WEBVTT NOTE The Fed, Gold, and Troubled Times 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.680 In preparing for teaching a course at Auburn University, which I plan to do in January, 2 00:00:06.680 --> 00:00:11.680 the title is going to be Creation of the American Republic. I've been doing a good bit of reading 3 00:00:11.680 --> 00:00:16.840 on the period of American history leading up to the creation of the Constitution and 4 00:00:16.840 --> 00:00:22.040 into the debates for the ratification of the Constitution. And in doing that, I've also 5 00:00:22.040 --> 00:00:30.040 I also looked at a lot of the correspondence of the founders and their ideas concerning the Constitution. 6 00:00:30.040 --> 00:00:36.040 In this study, I had an opportunity to read what is probably some of the correspondence, 7 00:00:36.040 --> 00:00:40.040 but probably the most brilliant correspondence in American history. 8 00:00:40.040 --> 00:00:47.040 This occurred between ex-presidents, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, near the end of their respective lives. 9 00:00:47.040 --> 00:00:52.880 And as you know, they both died on the same day, July the 4th in the same year. 10 00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:57.040 I thought I doubt very seriously any future generation is going to read any brilliant 11 00:00:57.040 --> 00:01:03.320 correspondence between ex-presidents George W. Bush and Obama. 12 00:01:03.320 --> 00:01:08.960 One of the important lines in the correspondence between Adams and Jefferson was a statement 13 00:01:08.960 --> 00:01:16.700 by Adams to the effect that the American Revolution did not begin with the war in 1775, but it 14 00:01:16.700 --> 00:01:22.300 It began in the, quote, hearts and minds of the American people many years before the 15 00:01:22.300 --> 00:01:24.220 war, end quote. 16 00:01:24.220 --> 00:01:29.180 I've been trying to trace the ideas that led to the American Revolution and the Constitution 17 00:01:29.180 --> 00:01:31.700 and tracing those ideas back. 18 00:01:31.700 --> 00:01:40.740 One path led directly to the publication of 144 essays beginning all the way back in 1720. 19 00:01:40.740 --> 00:01:43.420 They were called Cato's Letters. 20 00:01:43.420 --> 00:01:48.020 They were written by two men, John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon. 21 00:01:48.020 --> 00:01:53.620 These essays found a very large and receptive audience immediately in England, but over the 22 00:01:53.620 --> 00:02:00.420 years and up until the American Revolution, these letters still remained popular and influential 23 00:02:00.420 --> 00:02:02.480 to the American colonists. 24 00:02:02.480 --> 00:02:09.720 The event which triggered these essays was called the South Sea Bubble, which was a huge 25 00:02:09.720 --> 00:02:20.720 and the British financial crisis in England in 1720, similar to the economic crisis we are now in and will experience for a few more years at least. 26 00:02:20.720 --> 00:02:33.720 Even though these essays related to strictly a British problem, the colonists found them very important for the ideas of independence and the ideas of limiting government power in the Constitution. 27 00:02:33.720 --> 00:02:43.720 Most of British history, constitutional history, has been an attempt to restrain the power of the King while making Parliament almost all-powerful. 28 00:02:43.720 --> 00:02:51.720 But the American Revolution was a very different revolt, and it was a revolt against government generally. 29 00:02:51.720 --> 00:03:01.720 And the Cato letters, which attacked government generally, were very helpful in forming the basis for the Revolution and our Constitution. 30 00:03:01.720 --> 00:03:06.840 Now take a quick look at the financial crisis called the South Sea Bubble. 31 00:03:06.840 --> 00:03:11.980 It reveals that part of the major cause was the creation of a central bank called the 32 00:03:11.980 --> 00:03:15.320 Bank of England in 1694. 33 00:03:15.320 --> 00:03:21.920 One of the main purposes of creating the bank was to allow the British Empire to fight wars, 34 00:03:21.920 --> 00:03:28.580 primarily with France, almost constantly, and to keep expanding the empire without having 35 00:03:28.580 --> 00:03:38.860 In brief, it was a way to have government spending without taxation through inflation. 36 00:03:38.860 --> 00:03:44.580 By 1711, the British government had fought so many wars under the King William and Queen 37 00:03:44.580 --> 00:03:47.940 Anne that the government was almost bankrupt. 