As Nelson Demille noted in his acknowledgments to Wild Fire, “There is a new trend among authors to thank very famous people for inspiration, non-existent assistance, and/or some casual reference to the author’s work. Authors do this to pump themselves up.” His clever note notwithstanding, I am resisting the temptation to thank the Queen of England for the ceremony and grace that helped punctuate my time at Oxford. I do thank Donald Trump for his ever-stimulating contribution to public dialogue. Before he became a presidential candidate, he was a gracious host in Palm Beach, where he frequently encouraged me and others to think about why “America doesn’t win anymore.”
And finally, I want to thank my beautiful wife, Sabine, who fell in love with me and proved it by leaving her life in Europe to start anew with me in sunny Florida. She soon caught on precociously to remarkably many of the ills that beset us. She is smart and insightful and had the encouraging hugs—the vitamin S—I needed from time to time to function at full strength. My mother told me that “unless you love someone, nothing else makes sense.” Sabine is the proof of that. I thank her humbly and lovingly for putting up with me while I puzzled out which of the many drawbacks of the Fed’s zero interest rate policy (ZIRP) would prove more fatal to prosperity.
And though almost every fiber of the Kardashian/Caitlyn Jenner culture inspires us to blame others for our shortcomings, I don’t. I accept full responsibility for errors and shortcomings of this book.
Note
1 See Rothbard, Murray, An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought (Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar, 1995), ch. 16.
Index
2 Thessalonians 3:10, 77
3-D printer, 56–62
A
Abdussamatov, Habibullo, 181, 186, 222, 225–26, 228
absurd tax, 296
Accounting for Growth (Ayers and Warr), 342
Adams, Bob, 150
Adam Smith in Beijing (Arrighi), 102
affordability crisis, 349
Affordable Care Act. See Obamacare
Afghanistan, 410, 465
After Hegemony (Keohane), 117, 120–21
Aftershock Investor Report, The (Wiedemer), 9
Age of Spiritual Machines, The (Kurzweil), 63
aging, 65–66
agriculture, 77–78
carrying capacity, 232
fraction of GDP, 228–29
waste products, 281
Agüera y Arcas, Blaise, 75–76
AIG, 163–64
airlines, 45–46
“Al Gore Has Thrived as Green Tech Investor” (Washington Post), 182
“Al Gore’s Golden Years” (New York magazine), 182
Allsopp, T., 496–98
Alpha Natural Resources, 431–32
al-Qaeda, 465–66
Altarum Institute, 278
alternative energy, 384–85
Amash, Justin, 236
American Academy of Pediatrics, 297
American Challenge, The (Schreiber), 90
American Economic Review, 296
American Greed, 409
American Heart Journal, 288
American Indians, 475
American Prospect, 98
American Soybean Association (ASA), 279
American Statistical Association, 3
American Time Survey, 139
Amerman, Daniel, 164
ammunition, Department of Homeland Security purchase of, 169
Amsterdam, 111–12
amylos, 95
Anabaptists, 79–80
anarchy
feudal system of, 31
See also chaos
“Anatomy of the Deep State” (Lofgren), 235
Angell, Norman, ix–x
Angola, 41–42
Angwin, Julia, 156
Anitschkow, Nikolaj Nikolajewitsch, 283
Antarctica, 214
antimarket, 5
Applebaum, Jacob, 156–57
appropriations process, 245–46
Archer, Bill, 421
