Monthly Archive: April 2023

If at First You Don’t Secede . . .

2023-04-21

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2023-04-21

David Gordon explores how Abraham Lincoln's stated view on secession was fundamentally Hobbesian, cynical, and violent.  Original Article: "If at First You Don't Secede . . ." This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.

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Disinformation and the State: The Aptly Named RESTRICT Act

2023-04-21

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2023-04-21

The RESTRICT Act (Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology Act) has recently been making the rounds in the media, and rightfully so. The act is truly terrifying, but more than the open tyranny that it would further, the act illustrates a very clear problem from the perspective of the state. In previous eras, either formally or informally, the state exercised a great deal of control over the...

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How Government Schools Use Bad History to Promote the State

2023-04-21

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2023-04-21

On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop look at common American history myths baked into government school curriculums. While Republican governors have begun to prioritize removing "critical race theory" and other forms of modern "leftwing indoctrination" from textbooks, there are a number of historical episodes left unchallenged that all lead to a deification of state power and a celebration of...

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156 Million Americans Now Live in States with Legal Recreational Marijuana

2023-04-20

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2023-04-20

Over the past year, three US states have enacted new legislation legalizing recreational marijuana within their borders. In May 2022, recreational cannabis became legal in Rhode Island, and the same occurred in Missouri in December of last year. In the wake of the 2022 election, in which Maryland voters approved Maryland Question 4, recreational use became legal in that state as well. With the addition of Rhode Island, New Hampshire—where cannabis...

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A Pyrrhic End to 130 Years of Vicious Bad Money and Banking Crises

2023-04-20

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2023-04-20

The original vicious circle starts with inflationary interventions in an up-to-then well-anchored monetary regime. Consequent asset inflation spawns a banking crisis. That leads to the installation of anticrisis safety structures (one illustration is a novel or enhanced lender of last resort). Alongside a possible monetary regime shift, these damage the money’s anchoring system. A great asset inflation emerges and leads on to an eruption of another...

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A bank is a bank is a bank – Part II

2023-04-20

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2023-04-20

Part II of II by Claudio Grass A real systemic crisis If there was one thing more telling than the bank failures themselves, it was the governments’ reaction to them. The sheer panic that shook US, Swiss and Eurozone officials was almost pitiable to behold. The way they all rushed to make statements denying that this would be a repeat of 2008 was alarming instead of reassuring. And their apparent, urgent desperation to be believed was perhaps...

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Why the Regime Needs the Dollar to Be the Global Reserve Currency

2023-04-20

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2023-04-20

Even a partial weakening of the dollar's global demand will limit the US regime's ability to throw its weight around internationally. Yet Washington is unwilling to do what's necessary to prevent it.  Original Article: "Why the Regime Needs the Dollar to Be the Global Reserve Currency" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.

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Austrian Economists and Empiricism

2023-04-20

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2023-04-20

Since its emergence in 1871, the Austrian school of economics has provided systematic opposition to empiricism in the development of economics. The Methodenstreit persists, even with different players. Several papers and publications have criticized the concept of economics based on empirical evidence. Positivism, and its different currents of thought, are consistently criticized by Austrian economists. But the roots of attempts to make research...

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Equities Retreat while the Dollar is Confined to Narrow Ranges

2023-04-20

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2023-04-20

Overview: Equities are mostly lower, while bonds have risen. The dollar is trading in narrow ranges and mixed against the G10 currencies and emerging markets. Most Asian bourses were lower. The Nikkei (though not the Topix) and Hong Kong were the chief exceptions. Europe's Stoxx 600 is off for the second consecutive day, in what looks like the first back-to-back loss since early this month. US equity futures are lower, with the NASDAQ, which eked...

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What Will Our Energy Future Be? A Few Ideas

2023-04-19

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2023-04-19

With the government foolishly handicapping the oil and gas industries and pushing other alternatives, the future is not very bright.. Original Article: "What Will Our Energy Future Be? A Few Ideas" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.

