Re: Is 2% Inflation enough? Dear Sirs: As you note, the Fed has held “its benchmark rate near zero…since December 2008″, but without the result promised by econometric models. Therefore, those Keynesian economists you quote want even more money printing.
Archive for April, 2015
We’re All Welfare Queens Now
Reprinted from The Daily Bell In 2013, Fox News proudly broadcast an interview with a young food stamp recipient who claimed to be using the government benefit to purchase lobster and sushi. “This is the way I want to live
Modern-Day Social Engineers and Inequality
Reprinted from Acting-Man Is Inequality a Bad Thing? We couldn’t believe what we were seeing when coming across the following headline at Reuters recently: “Fed’s Yellen says research needed to understand inequality issue”. Seriously? Maybe we can help the good
Comments are off for this post
Freedom of Opportunity Not Equality of Opportunity Part 2
This essay shows that the goal of equality of opportunity is both absurd and vicious. Achieving it would require that children all be raised in the same environment and have the same genetic inheritance. In contrast, the essay shows that
Comments are off for this post
Baltimore, D.C., and Panem All in One
The teen fiction series The Hunger Games is a hit in the United States, and it’s not hard to see why. The books, and spin-off movies, share an anti-authoritarian message combined with a complicated story of young romance. What’s really
Comments are off for this post
3rd International Conference of the “Ludwig von Mises and Contemporary Societies” cycle: “LIBERALISM, POSTCOMMUNISM AND REFORMS”. Lviv, October 1-2, 2015.
On the initiative of the Department of Political Science and Philosophy LRIPA NAPA and other institutions a series of conferences in honor of the famous Austrian scientist, liberal thinker and our countryman Ludwig von Mises is held in Lviv. In
Comments are off for this post
Freedom of Opportunity Not Equality of Opportunity Part 1
This essay shows that the goal of equality of opportunity is both absurd and vicious. Achieving it would require that children all be raised in the same environment and have the same genetic inheritance. In contrast, the essay shows that
Comments are off for this post
My letter to the WSJ re: Austrians understand why there is a commodity glut
Re: Glut of Capital and Labor Challenge Policy Makers Dear Sirs: The worldwide commodity glut is not a surprise to Austrian school economists. It is a wonderful example of the adverse consequences of monetary repression to drive the interest rate
The Don Fanucci of American Politics
Reprinted from LewRockwell.com This year marks the 150th anniversary of the end of the American “Civil War,” more accurately described as the War to Prevent Southern Independence. It is also the 31stanniversary of the movie, The Godfather, Part II. A
Do We Owe the Weekend to Labor Unions?
On Twitter the following graphic caught my eye: There are two problems with this argument, one obvious and one more subtle. The obvious problem is that it commits the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy. Rather than spelling out what
Comments are off for this post
7 Habits of Highly Effective Libertarians
Reprinted from the Freeman What does it mean to be an effective advocate of liberty? It means to love what you do and adopt sustainable patterns of thinking and living that contribute to making the world a freer place. Sustainability
Critiquing a Monetary Reform for Iceland
The Prime Minister of Iceland recently commissioned a report by Frosti Sigurjonsson (henceforth referred to as “Mr. S”) to recommend a better money and banking system for Iceland. (I’m sorry, but isn’t Frosti a great first name for someone from
Drought and the Failure of Big Government in California
Reprinted from Mises.org California Governor Jerry Brown has announced that private citizens and small businesses — among others — will have their water usage restricted, monitored, and subject to heavy fines if state agents determine that too much water has
Comments are off for this post
SDAE Call for Papers
To all Austrian-minded scholars, The Society for the Development of Austrian Economics has put out a call for papers for their November meeting in New Orleans. See the link below for details. http://www.coordinationproblem.org/2015/03/call-for-papers-2015-sdae-meetings-new-orleans-november-12-23-2015.html
Comments are off for this post
The Costs of Hysteria
Reprinted from the Freeman Suppose the scientific consensus on climate change is right. Let’s also stipulate, for the sake of argument, that the computer projections used by the United Nations and the US government are correct, and that economists are able
When Not Getting What You Pay for is Preferred
In his book Bourbon for Breakfast: Living Outside the Statist Quo, libertarian writer Jeffrey Tucker sagaciously noted that we Americans “really don’t get all the government we pay for, and thank goodness. Lord protect us on the day that we
Comments are off for this post
Who Owns the North Pole?
Reprinted from Mises.org The battle for the North Pole is snowballing between national governments along the Arctic Circle, as they all have their eyes set on the vast natural resources residing in the Arctic region. Indeed, it’s estimated the Arctic
Comments are off for this post
Noah Smith Is Frank About Macro Models
Lately some of the orthodox economists have been blogging in defense of standard macro models (even though they typically failed to predict the financial crisis of 2008). What caught my eye, however, was Noah Smith’s casual discussion of the state of
My letter to the NY Times re: Please, make me unemployed!
Re: In test for unions and politicians, a nationwide protest on pay Dear Sirs: I find it incredible that anyone, especially the vaunted New York Times, would treat with respect the fallacious concept that pay can be set arbitrarily-and enforced
Comments are off for this post
