In the early 1970s, about the time radio talk programs were becoming popular, I was a stockbroker in Boston. One of the stations had a fine afternoon talk show host. I called him every Wednesday at 2:00 pm to talk about money matters and economics. During one of my calls, the host said, “Wait a minute. I received a letter about you.” He found the letter and read it on the air. It was from a student, who wrote, “Archie’s explanations of economics are clearer than those of my professors at Harvard.” 

 

The head of the English Department of a boarding school where I had sent my stepdaughter wanted to learn about money. I wanted to improve my writing skills. Each week, I sent him a column on money matters I’d written for a local paper. At first, he returned the columns covered with red marks. Over time, the red marks diminished to nothing. I had learned how to maintain a line of thought, with each idea following naturally from the last. I had learned how to present ideas that enabled readers to construct in their minds the thoughts I had in mine. 

 

I was ready to go national. From 2000 to 2007, I wrote weekly newspaper columns, Richards on Money Matters, which were published in eleven papers nationwide. My best readership was Amarillo, TX, the second best, Waterbury, CT. One of the columns described what I considered the best way to invest in stocks. (It’s in the book.) Many years later, an Amarillo reader found my email address and wrote that he’d invested half his money as I had suggested. The other half he’d invested with a professional investment advisor. My half had performed the better of the two. 

 

The Waterbury CT editors surveyed their readers and were surprised to learn that they liked my column best even though it was on the business page, not the editorial page. Some years later, I met the widow of a reader of the Waterbury paper. She told me, “On the mornings your column was published, my husband would hurry out to the mailbox to get the paper. He loved your columns, and he loved your judgment.” 

 

In 2007, I wrote Understanding Exchange-Traded Funds for McGraw-Hill. Since then, my book publisher has been Defiance Press and Publishing. In 2020, there was America’s Governments, Enemies of the Poor. In 2021, America’s Bankruptcy Approaches. And now, Shrink Government: It’s Too Big! In 2022, the Mises Institute published my article, A Renewed Libertarian America.

 

Help make it possible for the book to influence public policy. Make a donation in this website. I’ll be right there with you. I expect to plow back most of my royalties into additional publicity. Working together, let’s endeavor to make America’s government sector considerably smaller. Thank you so much. 

 

—Archie Richards