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The Failure of the Federal Reserve: The Covid Boom and Unnecessary Intervention

2023-04-19

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2023-04-19

The Federal Reserve’s failure to meet its own policy goals of price stability and growth has become increasingly evident in the current economic situation in the United States. The country is now facing recessionary fears after experiencing historic inflation due to the misinterpretation of the causes of the Great Depression. The perverse effects of expansionary monetary policies also reflect the failure of the institutional economic position which...

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Phil Simon on Tectonic Changes in the Workplace

2023-04-19

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2023-04-19

Austrian economics recognizes change as a constant and provides guidance for adapting to it and managing it. Change is changing for business — it’s faster and more fundamental in the digital age. Austrian economics can help even more as a result of its practical and realist approach to adaptation and continuous adjustment. Knowledge Capsule Change is changing. Change is a constant. You can think of the market in constant flux, as Mises...

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Wars Cost More Than You Think

2023-04-19

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2023-04-19

Ryan and Zachary talk about how wars are not nearly as cheap or economically harmless as many Americans seem to think. Rather, taxpayers must give up enormous amounts of resources to fund wars halfway across the globe that have little to do with actual defense. Americans are still paying interest on the trillions spent on Washington's many lost wars of recent decades. Additional Resources "On Paying for the Costs of War and War...

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Cancel Culture: The Digital Panopticon

2023-04-19

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2023-04-19

Like Bentham's panopticon, modern cancel culture is built upon fear and online bullying, making people police their own thoughts. Original Article: "Cancel Culture: The Digital Panopticon" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.

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The Economics of Arts and Culture

2023-04-19

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2023-04-19

To describe anything in human life without the context of economics is to erase the reasoning behind why it even exists. Why do we need reasons for items and concepts to exist? Because it is helpful for every human to think critically about what is truly valuable in society and to give that human the best possible information to best serve the public. The arts are a fantastic aspect of our culture that display the talents of individuals for...

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Waco 30 Years Later: It Is Not an Atrocity if the Feds Do It

2023-04-19

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2023-04-19

Thirty years ago, FBI tanks smashed into the ramshackle home of the Branch Davidians outside Waco, Texas. After the FBI collapsed much of the building atop the residents, a fire erupted and 76 corpses were dug out of the rubble. Unfortunately, the American political system and media have never honestly portrayed the federal abuses and political deceit that led to that carnage. What lessons can today’s Americans draw from the FBI showdown on the...

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The Dollar Comes Back Bid

2023-04-19

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2023-04-19

Overview: It has taken some time, but the dollar has found better traction. It traded above JPY135 for the first time since mid-March and yesterday's setback has been mostly recouped against the other G10 currencies. Sterling is the most resilient after higher-than-expected inflation. Equities are lower. Japan's Nikkei snapped an eight-day advance and most of the other large bourses in the region (except Australia and South Korea) fell. Europe's...

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SweePay and SMART VALOR Brings Crypto to Masses at National Railways, Retailers

2023-04-19

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2023-04-19

The Swiss crypto exchange SMART VALOR and the financial intermediary SweePay has partnered to ensure that the purchase of cryptocurrencies at Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) ticket machines is simple, smooth and secure. Since 2016, it has been possible to buy crypto at the 1,500 (expected number of ticket machines as of 2023) ticket machines of the SBB. At the SBB ticket machines, users will receive their Bitcoin in a secure paper wallet when they buy...

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Canada’s Impotent Justice System Is the Product of Dysfunctional Canadian Democracy

2023-04-18

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2023-04-18

Violent crime is on the rise in Canada, and its progressive democracy is helpless to stop it. Further empowerment of the state makes things worse. Original Article: "Canada's Impotent Justice System Is the Product of Dysfunctional Canadian Democracy" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.

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From Discipline to No Discipline: The Sorry Evolution of Modern Banking

2023-04-18

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2023-04-18

Every decade or so bank failures and the subsequent bailout response via central bank intervention appear. The latest jangling of depositor nerves involved US regional banks and a certain Swiss bank of great systemic importance. As James Grant writes in his book Bagehot: The Life and Times of the Greatest Victorian, “In economics, the most ostensibly rigorous of the social sciences, progress–and error, too–are cyclical; we keep stepping on the same...

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