38 00:03:47.940 --> 00:03:53.140 So the South Sea Company was created as a monopoly, mainly as a way to help pay off 39 00:03:53.140 --> 00:03:55.300 government debt. 40 00:03:55.300 --> 00:03:59.660 Other key monopolies, of course, were the Bank of England, but the East India Company. 41 00:03:59.660 --> 00:04:04.700 In the case of the South Sea Company, big bribes were paid to members of parliament 42 00:04:04.700 --> 00:04:09.260 and key administrators in the King's government in order to create a government monopoly which 43 00:04:09.260 --> 00:04:14.840 was given mainly three things, the right to slave trade in Africa, exclusive rights to 44 00:04:14.840 --> 00:04:20.720 buying or selling of certain commodities, and trade, exclusive trade with Spain. 45 00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:24.820 But it was a Ponzi scheme which allowed people to transfer government bonds to the South 46 00:04:24.820 --> 00:04:36.820 and the North Sea Company in exchange for stock. The stock price kept doubling and tripling in value year after year so that the original people who had the stock and sold it became extremely wealthy. 47 00:04:36.820 --> 00:04:53.820 Government debt was being paid off with depreciated money. Finally the bubble burst when the war broke out with Spain in 1720 and the whole scheme was laid bare to the public to see the bribery and the corruption throughout the government and the false economics that were involved. 48 00:04:53.820 --> 00:04:58.700 A similar incident occurred in France with John Law. 49 00:04:58.700 --> 00:05:04.700 As you know from reading the book entitled Crisis and Leviathan by Bob Higgs, all governments 50 00:05:04.700 --> 00:05:08.100 use each crisis to ratchet up government power. 51 00:05:08.100 --> 00:05:11.980 And of course that happened in Britain with the South Sea bubble crash because part of 52 00:05:11.980 --> 00:05:17.100 the solution proposed was to increase the power of the Bank of England, which also was 53 00:05:17.100 --> 00:05:20.060 one of the major causes of the problem in the first place. 54 00:05:20.060 --> 00:05:31.060 However, the point I want to make for the purpose of today's speech is that this economic crisis, much like the crisis we are in today and will have in the future, 55 00:05:31.060 --> 00:05:43.060 created a tremendous opportunity to reach a very large and receptive audience who were very much tuned in and interested in how this crisis came about and how it should be solved. 56 00:05:43.060 --> 00:05:49.060 And that's why the Cato letters became so important as the people were desperate to know how this terrible thing had happened. 57 00:05:49.060 --> 00:05:55.060 I'm afraid our present crisis however will eventually evolve to the point that maybe 58 00:05:55.060 --> 00:05:58.500 the South Sea bubble will seem small by comparison. 59 00:05:58.500 --> 00:06:04.260 I think our crisis primarily will be a worldwide crisis because of the exclusive use of paper 60 00:06:04.260 --> 00:06:09.140 currency with no gold backing by all of the countries, and all of the major countries 61 00:06:09.140 --> 00:06:13.900 now have similar central banks to ours as a Federal Reserve system. 62 00:06:13.900 --> 00:06:18.420 Furthermore, the world has adopted the Keynesian ideas to address the debt crisis, which is 63 00:06:18.420 --> 00:06:22.220 is simply to print more money as a stimulus. 64 00:06:22.220 --> 00:06:23.740 As you know from Austrian economics, 65 00:06:23.740 --> 00:06:25.860 this will not solve the problem, 66 00:06:25.860 --> 00:06:28.260 and it will merely make it worse. 67 00:06:28.260 --> 00:06:30.900 The situation we end reminds me of a statement 68 00:06:30.900 --> 00:06:33.380 made by the poet Robert Frost. 69 00:06:33.380 --> 00:06:36.500 He was asked what he thought about free verse, 70 00:06:36.500 --> 00:06:40.140 which is poetry which doesn't rhyme or have a regular rhythm. 71 00:06:40.140 --> 00:06:45.020 His answer was, it's like playing tennis without a net. 72 00:06:45.020 --> 00:06:46.780 Without a net, you don't know whether the shots 73 00:06:46.780 --> 00:07:02.780 There's no way to measure whether the shot was good or bad without the net. You have no way of measuring value without sound currency or backed by gold. 74 00:07:02.780 --> 00:07:08.780 So the world economy is now playing tennis without a net. 75 00:07:08.780 --> 00:07:12.780 Let's look at the Federal Reserve problem in these troubled times. 76 00:07:12.780 --> 00:07:18.220 There have been various periods throughout American history where central banks or the 77 00:07:18.220 --> 00:07:24.060 Federal Reserve system has been a big issue with both politicians and the public generally. 