About two years ago when things started going downhill, the original bailout package for Greece totaled 110 billion euros. The second bailout deal, which has been seemingly put off indefinitely as the troika busybodies try to reach agreeable terms, is
Archive for February, 2012
Some Insights from My Visit to the ECB
[Originally posted on Mises.org, February 12th, 2012] Last week I attended a workshop at the ECB on Global Liquidity. Global Liquidity of course refers to money flowing throughout the world as a result of western central bank money printing—especially Fed
San Francisco, Regime Uncertainty, and The Plight of Small Business
Back in the 1990′s, economic historian Robert Higgs, author of the popular Crisis and Leviathan, famously developed the concept of “regime uncertainty” as a tool to describe the type of business atmosphere which pervaded during The Great Depression and prolonged
Responsibility and Initiative in Communal Concerns
[The following chapter is an excerpt from Ludwig von Mises' Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth. Buy it here.] The problem of responsibility and initiative in socialist enterprises is closely connected with that of economic calculation. It is now universally
Mises and Free Love
Quite a Valentine’s Day-esque controversy has erupted over Mises’ stance toward birth control and feminism over the past week. The affair began when Mike Konczal of the Roosevelt Institute, writing under the pseudonym rortybomb, took libertarians to task by pointing
Generation Demoralized
It’s a scandal how little talk there is of what really amounts to a national calamity: youth unemployment. It soared after the recession began in 2008, and it only grew higher after the recession supposedly ended. It is approaching 19%
Are Weddings in India Really Driving Gold Prices?
In a fascinating 60 Minutes report, correspondent Byron Pitts documents India’s cultural affinity with gold but ends up making the dubious assertion that the country’s thriving precious metals market is driving record gold prices. See the report below: Though it
Maxime Bernier: Give Keynes the boot
A great piece from Maxime Bernier, Minister of State for Small Business and Tourism in the Federal Government – it looks like we have at least one Austrian in the Canadian Parliament! The key question you have to ask is this:
Deliver Us From “Student Government”
[Posted on mises.org, Wednesday, July 14th, 2004] Colleges offer their students a taste of reality by simulating the political atmosphere of society with the presence of student government associations (SGAs). The election process alone succeeds in mimicking the cutthroat environment
Ontario’s Keynesian Stimulus: Another Case of Failed Econometrics
On the heels of U.S. President Barack Obama’s newly proposed, $1.33 trillion adding budget, Terence Corcoran takes Ontario’s efforts in government stimulus to school in his latest Financial Post column: The province’s massive deficit spending, announced in 2009, would be
Hungary Burning Banknotes
Looks like Hungary is putting it’s fiat currency to a far more valuable purpose – burning it for heat. The head of the central bank’s cash logistics centre, Barnabas Ferenczi, said: “Our examination showed that the heating properties of these
Kosovo’s Corruption Needs a Dose of Free Markets
Many would be surprised to hear that a country which has the youngest population in Europe is also the poorest. Not those who know Kosovo though, Europe’s newest country which declared independence from Serbia four years ago and has an
Do We Really Need a Central Bank? Steve Horwitz Comes to Carleton University
I am thrilled to announce that the Institute for Liberal Studies and Carleton Students for Liberty have organized a visit and talk by Steve Horwitz at Carleton University. Mark this down on your calendars as it guarantees to be a
Do Government Regulations Create Jobs?
The obvious answer is, of course, yes. If bureaucrats are put in charge of enforcing the latest and greatest scheme dreamt up by politicians deluded enough to believe themselves capable of utopian engineering, than employment rolls invariably increase. And when
How Sound is Canada’s Fiscal House?
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty recently urged European finance leaders to get their fiscal houses in order. A lack of fiscal constraint in Europe is breeding problems in far-off places. Canada in particular is apparently exposed to Europe’s debt crisis, if
Larry Fink of BlackRock: Go 100% in Stocks
In what has to be the biggest bull call in three years, Larry Fink, CEO of the world’s largest asset management firm known as BlackRock, recently made the call for investors to seriously consider going all in on stocks. Via
Greece Police Ready to Arrest IMF Officials?
What happens when two groups used to having the guns of government as their backing start disagreeing? From Reuters: (Reuters) – Greece’s largest police union has threatened to issue arrest warrants for officials from the country’s European Union and International
Krugman Misses the Plain Truth Right In Front of His Eyes
In another welfare-state praising column, Nobel Laureate and vulgar Keynesian mudslinger Paul Krugman attempts to deduce the real downfall of American society. Forget the fact that Krugman called for the creation of the housing bubble in the early part of
Federal Government Growth Before the New Deal
[Originally published in The Freeman, September 1997, Volume 47, Issue 9] Lincoln and Wilson Set Precedents for Government Spending Popular opinion holds that most of the credit (or blame) for the incredible growth of the federal government should go to
Forecloser Settlement in U.S.- The Proper Course of Action?
After years of litigation, the United States government, along with the governments representing the fifty states, has reached a joint settlement with the country’s five major banks and mortgage lenders over their questionable practices of mortgage foreclosure. Via Financial Times:
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