From http://mises.org:

The events taking place in the financial market offer an illustration of the soundness of the Austrian theory of money, banking, and credit cycles, and Mises.org is your source not only for analysis of these events but also the economic theory that helps explain what is happening and what to do about it. There are many thousands of articles available, and also the full text of thousands of books as well as journal articles. It is impossible to draw attention to the full range of literature one can use to understand the crisis.

However, below we offer a brief look into the topics most discussed in these times, with extended treatments of each in the sidebar. Mises.org also offers both a blog and a community forum for reading and discussing them all.

It’s never been more important to spread a sound view of money and banking, not only as a protection against the fallacies of “stabilization” and “reflation” but also as way to see what kind of reforms are essential now.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

• Freddie Mac: A Mercantilist Enterprise, by Paul Cleveland, March 14, 2005
• Fannie Mae: Another New Deal Monstrosity, by Karen De Coster, July 2, 2007
• How Fannie and Freddie Made Me a Grumpy Economist, by Christopher Westley, July 21, 2008
• Who Made the Fannie and Freddie Threat? By Frank Shostak, March 5, 2004
• Are Fannie and Freddie Too Big to Fail? By Frank Shostak, September 17, 2008
• Fannie Mae Distorts Markets, by Robert Blumen, June 17, 2002

The Housing Bubble

• The Real Cost of a Full Bailout, by Don Rich, August 22, 2008
• The Subprime Mortgage “Crisis” Will Fix Itself, by Steve Berger, May 30, 2007
• Did the Fed Cause the Housing Bubble? By Robert Murphy, April 14, 2008
• The Mortgage Market Mess, by Christopher Westley, May 17, 2007
• Housing Bubble: Myth or Reality? By Frank Shostak, March 4, 2003

Inflationary Finance

• What’s Behind the Financial Market Crisis? by Antony Mueller, September 18, 2008
• Our Financial House of Cards, by George Reisman, March 25, 2008
• Will Central Bankers Become Central Planners? by Robert Blumen, July 31, 2008
• Inflation is a Policy that Cannot Last, by Thorsten Polleit, March 14, 2008
• The Widening Safety Net, by Christopher Mayer, March 19, 2004
• The Fed’s New Tricks Are Creating Disaster, Frank Shostak, March 18, 2008
• The Fed’s War on the Middle Class, by Mark Thornton, June 4, 2008.

Community Reinvestment Act

• The CRA Scam and its Defenders, by Thomas DiLorenzo, April 30, 2008
• Regulatory Sneak Attack, by Thomas DiLorenzo, September 16, 1999

Short Selling

• Short-Sale Restrictions Are an Exercise in Naked Power, by Robert Murphy, August 11, 2008
• The Social Function of Futures Markets, Robert Murphy, November 29, 2006
• Don’t Sell Short Selling Short, April 6, 2007

The Austrian Theory of the Business Cycle

• The Idiocy of Wall Street, by Don Rich, September 24, 2008
• The Fed is Culpable, by Hans F. Sennholz, November 11, 2002
• Skyscrapers and Business Cycles, by Mark Thornton, August 23, 2008
• Economic Outlook 2008: Darkening Clouds, Dominick Armentano, January 2, 2008
• Business Cycle Primer, Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. February 8, 2001
• Economics Depressions: Their Cause and Cure, by Murray Rothbard

Who Predicted This?

• The Financial Apocalyptics are Back, Robert Blumen
• Sowing the Seeds of the Next Crisis, Thorsten Polleit, April 25, 2006
• Credit Crisis: Precursor of Great Inflation, by Thorsten Polleit, February 7, 2008
• Mr. Bailout, by Anton Mueller, September 30, 2004
• America’s Unsustainable Boom, by Stefan Karlsson, November 8, 2004
• Who Predicted the Bubble? Who Predicted the Crash? By Mark Thornton, July 14, 2003

What To Do

• Don’t Bail Them Out, by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., September 10, 2008
• How to Avoid Another Depression, by Mark Thornton, September 10, 2008
• Taking Money Back, By Murray N. Rothbard, June 14, 2008
• Beware the Alchemists, by Ludwig von Mises, February 3, 2006
• Reflation in American History, by H.A. Scott Trask, October 31, 2003
• Money and Freedom, by Joseph Salerno, February 2, 2002
• The Case for a Genuine Gold Dollar, by Murray Rothbard

Books to Distribute

• The Theory of Money and Credit, by Ludwig von Mises
• America’s Great Depression, by Murray Rothbard
• The Mystery of Banking, by Murray Rothbard
• Prices and Production, by F.A. Hayek
• Causes of the Economic Crisis, by Ludwig von Mises
• Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle and Other Essays, Ludwig von Mises et al.
• Understanding the Dollar Crisis, by Percy Greaves
• The Case Against the Fed, by Murray Rothbard
• Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles, by Jesus Huerta de Soto
• History of American Currency, by William Graham Sumner
• Banking and the Business Cycle, by C.A. Phillips
• Fiat Money Inflation in France, by Andrew Dickson White

http://www.startribune.com/…

What started as a quirky idea to get around the statewide smoking ban appears to be spreading like wildfire.Dozens of bars are expected to stage “theater nights” this weekend in which patrons are dubbed actors. The law, which went into effect in October, permits performers to smoke during a theatrical production. “Two weeks ago, we had one bar doing this,” said Mark Benjamin, a criminal defense attorney who launched the theater-night idea. He estimates 50 to 100 bars could be on tap for theater nights this weekend based on phone calls, e-mails and requests for the how-to-stage-a-theater-night packet that he’s devised. And many bar owners are passing on the information quickly among themselves without getting in contact with him.

State Health Department officials didn’t return calls Thursday, but said earlier this week that they are waiting for a state attorney general’s opinion on the legality of theater nights. State legislators who championed the ban said last week that the loophole likely will be plugged and the bar theater nights will end.

And Karen De Coster over at LRC writes:

Imagine the lobbying that went on which allows smoking during a “theatrical production” while it is banned nearly everywhere else? Just how invasive is the Minnesota smoking ban? Right here it states that:

The Minnesota law applies to bars, restaurants, private clubs such as VFWs and American Legion halls, bowling alleys, country club lounges, lobbies of hotels and motels, public transportation, taxis, home offices where employees work or customers visit, home day cares when children are present, and smaller commercial vehicles carrying more than one person.

Home offices and smaller commercial vehicles? Surely that will be easily enforced. Exemptions include privileged people, places, and things such as Indian casinos and lands, “scientific studies, sleeping rooms of hotels and motels, tobacco shops, small family farms, traditional Native American ceremonies, and theater productions. Smoking would also be permitted at the Disabled Veterans Rest Camp in Washington County, and locked psychiatric wards.”

While I love what they are doing I’d hope that all those participating in these things actually get out and try to get smoking relegalized instead of eventually creating tobacco speak easies. There is already a large black market for tobacco. I see it every day in NYC. Guys standing outside subway stations quietly saying “Newports, Newports” as people stream by. Everyone from blue collar men in construction dress to white collar Wall St. suits purchase their wares. How sad it is that the government has put these people in a position to do this.