Archives of Internal Medicine, 286
Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 297
Argentina, 176
arms, freedom to bear, 58
Armstrong, Martin, 407
Army Corps of Engineers, 267, 271
Arrighi, Giovanni, 34, 102, 462
Arthur Anderson, 426
artificial intelligence (AI), 62
Arunachal Pradesh, 230
Asher, Lauren, 336
assassination, 406–8
Association of Americans Resident Overseas, 149
Astrophysical Journal, 198
asymmetric conflict, 410
Atkins, Gavin, 223
Atkinson, Robert, 373–74
Atlantic phase, 192–93
Atlas Shrugged (Rand), 96–97
atolls, 205
auditing firms, 426
Audubon Society, 262
Austin, Lloyd, 467
Austin, Texas, 58
Australia, 205, 285, 401, 433–34
Austrian business cycle theory (ABCT), 89–90
authoritarian practices, 127–30
Avandia, 295
Avery, Dennis T., 224
Ayers, Robert, 342
B
Baby Boom, 93
Bacon, Francis, 212–13
Baghdad, 237
bailouts, 338, 381
Baker, John, 158
Balakrishnan, Gopal, 356, 493
balanced-budget requirement, 241
bancus, 109
Bank for International Settlements, 103–4, 164–65, 439
Bank of America, 48
Bank of Amsterdam, 111–12
Bank of England, 112
Bank of Saint George, 108–11
Bank Restriction Period, 115
banks, 400
foreign, 165
official, 107
subsidy of foreign, 161–64
system, 49
warehouse banking, 112
Barradas, Nuno Pessoa, 463–64
Barrons, 150
barycenter anomalies, 194–96
basic rocks, 210–12
Bass, Kyle, 398
Batista, Fulgencio, 265–66
battalions, big, 15–16, 33
Battle of Phillippi, 469
Battle of the Somme, x
Baumol, William, 296
Baumol’s Disease, 278, 296, 335
“Bechtel Meets Goals on Fewer than Half of Its Iraqi Rebuilding Projects” (Glanz), 239
Beck, Johnny, 351, 416, 441
Beer, Jurg, 193–94
“Beginning of the End of the Fossil Fuel Revolution” (Grantham), 377
Bellarmino, Cardinal, 183
benchmark revisions, 367–68
Benoit, David, 51
Beria, Lavrentiy, 144, 158
Bernanke, Benjamin, 136, 337
Berra, Yogi, 94, 108
Berry, Bryan J. L., 178, 186
big government, 32–33, 411, 446, 477
See also nation-states
“Big Lie: Serial Downward Revisions Hide Ugly Truth, The” (Zero Hedge), 106
Bilmes, Linda, 467
Binney, Bill, 157
biofuels, 308
biophysical economics, 302
biotechnologies, 71
birthrate, declining, 93
“Birth Rate Plummets” (Kavoussi), 93
Bismarck, Otto von, 453
Black Swan events, 397–417
Bloomberg, 6–7, 399–400, 403–5
Blueseed, 61, 479
Blytt-Sernander sequence, 192–93
Boettke, Peter, 9, 11, 493
Bolton, John, 397
bonds, 167–68, 399, 416
Bonner, Bill, 253
Boot, Max, 15
Booz Allen Hamilton, 236, 253–54
Bordeaux wine makers, 398
Borio, Claudio, 121
Botero, Giovanni, 176
Boudreaux, Donald J., 43
> Boulding, Kenneth, 321, 328, 346–47, 412, 495
boundary forces, 3–5, 410
Braose, Matilda (Maud) de, 124–25
Braudel, Fernand, 5, 28
Brazil, 42–43, 153–54
Brazil Is the New America (Davidson), 311–12
Breaking Point, 2, 6–8, 496
Bretton Woods, 117, 344
Brexit, 397–99, 402–5, 413–14
bribes, 204
Brinkley, David, 47
British Thermal Units (BTUs), 20
British Virgin Islands, 154
Brittle Power (Lovins), 256
Brookings Institution, 369–70
Brooks, Mel, 440
Broward, Napoleon Bonaparte, 263
Brown, Roger K., 312, 352–53
Brown University, 466–67
Bruno, Giordano, 183
Brynjolfsson, Erik, 72–73
Buffet, Warren, 350
Bureau of Economic Analyses (BEA), 137, 359–60
Bureau of Labor Statistics, 74, 92, 135–36, 139, 370
Burke, Edmund, 260
Burns, Arthur, 118
