Posted by mattgeb84 on 11/15/09
Last updated 11/15/09

Over the past few years, my quest for knowledge of free markets and economics has lead me to read many books. Im amazed by the volume of literature I've read, and the knowledge I have gained. In this blog I will list all the books I have read, and those at which I have in my possession but have yet to read. I will then give my top three suggestions for you to read.

first the books I have read
"Economics in one lesson"   Henry Hazlitt
"Bureaucracy"   Ludwig Von Mises
"Capitalism And Freedom"   Milton Friedman
"Socialism"   Ludwig Von Mises
"Lincoln Unmasked"   Thomas Dilorenzo
"The Road To Serfdom"   F.A. Hayek
"More liberty means less government"   Walter Williams
"New deal or raw deal"   Burton Folsom
"The housing boom and bust   Thomas Sowell
Economic Facts and Fallacies"   Thomas Sowell
"The little book of bull moves in bear markets"   Peter Schiff
"The biggest con"   Irwin Schiff
"The revolution a manifesto"   Ron Paul
"Meltdown"   Tom Woods

Im currently reading
"The politically incorrect guide to the great depression and the new deal"   Robert Murphy

Books I have in my possession but have yet to read

"The anti capitalist mentality"   Ludwig Von Mises
"the fatal conceit"   F.A. Hayek
"Heaven and earth global warming the missing science"   Ian Plimer
"the south was right"   James Kennedy / Walter Kennedy
"Prices and production"   F.A. Hayek
"the vision of the anointed"   Thomas Sowell
"The virtue of selfishness" Ayn Rand
"Free to choose"   Milton Friedman
"The vampire economy"   Gunter Reimann
"Woodrow Wilson and the roots of modern liberalism"   Ronald Pestritto
"the causes of the economic crisis"   Ludwig Von Mises
Warren Harding"   John Dean
"Price theory"   Milton Friedman
"the theory of money and credit"   Ludwig Von Mises
"greenspan's bubbles"   Wlliam Fleckenstein
"end the fed"   Ron Paul
"the constitution of liberty"   F.A. Hayek
"lost rights"   James Bovard
"Crash proof 2.0"   Peter Schiff

Im in no position to rate the books I have yet to read, however from the list above the last, for the individual looking to lay a solid foundation to learn why classical liberalism is superior to our modern economy the three books I would suggest are as follows.

1) Everyone should read "Economics in one lesson" by Henry Hazlitt, this book explains why "goody two shoes" interventions by government which are designed to help the poor and middle class really end up causing more hardship than they cure. The book puts fourth some very common interventionist polices by government that are designed to help the poor and in commonsensical terms debunks the notion that these policies are at all helpful, and explains how they really cause more damage than they sought to fix. This is why "Economics in one lesson" is at the top of my list for all to read.

2) The second book I recommend can be a bit difficult to come across but if you can get it by all means do so, Im of course talking about "The Biggest Con" by Irwin Schiff. This book blows the lid off of many government fables, such as how the true state of our national debt is masterfully concealed by our government, to a history of how our government has slowly stolen the purchasing power of our dollar. Irwin Schiff will of course give you many great commonsensical reasons for why you don't have to pay an income tax as well.

3) "Bureaucracy"   by Ludwig Von Mises is the third book I recommend. It is a very short, easy to read book which explains in precise terms why government management is most always inefficient, and less able to produce goods according to the consumers desires than is capitalism. Bureaucracy is much shorter and more to the point than is "socialism" However I can't argue that Mises book "Socialism" does indeed go more in depth with the problems of socialism however "Bureaucracy" packs more for the quick punch.

So their you have it out of the 14 books I've read, I recommend "Economics in on lesson" by Hazlitt, "The biggest con" by Irwin Schiff and "Bureaucracy" by Ludwig Von Mises. I would love to hear from the readers of this blog so please post your comments below