78 00:07:24.060 --> 00:07:28.640 We now have Congressman Ron Paul to thank for making the Federal Reserve a public and 79 00:07:28.640 --> 00:07:31.100 political issue again. 80 00:07:31.100 --> 00:07:36.020 The public is beginning to take a real interest in what the organization is and how it operates 81 00:07:36.020 --> 00:07:40.140 and whether or not it should be audited or destroyed. 82 00:07:40.140 --> 00:07:45.020 Looking back at the general history in central banking, it appears to me it actually started 83 00:07:45.020 --> 00:07:51.060 with the Dutch Republic, which was then copied in England with the Bank of England in 1694. 84 00:07:51.060 --> 00:07:56.780 It was the Bank of England which served as the model for Alexander Hamilton to propose 85 00:07:56.780 --> 00:08:00.540 the first Washington administration to have a central bank. 86 00:08:00.540 --> 00:08:05.020 The Attorney General and also the Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson, both opposed Hamilton's 87 00:08:05.020 --> 00:08:06.660 plan. 88 00:08:06.660 --> 00:08:11.360 Hamilton argued that there was no power granted in the Constitution to create the bank, but 89 00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:15.760 Hamilton used what's called the Necessary and Proper Clause and the doctrine of implied 90 00:08:15.760 --> 00:08:21.700 powers under the Commerce Clause to support the idea that the bank was constitutional. 91 00:08:21.700 --> 00:08:25.820 President Washington accepted Hamilton's ideas and the bank was created. 92 00:08:25.820 --> 00:08:31.180 The bank's charter eventually expired but was renewed by President Madison as a way 93 00:08:31.180 --> 00:08:35.200 to help pay off the government debt caused by the War of 1812. 94 00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:44.200 Again, the bank became a major political issue with voters during the administration of Andrew Jackson, who called it the monster. 95 00:08:44.200 --> 00:08:54.200 He ended central banking as an institution, letting the charter die, but it was recreated in 1913 as a part of the political movement called the Progressive Movement. 96 00:08:54.200 --> 00:09:03.200 In my study of the Constitution recently, I've come to the conclusion that it was primarily this Progressive Movement which started at the beginning of the 20th century. 97 00:09:03.200 --> 00:09:09.200 is the main intellectual and political movement which has helped destroy the effectiveness of the U.S. Constitution. 98 00:09:09.200 --> 00:09:19.200 The Progressive reached the pinnacle of their success in 1913 with the passage of one law and two constitutional amendments. 99 00:09:19.200 --> 00:09:21.200 The law was the Federal Reserve Act. 100 00:09:21.200 --> 00:09:27.200 Next was the 16th Amendment allowing income tax on the rich only. 101 00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:32.200 And finally the 17th Amendment which changed the method of electing U.S. Senators. 102 00:09:32.200 --> 00:09:47.200 The original theory of the Senate created by our founders was that the Senate was to be selected by the state legislatures to represent the states as a check and balance on the power of the national government. 103 00:09:47.200 --> 00:09:57.200 The general idea of the progressive movement was to equate democracy with liberty, whereas the founders were extremely suspicious of democracy. 104 00:09:57.200 --> 00:10:05.200 Their primary interest was liberty through the limitation of government and it was not to promote democracy as an end in itself. 105 00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:10.200 You can see the change of ideas in one of the first progressive presidents, Woodrow Wilson, 106 00:10:10.200 --> 00:10:18.200 who took America into World War I with the slogan, quote, to make the world safe for democracy instead of make the world safe for liberty. 107 00:10:18.200 --> 00:10:24.200 Both our entry into World War I and his slogan would have been absurd to our founders. 108 00:10:24.200 --> 00:10:40.200 It was a creation of the Federal Reserve and income tax, which allowed America to enter World War I, which eventually resulted in massive spending, massive debt that eventually led to the Roaring Twenties and finally to the bursting of the bubble in 1929. 109 00:10:40.200 --> 00:10:54.200 Fed head Bernanke tells us that we got, who got his PhD in economics and learned the cause of the 1929 depression and he says the cause of the depression was that the Federal Reserve put on the brakes too hard. 110 00:10:54.200 --> 00:11:03.200 He ignores completely the creation of the bubble, the massive spending during World War I, the roaring twenties that caused the bubble to exist in the first place. 