2008, <Read>

“My objection is that the [proposed Federal Reserve Act] permits a vast inflation of our currency . . .”  Senator Elihu Root, in Congress, December 13, 1913

“There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to [inflate] the currency.”  John Maynard Keynes, Economic Consequences of the Peace, 1919 <Buy>  <Read>