The black market was a way of getting around government controls. It was a way of enabling the free market to work. It was a way of opening up, enabling people.

Government has three primary functions. It should provide for military defense of the nation. It should enforce contracts between individuals. It should protect citizens from crimes against themselves or their property. When government-- in pursuit of good intentions tries to rearrange the economy, legislate morality, or help special interests, the cost come in inefficiency, lack of motivation, and loss of freedom. Government should be a referee, not an active player.

We have a system that increasingly taxes work and subsidizes nonwork.

When they so-called 'target the interest rate', what they're doing is controlling the money supply via the interest rate. The interest rate is only an intermediary instrument.

Only government can take perfectly good paper, cover it with perfectly good ink and make the combination worthless.

There have been unions based on gold or silver, but not on fiat money - money tempted to inflate - put out by politically independent entities.

It is my view that what is important is cutting government spending, however spending is financed. A so-called deficit is a disguised and hidden form of taxation. The real burden on the public is what government spends (and mandates others to spend). As I have said repeatedly, I would rather have government spend one trillion dollars with a deficit of a half a trillion than have government spend two trillion dollars with no deficit.