Mainstream media and mainstream economists have blamed today's financial crisis on a failure of "free markets." This course sets the record straight.

Dr. Brook describes the actual evolution of the crisis, from the government policies that gave rise to it to the unprecedented expansion of government control over the economy that has followed. He describes the respective roles of the Federal Reserve, government housing policy, and regulation of financial markets in creating the crisis. Dr. Brook places special emphasis on illustrating how this crisis is an example of the Austrian economists' business cycle theory.

Dr. Brook's powerful conclusion is that the financial crisis, in all its complexity, is at root the product of government force.

This course was recorded at the 2009 Objectivist Summer Conference in Boston, MA. (Part 1 of 3)