Topic: Economic Cycles

Joseph Farrell discusses the work of economist Edward Dewey, who was tasked by President Herbert Hoover during the Great Depression to study economic booms and busts. Dewey discovered that human economic activity follows long-wave cycles similar to biological patterns, leading to the creation of the Foundation for the Study of Cycles. Farrell suggests these findings provide a scientific basis for ancient astrological claims regarding aggregate prediction.

Public interest in alternative economics often spikes during crises, such as the 2008 Lehman Brothers collapse, but fades quickly when corporate profits appear to recover. Quantitative easing is described as a tool used to placate the masses and maintain the status quo between crises. The discussion emphasizes the difficulty of transitioning people away from convenient corporate systems like Walmart toward more resilient local alternatives.