M1A3: Library Activity #1: Choosing a Topic

The topic I've chosen for my research paper is Middle-Class Squeeze and I plan to focus on the Federal
Reserve and the part it has to play. My proposed thesis is: The Federal Reserve is the fundamental cause of
the destruction of the middle class and should be abolished.

I read the chapters on Celebrity Culture, Teaching Values, and Closing Guantanamo and then turned to the
chapter on Middle-Class Squeeze. The subheading, "Is More Government Aid Needed?", just about made my
choice for me. After many years of experience and much study and reading since 1972, the year I graduated
High School, I am convinced that the answer to that question is a resounding "No!" I have carefully read and
re-read the chapter and only find the Federal Reserve mentioned twice, and only then as a source of statistics
that illustrate symptoms of the declining middle-class wealth that I hope to show are the inevitable result of
the actions of the Federal Reserve since its creation in 1913.

I learned a couple of things about my paper by searching the library's databases and one of those is, that to
my surprise and disappointment, Tragedy & Hope: A History of the World in Our Time by Carroll Quigley, was
not to be found. On the other hand, I was gratified to see that simply searching "Rothbard" led to some
results that I will find quite useful in making my point. 1,2

1
Culture of Enterprise: It Didn't Have to Be This Way: Why Boom and Bust be Unnecessary—and How the
Austrian School of Economics Breaks the Cycle
by Veryser, Harry C.
PUBLISHER ISI Books
DATE December 2012

2
Liberty Fund Library of the Works of Ludwig Von Mises: Theory of Money and Credit (5th Edition)
by von Mises, Ludwig
Batson, H.E.
Rothbard, Murray Newton