Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises (German pronunciation: [ˈluːtvɪç fɔn ˈmiːzəs]; September 29, 1881 – October 10, 1973) was an Austrian economist, historian, philosopher, author, and classical liberal who had a significant influence on the Austrian government's economic policies in the first third of the 20th century, the Austrian School of Economics, and the modern free-market libertarian movement.
Written to prompt political change in 1928 Western Europe, Monetary Stabilization and Cyclical Policy by Ludwig von Mises failed miserably, as anticipated by everyone.
Mises was not at all good at fiery oratory and couldn't rile up the youth like the eloquent Mr Keynes could. He was also of small stature - five foot six, 130 pounds - taller, but lighter than famed "midget_economist" Milton Friedman.
Mises wore a Hitler mustache for much of his adult life, despite being Jewish. That is both punk rock and hilarious. On the other hand, according to chatGPT, he was described by his closest friends as frail, a slow runner, a narc, nearly blind, and he reportedly broke several bones and teeth by the time he was 40.
Mises had lost a step by 1928, and goes full Australian in this one ("Revised Peel's Act"), calling for an end to the writing out of...
debit 1 yr Smith $220,000 IOU (loan to Smith; NPV $200,000 @ 10% APR) credit Smith 200,000 of cheque-claim-Citi money*
...in the banks' journals as has been done in London since the 17th C or earlier.
Mises wants his ideal govt to force banks instead, to go:
debit 1 yr Smith $220,000 IOU (loan to Smith; NPV $200,000 @ 10% APR) credit GREEN CASH (!) $200,000
Never go full Australian, olde man... banks don't carry much cash these days. People use debit cards. Whose synthetic credits are - somewhere down the line - backed by a borrower's collateralized IOU (as you used to fully understand, Mises). I almost took a star off for that. Mises used to be fluent in the Banking School's idea of backed money, and understood the importance of collateral to a loan. In ToM&C he dedicates several pages to Tooke, Fullarton and Knapp among others claiming that set. But by 1928, he forgot about bills of exchange and could only focus on bank liabilities, ignoring bank assets. That's what happens when people get old.
Are his theories relevant in the modern world? "Time destroys all things" according to the profound French romantic-comedy, Irreversible. That summarizes Mises and his ideas well.
Included in this collection are:
--a pitiful letter, in a sad comedy-of-errors Entituled:
"The Causes of the Economic Crisis" (1931) ....................where he keeps rudely, and unfairly rallying against the well-meaning proletariat (ex: Chapter III A) 2, B) 1 and Chapter IV 2)). He should have spent all his efforts bragging about his 1928 paper which would have been far more fruitful and raised his status with the common man to something of a sage. They were looking for someone to blame, and Mises could have showed them who, and run for politics like he always dreamed of.
--Then in 1933, along comes an equally unfunny paper Entituled "The Current Status of Business".
As if anyone needed an update in 1933, Mises. No one is going to buy a book with that title in 1933 when they don't even have money for a Hot Pocket. That was an opportunity to shift from writing economic theory and instead write a book on the far more practical aspect of value investing, -- like how to sell short a commercial bank's common stock and then get all your friends together to go and ask it for gold coins in exchange for the bank-money put into your deposit account when they made you a loan.
That idea would be a great way to not only not have to repay the loan (because the bank goes broke after the run) but you can get to keep the gold if you bury it in the back yard and say you spent it on ladies and drugs. Then you close your short position for 100% gainz less fees and ask the bank direcors' wives out for drinks at Perino’s in your Phantom II.
ToM&C is better, albeit ten times longer. Hanging out with the odious Ayn Rand obviously had a negative impact on Mises' grasp of reality.
No wonder his career came to a crashing halt in the early 70s.
Footnote: *AKA: "if you want some_take_some,_we_have_plenty_ in_our_vault_seriously ''Citi dollars'"