I read Creature from Jekyll Island and in it Griffin quotes Carroll Quigley extensively. Before discovering the Austrian school I was hardly disposed to take conspiracy theories seriously. However, by any reasonable definition the Fed, the Lusitania and Strong inflating the money supply in the 1920s to help staunch English gold flow qualify as conspiracies.
I was wondering if anyone has read Tragedy and Hope by Quigley. Supposedly he was given access to documents detailing the secret society founded by Cecil Rhodes. He is sympathetic to their cause and paints them largely as helpful planners. Supposedly the publisher tried to suppress the book. Quigley, among others came to believe this later.
A secret society of people attempting to plan strikes me as completely ridiculous. However, statism itself lends itself to conspiracy theories. Any time so much power is concentrated in so few hands, the people who hold the power will travel in power circles. This lends itself to align the incentives of power holders against the general populace.
HuplePazed:I was wondering if anyone has read Tragedy and Hope by Quigley.
I haven't read it, and probably won't. Here it is if you would like to read it yourself. I guess the suppression bit didn't work out too well.
Tragedy and Hope
My impression is that forum members don't think too much about the Creature from Jekyll Island or Tragedy and Hope. They don't discuss conspiracy theories. Think about it, how can one have a logical discussion or debate about a conspiracy theory, the facts about which are, be definition, hidden?
Waste of time, I think.
I read the Creature, and got much from it, mainly that the Fed is dangerous to liberty. I don't believe that part is a conspiracy. I can't say I agree with each of the conspiracies Griffin describes, but I do believe the Fed has a hidden nature, and the hidden nature is by design.
For us little people, living in our serfdom, we will never know the truth. Happy reading.
"The market is a process." - Ludwig von Mises, as related by Israel Kirzner. "Capital formation is a beautiful thing" - Chloe732.