About this episode

Mark Thornton interviews Jeremy Szafron about the impact of easy money and credit inflation on working families and the economy.

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…

People in this episode

Host: Mark Thornton

Guest: Jeremy Szafron

Topics covered

• Austrian business cycle theory
• economic inequality
• credit inflation
• working-class issues
• energy shocks
• local resilience
• inflation protection

Keywords

• Austrian economics
• credit inflation
• working-class squeeze
• Cantillon effects
• commodity surge
• local resilience
• inflation protection

Sponsors

Mises

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Kitco News, Mises, Mises Circle, Mises.org

Products: Anatomy of the State, Minor Issues tumbler

More episodes of Minor Issues

• Major Party Realignment · July 18, 2026
• The Dupes of War: Mises on Statism, Propaganda, and Foreign Conflict · July 11, 2026
• The Vine That Ate the South: Government Solutions vs. Market Solutions · July 4, 2026
• Politics as Power: Elites, Inflation, and the Austrian Answer · June 27, 2026
• The Fed’s New Face, Same Old Game · June 20, 2026
• Why Politicians Lie—and How Easy Money Keeps the Boom Alive · June 13, 2026

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Minor Issues podcast page.