Bush, George H. W., 360, 389
Bush, George W., 154, 237, 381, 389
Business Cycles (Schumpeter), 174
business dynamism, 369–71
Business Economics, 339
Business Insider, 167
bust-boom cycle, 446
Byzantine Republic, The (Kaldellis), 469
C
calendar, history of, 456–58
Calico, 66
Calvinist ethics, 75
Cambridge Ancient History, The, 146–47
Cambridge Economic History of Europe, 488
Camillus, Marcus Furius, 471
campaign finance, 42–44
Canada, 106
cancer, 292–93
cannons, high compression, 15
capacity, excess, 432
Capetian cycle, 179
capital expenditure (CapEx), 337, 341
capital investment, 51–52
capitalism
and democracy, 477–78
history of, 487–89
in peace time, x
unpopularity of, 40–41
capital requirements, declining, 340
Capitularies of Charlemagne, 485
Capriglione, Giovanni, 475
carbon billionaires, 182
carbon dioxide, 184–85, 191–92, 206, 220, 224, 384
cardiology, 291–92
Carroll, Lewis, 386
carry trade, 104, 427, 433
cartelizing world energy supplies, 311
cartels, 268
cartels, 412–13
Casey, Bob, 144
Casey, John L., 180, 186
Casey Foundation, 372
cashless society, 436
Cassidy, John, 40
Castelli, William, 277, 286–87
Castells, Manuel, 449
Castro, Fidel, 264–65
Catalan independence, 471
catastrophes, bogus, 199
Caterpillar, 341
cement, 428–29
Cempoala map, 454
Census Bureau, 92, 186
census contracts, 485–86
Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), 279
Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy (CASSE), 334
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 293–95
central banks, 89, 100, 314–15
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 82, 231–32, 479
centralization, 33–34, 256, 474
central planning, 134
Central Romana Limited, 270
Chacoans, 226
Chamber of Commerce, US, 143
Chanos, James, 424–26
chaos
high-dimensional, 458–59
worldwide, 463
See also anarchy
Chapman, Bob, 85
Chapwood Index, 376
Charles II of England, 65
Charles VIII of France, 15
Charles V of Spain, 111
Chartist, 149
Charvatova, Ivanka, 196
CHH Standard Federal Tax Reporter, 157
Chile, 430
China, 230, 250, 399, 427–32, 455
credit bubble, 106
end of communism, xi
growth, 350–51
hegemony, 462
lower yuan, 398
megapolitical driver, 178–82
offshoring manufacturing to, 358–59
sunspot records, 218
cholesterol, 283–84, 288
Churchill, Winston, 87
citizenship, 143–44
Citizens United, 460
city-states, 152, 451–52, 478, 479–80, 497
See also microsovereignties
civic myth, 338
civil society, 131
Clark, C. E., 91
class struggle, 38
climate change. See global warming
Climate Policy Initiative, 203
climate refugees, 223
climate research, 199
“Climatic Fluctuations and Population Problems in Early Modern History” (Utterstrom), 28
Clinton, Bill, 266, 389
Clinton, Hillary, 204
ClubOrlov, 484
CNBC, 181, 409, 414
CNN, 48, 268, 269–70
CNN Money, 142
coal, 329–331, 432
beginning of industry, 378
desulfurization, 358
replacing wood, 307
Coal Question, The (Jevons), 322, 332–33, 344
Codelco, 430
Cohn, Norman, 79
Coinage Act of 1857, 110
colder climate, 28, 146, 181, 226–28
Cold War, xi
collapse, 29, 140, 391–94
clock, 495–96
long-term process, 410, 494
multidimensional, 357
threat of global, 402–4
Collapse of Complex Societies, The (Tainter), 140, 168–69, 226, 299, 446, 496
collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), 439
