Today on the Brief: Better news in the jobless claims this week A new bitcoin adoption cycle? A check in on Lebanon Our main conversation is with Dr. George Selgin.  Dr. Selgin is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Cato Institute's Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives as well as Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Georgia.  In this eye-opening conversation, he and NLW go deep on the history, present and future of central banks, including: Why the Scottish and Canadian banking systems in the 19th century that central banks aren’t a prerequisite for stability Why the USA’s “free banking” system wasn’t free at all Why the instability in the late 19th century US banking system was caused by regulation, not the lack of a Fed Why the Fed’s first decades were a disaster Why the Fed gets more power when it underperforms  The problems with the Fed’s response to 2008 What lessons the Fed could have but didn’t learn between the Great Financial Crisis and COVID-19  Find our guest online Website: Alt-M.org Twitter: @GeorgeSelgin