111 00:11:03.200 --> 00:11:09.200 He thinks he could provide instead a stimulus or more money in order to keep the bubble from bursting. 112 00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:17.200 Bernanke's solution reminds me of an example of a driver coming down a curvy mountain road at 100 miles an hour. 113 00:11:17.200 --> 00:11:24.200 The passenger senses that the driver is losing control and he tells him to put on the brakes. 114 00:11:24.200 --> 00:11:27.200 The driver puts on the brakes and the car crashes. 115 00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:36.200 A reconstruction expert supplies the logic of Bernanke in studying the crash and comes up with the opinion and conclusion 116 00:11:36.200 --> 00:11:48.200 That the cause of the wreck was putting on the brakes, while ignoring completely the initial cause of the excessive speed on a curving mountain road, which created the problem in the first place. 117 00:11:48.200 --> 00:12:01.200 The solution this expert would recommend, if he follows the logic of Bernanke, is that speeding up would get you better traction and down to the bottom of the hill quicker. 118 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:05.200 This would help the driver solve the whole problem. 119 00:12:05.200 --> 00:12:18.200 Austrian economics and the ideas of Mises and Murray Rothbard provide the clearest answers to explaining the Great Depression in 1929 and how to solve it, and injecting new money as stimulus is not the answer. 120 00:12:18.200 --> 00:12:33.200 Now, let's look at gold in troubled times. In American history, we can look back to the American Revolution, where all the colonies, along with the central government, were printing paper money without gold backing, which resulted in a huge inflation. 121 00:12:33.200 --> 00:12:38.920 The national currency was called the Continental Currency, which gave us the slogan, quote, 122 00:12:38.920 --> 00:12:41.240 not worth the Continental. 123 00:12:41.240 --> 00:12:46.680 Most of the founders hated paper money and addressed this issue in the Constitution by 124 00:12:46.680 --> 00:12:51.320 stating that only Congress could coin money. 125 00:12:51.320 --> 00:12:55.240 No power was granted to issue bills of credit. 126 00:12:55.240 --> 00:13:00.660 That's the words that were used to describe paper money that was not backed by gold. 127 00:13:00.660 --> 00:13:07.220 On the other hand, the Constitution strictly prohibited the states from conning money or 128 00:13:07.220 --> 00:13:09.340 issuing bills of credit. 129 00:13:09.340 --> 00:13:16.340 So the clear intent of the Constitution was that you would have only gold-backed money, 130 00:13:16.340 --> 00:13:23.260 gold money or hard currency or backed paper money with hard currency. 131 00:13:23.260 --> 00:13:27.180 But unfortunately the Supreme Court didn't interpret it that way. 132 00:13:27.180 --> 00:13:31.580 As we see in the war between the states, both the North and South were printing up paper 133 00:13:31.580 --> 00:13:36.020 money to pay for the war with no specie or gold backing. 134 00:13:36.020 --> 00:13:42.340 The next great political public issue about gold was the election in 1896, when William 135 00:13:42.340 --> 00:13:48.260 Jennings Bryan captured the nomination of the Democrat Party, kicking out Grover Cleveland, 136 00:13:48.260 --> 00:13:52.700 the Grover Cleveland people, who believed in the gold standard, and they were called 137 00:13:52.700 --> 00:14:07.500 The Gold Democrats of Grover Cleveland formed a third party named the National Democrats 138 00:14:07.500 --> 00:14:11.440 to try to oppose Brown and uphold the gold standard. 139 00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:16.860 The gold standard was such an issue that the Republicans under McKinley made the gold standard 140 00:14:16.860 --> 00:14:21.640 one of their major issues in their platform and in the campaign. 141 00:14:21.640 --> 00:14:26.080 The Democrats were completely divided, and many thought that the National Democrats had 142 00:14:26.080 --> 00:14:32.000 no chance, and therefore many of the gold Democrats switched to the McKinley Gold Standard 143 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:33.000 Republicans. 144 00:14:33.000 --> 00:14:38.020 It was this destruction of the Jeffersonian Democrats who were the last champions of classical 145 00:14:38.020 --> 00:14:41.400 liberalism that led to the progressive movement. 146 00:14:41.400 --> 00:14:46.040 The populists of bronze were defeated, and the progressive movement gave us Teddy Roosevelt 147 00:14:46.040 --> 00:14:49.600 for the Republicans and Woodrow Wilson for the Democrats. 