college attendance, 336
Columbus, Christopher, 111
commercial moral syndrome, 132–33
commercial paper, 435–36
commodification of labor, 79, 248
Commodity Exchange, Inc. (COMEX), 441
commodity prices, 189, 389, 430, 433, 441
Communist Manifesto (Marx), 53, 248
comparative advantage, 70–71
compera, 109
competition
among elites, 247–49, 250–54
reduction of, 45–46
complaints interpreted as terrorism, 159
complexity
rapid decline in, 29
of understanding, 298
complex societies, 140
compound interest, 303, 319, 352
Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP), 271–72
computers, 373–74
consensus, 248
Consumer Price Index (CPI), 85, 315
Consumer Protection Act, 164
“Continuity and Transformation in World Polity” (Ruggie), 31
continuous liquid interface production (CLIP), 59
Contra Corner, 384
cooperation, 77
copper, 430, 433
coral reefs, 205
Corbyn, Piers, 221–22, 225–26
corn farmers, 273, 308
cosmic ray intensity, 194–96
Cosmos nickel mine, 433–34
Costa Rica, 151–53
cost of living, 85
Couric, Katie, 201
Cox, Chris, 421
Cox, Helen Joanne “Jo,” 406–8
Crawley, David, 244
Creation of Inequality, The (Flannery and Marcus), 78–79
creative destruction, 54, 67, 90, 174, 462, 476
credentials, value of, 19
/> credit
bubbles, 106, 427–32
demand fueled by, 351
elastic supply of, 318
expansion, 89–90, 107–8, 437
credit cards, 92
credit default swaps, 432–33, 437
Credit Suisse, 17–18
“Criminalizing Journalism” (Milbank), 129
Crisco, 282, 284
crisis, response to, 338
Cronkite, Walter, 47
crony capitalism, 17, 41, 116–17, 182, 267, 412
Cuba, 263–65
currencies
debased, 111
hyperinflation, 437
international, 100
realignment, 398
customized production, 57
cyber realm, 463–64
cyberspace, 459, 467
cyberwar program, 254
Czech Republic, 206
D
dairy industry, 289
Daiwa, 431
Dalio, Ray, 122
Dallas Morning News, 472
Daniel, Caroline, 65
Dark Ages, 227–28
Dark Winter (Casey), 180
Darwin, Charles, 204–5
Darwinian economics, 75–76
data, fraudulent, 23
Day After Tomorrow, The (movie), 201
death, transcendence of, 65–71
Death of the Dollar (Rickenbacker), 101–2
debt
collapse, 350–53
compounding, 385
credit card, 92
crises, 107
growth of, 103–4
as mathematical abstraction, 319
national, 91, 120, 245, 337–38, 415, 490–91
public, 109
service, 245
servitude, 138
student loans, 336
supercycle, 16, 349–50
wealth converted to, 302
decentralization, 38, 256, 412, 474
decivilizing forces, 69–70
Decline of the West, The (Spengler), 460–61
declining state, 327–30, 335
Deep State, 235–57
defense contractors, 119–20, 243–44, 253, 410, 492
Defense One, 466
deficits, 7, 87–88, 137–38, 338, 491
deflation, 88–89, 104–5, 115–19, 217–18, 350, 389, 416, 421–27, 436–42
Degner, Randy, 375
deindustrialization, 343
demand
credit-fueled, 351
increase in, 388
dematerialized growth, 352–53
democracy
and capitalism, 477–78
unpopularity of, 26–27
DeMuth, Phil, 252
Deng Tsaoping, xi
Denning, Alfred, 125
Department of Agriculture (USDA), 93, 279
Department of Commerce, 272, 360
Department of Education, 19–20, 269
Department of Energy, 182
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), 279
Department of Homeland Security, US, 169
derivatives, 162–70, 350, 399, 432, 437
Der Spiegel, 218
Desch, Steve, 198
DeSimone, Joseph, 59
The Breaking Point Page 52