Posted 11/16/09 TJLawJX Orlando, FL

Here is the list of books that I have read recently (WOW I haven't realized how much I've read either) ... My favorite out of all of them so far was Hamilton's Curse by Thomas DiLorenzo. I am a fan of history, it felt almost refreshing to see someone explain where this mess first started. Hamilton's Curse by Thomas DiLorenzo The Law by Frederic Bastiat Revolution: A Manifesto by Ron Paul A Foreign Policy of Freedom by Ron Paul End the Fed by Ron Paul Meltdown by Thomas E Woods Jr 33 Questions You're Not Supposed to Ask About American History by Thomas E Woods Jr Federalist Papers (Signet Classic) Anti-Federalist Papers (Signet Classic) Common Sense by Thomas Paine Common Sense Revisited (Linked on C4L Homepage) Common Sense by Glenn Beck Arguing with Idiots by Glenn Beck (Good Comical Quips About American History and Politics) Ben Franklin's Auto-Biography Fuck: Word Taboo and Protecting Our First Amendment Liberties by Christopher M. Fairman Movies (not really liberty specific though more or less a reminder or a wake up call for what is to come if things get worse) North and South Books 1 - 3 (TV Mini Series) Red Dawn V for Vendetta Braveheart The Patriot Books I am reading or will read soon: The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War by Thomas DiLorenzo Lincoln Unmasked: What You’re Not Supposed to Know About Dishonest Abe by Thomas DiLorenzo Thomas Paine Common Sense, the Rights of Man and other essential writings (Signet Classics) The South Was Right! by James R. Kennedy The Constitutional Thought of Thomas Jefferson by David N. Mayer No Treason The Constitution of no Authority by Lysander Spooner The Unconstitutionality of Slavery by Lysander Spooner Movies that I want to watch John Adams Mini Series

Posted 11/16/09 mattgeb84 lynn, MA

those are some good books you've read i wanted to read Hamilton's Curse by Thomas DiLorenzo as well, im planning on reading the rest and making a more informed reading recommended reading list than the one presented in this blog

Posted 11/19/09 Mike in Virginia Fredericksburg, VA

Great list Matt, and another great list from TJ. I do think that "The Law" by Bastiat belongs on any liberty reading list. It's short, clearly written, and powerful.

Posted by mattgeb84 on 11/08/09

here is my video footage of peter schiff at Harvard last Saturday he spoke for over 1 and a half hours 

Posted 11/09/09 BrendonDeMeo North Chelmsford, MA

Very good audio and video, great job. I was there and I was very impressed with his speech. I wish he was running for senate in Massachusetts, lol, but I'll definately do what I can to help him win in CT.

Posted 11/09/09 tb54701 Eau Claire, WI

Steve,,, don't expect a lot of response to your entry,,, it is obvious you are the clueless one,, and people will spend their time educating those that still are able to comprehend what you obviously can't. but thanks for your contribution.

Posted 11/09/09 mattgeb84 lynn, MA

i banned that moron steve from commenting on my post

Posted by mattgeb84 on 10/13/09
Last updated 10/13/09

this is some video footage of the 2009 Massachusetts Libertarian state convention

Posted by mattgeb84 on 08/11/09

to all of you people looking to give some good talking points against so called health care reform. this is what Ive been planning to saying at a town hall meeting but their has been any in my area, so ill give my argument to my fellow c4lers to say for their next town hall meeting.

here it is...

the whole problem with health care cost is an over reliance on 3rd party payers, weather its medicare or medicaid or private insurance companies. this over reliance is a direct result of government subsidizing employers to provide insurance to their employees. Obama care merely advocates advancing the problem by increasing the governments role in the health care industry and furthering our reliance on insurance. this type of legislation is the EXACT opposite of what we need. the only way health care cost will go down is if we decrease our dependence on insurance and decrease governments role in the health care industry. if people went back to paying for their health care out of their own pocket we would have freely fluctuating prices that would more accurately reflect what people are capable of paying. in this case prices for health care would necessarily have to come down because if doctors kept them too high, then they wouldn't get any business because nobody would be able to afford it, this would result in them going out of business. to stay in business doctors would have to lower their prices to levels that people could afford.
the only legislation that will truly fix the problem is that which decreases the governments role in health care

yup i wrote this all by myself, no seriously im not kidding

Posted 08/12/09 TCamMass new bedford, MA

Matt, I agree with your statement, we need to give the free market a chance. Good luck trying to get that question/statement out at a town hall meeting. The mic would be taken from you before you know it. I think we need to get it down to one line questions to have any chance. B.Frank will be holding a meeting on August 18th in Dartmouth that I plan on attending. Hopefully I can get in and get a chance to ask a question.