148 00:14:49.600 --> 00:14:54.680 Both parties then began to adopt the ideas of progressivism seeking democracy as an end 149 00:14:54.680 --> 00:14:58.920 in itself rather than liberty being the goal. 150 00:14:58.920 --> 00:15:03.920 And democracy was only one of the methods of achieving liberty. 151 00:15:03.920 --> 00:15:08.560 By the way, there's an excellent book on this subject by Randy Holcomb entitled From Liberty 152 00:15:08.560 --> 00:15:13.160 to Democracy, the Transformation of the American Government. 153 00:15:13.160 --> 00:15:18.200 At various times in American history, the Democrat Party has endorsed the ideas of classical 154 00:15:18.200 --> 00:15:22.760 liberalism and limited constitutional government and supported the gold standard. 155 00:15:22.760 --> 00:15:28.000 Today I have both the Democrat and Republican parties subscribed to the progressive movement 156 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:32.960 and both oppose the backing of paper money with any species, gold or silver. 157 00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:38.080 It is interesting to note to me that when the Democrat party split in 1860 and again 158 00:15:38.080 --> 00:15:42.000 in 1896, great tragedies resulted. 159 00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:48.200 Early in 1933, the gold again became a major issue with the election of Franklin Roosevelt. 160 00:15:48.200 --> 00:15:55.160 He closed the banks and Congress passed the Emergency Banking Act on March 9, 1933. 161 00:15:55.160 --> 00:16:01.180 You can get an excellent short version of the great gold robbery in a new book entitled 162 00:16:01.180 --> 00:16:06.800 Who Killed the Constitution written by Thomas Woods and Kevin Gutzman. 163 00:16:06.800 --> 00:16:11.560 Gold was taken away from the American people and many thought it was only a temporary measure 164 00:16:11.560 --> 00:16:16.560 and will be restored to them later. However, gold remained illegal to own for American 165 00:16:16.560 --> 00:16:23.200 citizens until 1974. The New Deal U.S. Supreme Court failed to support the constitutional 166 00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:29.320 requirement for gold-backed currency and refused to enforce gold contracts, gold clauses in 167 00:16:29.320 --> 00:16:35.120 contracts. The next development with gold occurred in 1944 at the end of World War II 168 00:16:35.120 --> 00:16:40.280 at a conference held in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. The conference was attended by 169 00:16:40.280 --> 00:16:49.040 by Lord Keynes himself, and he advocated creating a new world currency called the Bancor. England 170 00:16:49.040 --> 00:16:53.160 had gone virtually bankrupt as a result of spending and debt created during World Wars 171 00:16:53.160 --> 00:16:59.200 I and II, and their currency could no longer serve as the World Reserve currency. Keynes' 172 00:16:59.200 --> 00:17:09.160 idea of the Bancor was proposed but not adopted. It's my feeling that pretty soon the Bancor 173 00:17:09.160 --> 00:17:19.160 or something by that name is going to be proposed again as an international world currency to serve as a reserve currency rather than the American dollar. 174 00:17:19.160 --> 00:17:29.160 And it's also, I think, the movement is towards an international Federal Reserve that will issue that paper money. 175 00:17:29.160 --> 00:17:33.160 And I think that's the great danger that we face in this crisis. 176 00:17:33.160 --> 00:17:46.160 The conference finally decided, and all the major countries signed on to the idea that since America owned about 75% of the gold in the world, the American dollar would be backed by gold. 177 00:17:46.160 --> 00:17:53.160 But this was only for the purpose of allowing foreign central banks to transfer their dollars back and get gold. 178 00:17:53.160 --> 00:18:00.160 This allowed the American dollar to become the new reserve currency of the world, which it remains today. 179 00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:06.800 How it's on a very shaky ground and slippery slope since there is now no gold backing to 180 00:18:06.800 --> 00:18:11.520 the American dollar. President Nixon closed the gold window and ended the Bretton Woods 181 00:18:11.520 --> 00:18:17.920 agreement in 1971 as America had been spending money like a drunken sailor ever since. We're 182 00:18:17.920 --> 00:18:24.200 now the largest debtor in the world history. One half of our 12 to 13 trillion dollar national 183 00:18:24.200 --> 00:18:29.440 debt is attributed to war spending. I was a delegate to the National Republican Convention 184 00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:36.480 in 1972. Prior to the convention in August 1971, President Nixon closed the gold window, 185 00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:42.560 put on wage and price controls, and announced he was a Keynesian. At the convention, I informed 186 00:18:42.560 --> 00:18:47.540 the chairman of our delegation from Alabama I could not support Nixon for re-nomination. 