Reprinted from Cobden Center We know that today’s macroeconomists are very confused about inflation, if only because despite all experience they think they can print money and increase bank credit with a view to generating price inflation at a controlled
In 2009 I was asked by a journalist for my thoughts on the importance of Earth Hour. Here is my response. I abhor Earth Hour. Abundant, cheap electricity has been the greatest source of human liberation in the 20th century.
Reprinted from the Wall Street Journal The environmental movement has advanced three arguments in recent years for giving up fossil fuels: (1) that we will soon run out of them anyway; (2) that alternative sources of energy will price them
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In order to understand the relationship between money creation and the price level, we first need to get some definitions straight. To Austrians the terms inflation and deflation refer to money and not prices. There is no doubt that money
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Re: Agency wants to rein in payday loans Dear Sirs: Often payday lenders are the last tool of the working poor to forestall having utilities cut off, having a car repossessed (which can lead to losing one’s job), or even
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A “motte and bailey doctrine” is a style of argument (and informal fallacy) that’s based on a motte-and-bailey castle. The bailey is a big courtyard and where people live and work and generally want to be. The motte is a mound
Reprinted from the Freeman We often hear that individual investors are myopic. They make decisions based on a relatively short time horizon, so forget about the long run. That’s why we need government officials to step in with regulations, as
Re: Eurozone Business Growth Nears 4-year High, by David Jolly Dear Sirs: Once again one of your reporters repeats the mantra that there is a “…problem of declining consumer prices…in the eurozone…”. Problem for whom? Changes in the price level
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Reprinted from Mises.org Introduction It is generally acknowledged that bureaucrats are obstructing the process, but confusion abounds among free-market proponents themselves. Matters are scarcely helped by the fact that Western economists, to whom the former Eastern bloc is looking for
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Reprinted from the Freeman I was at a restaurant for lunch and had time to visit with the waitress, who turns out to be a college graduate from a good institution. She has a degree in European languages. Here she
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Reprinted from Zero Hedge On one hand there are hard-core Keynesians who will wave the flag of inflation as the only cure to a world drowning in debt, even after the mushroom cloud results of their policies going off around
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Reprinted from Zero Hedge Debt by Canadian households is a special phenomenon. Statistics Canada reported today that in the fourth quarter, household debt set another breath-taking record. Earlier this month, even Equifax Canada, which is in the business of facilitating
Re: Japan’s Recovery Is Complicated by a Decline in Household Savings, by Jonathan Soble Dear Sirs: Mr. Soble (and your editorial board, I’m sure) can’t seem to make up his mind whether Japan should spend its way to prosperity or
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Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig has been on a tear lately. Her near-constant attacking of libertarians has brought her “vertically-integrated digital media company” a good deal of traffic. For this I say: congrats! Mrs. Bruenig, you’re as enterprising as the capitalist robber
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President Obama and Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen have recently been crowing about improving economic conditions in the U.S. Unemployment is down to 5.5% and economic growth in 2014 hit 2.4%. Journalists and economists point to this improvement as proof
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Young people might think of Robert Reich as an annoying guy on the Internet who amasses an astonishing number of Likes and Re-Tweets, considering the number of fallacies in his social media posts. And yet, he actually has an impressive resume, having
Re: Japan’s Central Bank Warns of Temporary Return to Deflation Dear Sirs: BOJ governor Kuroda and his supporters should question the very foundation of their beliefs that inflation is “…crucial to rekindling growth…” and that “a ‘deflationary mindset’ is behind
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Reprinted from The Freeman Political wisdom, dearly bought by the bitter experience of generations, is often lost through the gradual change in the meaning of the words which express its maxims. Though the phrases themselves may continue to receive lip service,
“Delanda est in Susidium Foederatum Bank” (The Federal Reserve Bank Must be Destroyed) During the years of the Roman Republic, Cato the Elder ended every speech with the phrase “Delanda est Carthago” (Carthage must be destroyed). Rome had fought two
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