Posted 08/18/09 BruceLayne Lexington, KY

Your voting options in your "Will you use my argument in your town hall health care meeting?" poll is missing my answer. I tried to use your argument (prior to reading your argument) and I was cut off after 20 seconds, even though we were all told we would each be given one minute and I had waited patiently for almost two hours for my turn. I managed to get in a lot of your free market points in only 20 seconds, even though I still had 40 seconds more I wanted to say. I guess I was making too much sense and I wasn't promoting The Agenda. If you were rambling, like, you know, and stuff like that, as long as you were stumbling around in support of The Agenda, you could take several minutes to try to find some point. All criticisms of socialized medicine had the first word and the moderator always had the last word, often taking three to five minutes to spew bogus statistics, muddy the waters, and misdirect. The moderator had obviously been well coached in these techniques. ObamaCare is as dead as the HillaryCare of the 1990s. Americans don't want socialized health care. Who'd a thunk it?

Posted 08/21/09 RP 999 s dartmouth, MA

If i was there i would have asked...... Have you personally read the entire bill??? How does it effect our budget??? How do you pass a bill that helps 50 million, but effects all 300 million without Our vote!!?? Then i would sit back and let him spill out his BS so everyone can listen to him and then see how he fabricates his answer's.....Three questions in less then a minute, with plenty of time to hear him mumble some more BS...

Posted 09/07/09 drphilxr Newton, MA

As a radiology physician in MA, the whole debate shows 'something is rotten in Denmark (MA/USA)'. "All corruption starts at the top, all reform starts at the bottom." (that's my quote) The equipment manufacturers charge TOO MUCH for CT/MRI/US machines; moore's law makes your 2009 pc cost less than your slower 2001 pc, and it does more. Our MRI machines do NOT need to cost 1.5million; that cost is passed down to the patient as a $1200 mri scan, some MRI's can be $3500+. ridiculous. It takes me 10 minutes to read one, and i am salaried, while my clinic collects that huge fee, only to shift the bulk of it to cover other non moneymaking depts, especially the ER uninsured. Surprised? of course not. That scan could come down to $700 (or less?) tomorrow if we could cut costs and have malpractice tort reform as well. I'm using this small example in a subspecialty field for a reason. EVERY specialty in medicine has a large greedy corporation behind it OVERCHARGING like war profiteers because or the vast pools of insurance booty to be had, and medicare is one of the deepest pockets of loot. Let's see: big pharmaceutical? only sector to have avoided our recession, keep up big bonuses, etc. Home medical supply? They account for 20% of ALL medical costs. NO reason to charge $75 for medial support stockings -please, this is old tech, no FDA approval costs for R&D. Hospitals: extremely ineffecient. I could fire 1 old doc from my own 7 person division and be fine (or better off). I could fire about 20% in the hospital - not nursing staff or techs though, the ancillary people - and be better off in hiring more of the core people for less $. That will never happen. Many days we are overwhelmed, and are thankful for the few extra hands around, otherwise patients suffer. But ANY vendor the hospital uses RAPE us with ridiculous costs. I will never forget in 1996 a vendor wanted $400 for 8mb ram for a computer, and i went out and bought it for $64 that day. WTF?! Those costs are all passed down to the insurers- its unsustainable, that's why we are here at the precipice. So, start from the bottom, and keep it simple. Offer catastrophic only insurance for the uninsured, with X amount of ER visits/yr paid (1-5?). STOP the outside vendors from raping the system - create a list of approved prices for their product, like us doctors live with for our procedures and visits, including pharmaceuticals! That will bring down costs 30% at least! And lessen the red tape/ paperwork for everyone who works tirelessly (but in reality, tired, and burning/burned out) in a hospital for the greater good, by spending government cash on 1 great thing: electronic med records (EMR). It is a well known fact that because there are thousands of insureres, the overhead required to process the forms ADDS more cost to the system - i know of one 20 physician group that has to retain 20 billing people to deal with this alone! When the government touts the VA system as a model for the country, most docs cringe. That is a colossal joke, but their computer EMR systems aren't bad - use that installed knowledge base to cobble together an EMR. And do it with outside security consultant help! But what we saw on wall st - pure greed even in the midst of utter collapse (remember the lehman billions in bonuses given out as they were folding?!) - pervades medicine, particularly the business people running hospitals, pharma, vendors, and the like. What will make them change? Complete collapse? Red China signing their (Reduced) paychecks? I can't believe i am saying this - but times are strange - i could live with 20% less and be ok. I think 'we' (those who can) all could. (I am salaried, unlike the majority of private practice radiologists in MA; as a result i make about 125k less than they per year)