187 00:18:47.540 --> 00:18:52.320 He was startled and especially mystified when I told him the main reason was the closing 188 00:18:52.320 --> 00:18:58.300 of the gold window. He stated that Nixon had no choice because if he did not close the 189 00:18:58.300 --> 00:19:28.300 I informed him Nixon had an alternative. He could stop the excessive spending. How, he said. I said first by stopping the unconstitutional land war in Southeast Asia and to close about 200 to 300 military bases in foreign countries and stop being the world policeman and meddling in everybody else's private business. You may not be surprised, but I didn't convince him that I was right. 190 00:19:28.300 --> 00:19:45.300 They clearly understood my position. Ron Paul and I have talked about the fact that it was this event of Nixon's actions in 1971 that caused Ron to give up his medical practice and to run for Congress to try to educate the American people on Austrian economics. 191 00:19:45.300 --> 00:19:54.300 It's that point when I decided to give up on politics and try to develop some way to inform the American people generally about true economics with the Austrian system. 192 00:19:54.300 --> 00:19:58.300 and that's what led me to be involved with the Mises Institute. 193 00:19:58.300 --> 00:20:03.300 It's been a long and tough struggle for Ron Paul in Congress all of these years, 194 00:20:03.300 --> 00:20:07.300 but finally the American people are beginning to listen to him. 195 00:20:07.300 --> 00:20:16.300 In conclusion, I think I'm very fortunate to have been closely connected to the Mises Institute since the day it was born. 196 00:20:16.300 --> 00:20:21.300 I'm extremely proud of what Lew Rockwell and the Institute have accomplished 197 00:20:21.300 --> 00:20:27.300 and I fully support the great ideas that they are communicating worldwide every day. 198 00:20:27.300 --> 00:20:32.300 I asked my son-in-law to be here, and my daughter now is here today, 199 00:20:32.300 --> 00:20:38.300 but I wanted my son-in-law to see exactly what the Mises Institute does, 200 00:20:38.300 --> 00:20:42.300 because I'm very concerned about the future of America, 201 00:20:42.300 --> 00:20:46.300 the future for my children and grandchildren. 202 00:20:46.300 --> 00:20:52.840 I am concerned about the ideas of many people in political, academic and the media that 203 00:20:52.840 --> 00:20:58.820 are leading this country in the wrong direction, away from what our founders established and 204 00:20:58.820 --> 00:21:04.540 what they have established is in great jeopardy today, the free market and our liberty. 205 00:21:04.540 --> 00:21:09.460 I am afraid the best of America may not be around when our grandchildren are adults. 206 00:21:09.460 --> 00:21:16.360 However, the Mises Institute has the ability and the means to communicate great ideas that 207 00:21:16.360 --> 00:21:21.020 can make a difference and change the way people think. 208 00:21:21.020 --> 00:21:24.820 As Jeffrey Tucker said, ideas have consequences. 209 00:21:24.820 --> 00:21:33.760 Remember that the Cato letters were only 144 essays written in 1720 in England, but they 210 00:21:33.760 --> 00:21:39.160 played a great role in bringing about the American Revolution and our Constitution as 211 00:21:39.160 --> 00:21:44.640 as well as influencing the Bill of Rights in order to make a change like John Adams 212 00:21:44.640 --> 00:21:50.760 talked about in the hearts and minds of the people before they take action. 213 00:21:50.760 --> 00:21:55.440 We need to let those ideas permeate throughout the population and especially to the young 214 00:21:55.440 --> 00:22:00.280 people so that they have the courage and the commitment to take the action that will help 215 00:22:00.280 --> 00:22:03.580 change the way America is now going. 216 00:22:03.580 --> 00:22:07.780 Thank you all for supporting the Institute and thank you for the part you've already 217 00:22:07.780 --> 00:22:12.980 made a difference in bringing about the success of the Mises Institute and I hope you will 218 00:22:12.980 --> 00:22:16.840 continue to support the Mises Institute in the future. 219 00:22:16.840 --> 00:22:17.340 Thank you very much.