Monthly Archive: January 2024

Government Employee Pensions Are Underfunded. Taxpayers Will Make Up the Difference

2024-01-20

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2024-01-20

People aren’t messing with their 401(k)s enough, according to the The Wall Street Journal. It used to be “Set it and forget it.” Now, according to the Wall Street Journal’s Jon Sindreu, if you forget it, you might miss it. Inspired by a BlackRock thought experiment which included perfect knowledge, Sindreu looked backward between 2020 and the present at a person making yearly changes (moving funds to the previous year’s strongest sector) which...

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Does Government Spending and Money Expansion Create New Wealth or Destroy It?

2024-01-19

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2024-01-19

Many economists claim that economic growth is driven by increases in the total demand for goods and services, additionally claiming that overall output increases by a multiple of the increase in expenditures by government, consumers, and businesses. Thus, it is not surprising that most economic commentators believe that a fiscal and monetary stimulus will strengthen total demand, preventing the US economy from falling into a recession. These...

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Are Capital Gains Income? The Connection with Mises’s Calculation Problem

2024-01-19

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2024-01-19

Bob goes solo to discuss a recent Twitter controversy, in which opponents of a proposed tax argued that unrealized capital gains couldn't possibly be a form of income. Bob cites both Austrian theory and corporate accounting practice to respond that all capital gains are income, which is not to say that they ought to be taxed. The dispute is important because understanding the definition of "income" sheds light on the role of market prices...

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Jacobin Capitalism?

2024-01-19

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2024-01-19

In his important book The Failure of American Conservatism (2023), the political theorist and philosopher Claes G. Ryn offers some criticisms of libertarianism and free-market capitalism, and in this week’s column, I’d like to examine these. Ryn is not an opponent of all forms of the free market, but he fears an extreme version of it can be dangerous. He defends what he calls “value-centered historicism,” according to which people’s values stem not...

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Rising Interest Rates and the “Great Reset” Bubble

2024-01-19

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2024-01-19

Even though many deny it, the “Great Reset” exists, referring to a set of ideas that range from “stakeholder capitalism” to “wokeness” and “fourth industrial revolution” to “transhumanism.” It is effectively popularized especially through the World Economic Forum. The fight against viruses and epidemics and particularly the politically driven move away from fossil fuels to “save the global climate” are probably the most visible footprints of the...

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Corrupt Money = Corrupt Society

2024-01-19

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2024-01-19

Share this article Discussion with Sean from SGT Report about the corruption of our money which has led to the corruption of society. to watch the video click on this link: https://rumble.com/v44t52f-corrupt-money-corrupt-world-claudio-grass.html

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Quiet End to a Busy Week

2024-01-19

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2024-01-19

Overview: The dollar's surge in the first part of the week has given way to consolidation. The US dollar is sporting a softer profile against most of the G10 currencies. The Dollar Index is threatening to snap a three advance. Sterling is a notable exception following the weakest retail sales report since 2021. Most emerging market currencies, including China, Taiwan, and Mexico are slightly firmer. US President Biden is expected to sign a bill...

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How to Free Ourselves from Government Money (Part III)

2024-01-18

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2024-01-18

To save our economy from destruction and from the eventual holocaust of runaway inflation, we the people must take the money-supply function back from the government. Money is far too important to be left in the hands of bankers and of Establishment economists and financiers. To accomplish this goal, money must be returned to the market economy, with all monetary functions performed within the structure of the rights of private property and of the...

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Why Argentina Needs Free Cities

2024-01-18

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2024-01-18

For most of the past century, Argentina has seen the destruction wrought by collectivism. To reverse the damage, the nation must allow decentralization, beginning with free cities. Original Article: Why Argentina Needs Free Cities

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Resurrecting the Failed Policy of Rent Control

2024-01-18

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2024-01-18

When it comes to housing, the solution to the problem of affordability is rather straightforward: build more. Slapping price controls on housing in the form of “rent control” only makes things worse. Original Article: Resurrecting the Failed Policy of Rent Control

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The Anti-Semitism Controversy on College Campuses Is the Direct Result of Identity Politics

2024-01-18

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2024-01-18

The recent campus protests following the Hamas-Israel conflict have been framed as either antiapartheid or anti-Semitic. The conflict is much deeper, being rooted in toxic identity politics. Original Article: The Anti-Semitism Controversy on College Campuses Is the Direct Result of Identity Politics

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History vs Economics: Explaining the Causes of the Great Depression

2024-01-18

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2024-01-18

While economics textbooks are weak on causes of the Great Depression, American history texts are even worse. It's time for some truth telling. Original Article: History vs Economics: Explaining the Causes of the Great Depression

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Reflections on the Libertarian Role in Society

2024-01-18

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2024-01-18

With the advent of language artificial intelligence like ChatGPT that are trained on online information, one can find backing for a hypothesis regarding society. General political thought is leftist leaning since the political answers given by the app are left oriented. The victory of self-proclaimed anarchocapitalist Javier Milei in the presidential elections of Argentina seems to be showing a pushback against the progressives, but the same is not...

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Censorship and Official Lies: The End of Truth in America?

2024-01-18

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2024-01-18

"Truth is treason in an empire of lies." – George Orwell The State is tightening its stranglehold on its own narrative as its web of lies unravels. The government's lapdogs in the news media continue to bark and howl on TV even though a majority of American households have cut the cord. And of course, nothing resembling the truth can be heard in the softball press conferences at the White House and the Federal Reserve. Newspapers, both...

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The War on Producers and Entrepreneurs Is Based on False Notions of Profits

2024-01-18

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2024-01-18

The war on the producer is raging on, and the assault on free enterprise and the entrepreneur is hitting an all-time high. Whether it be politicians, academics, or the mainstream media, there’s a relentless effort to paint those who create wealth and prosperity as villains who do nothing but exploit the masses. This is not just a misguided moral crusade, but it also amounts to an egregious intellectual fraud as it completely ignores fundamental...

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Dollar Rally Pauses, but Fuel from Interest Rate Adjustment may not be Complete

2024-01-18

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2024-01-18

Overview: This week's dollar surge is consolidating today. Interest rates have steadied, but the adjustment, which involves pushing the first rate from March toward June does not appear complete. This suggests the dollar's recovery from last November-December's sell-off may not be complete either. Today, though, it is a little firmer against all the G10 currencies but the Swiss franc. Most emerging market currencies are also trading with a slightly...

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Fractional Reserve Banking (Part II)

2024-01-17

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2024-01-17

We have already described one part of the contemporary flight from sound, free market money to statized and inflated money: the abolition of the gold standard by Franklin Roosevelt in 1933, and the substitution of fiat paper tickets by the Federal Reserve as our “monetary standard.” Another crucial part of this process was the federal cartelization of the nation’s banks through the creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913. Banking is a...

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The Decisive Driving Force to Victory for Javier Milei

2024-01-17

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2024-01-17

Much has been written in the international press, including within Argentina, about recently inaugurated Argentinian president Javier Milei, mostly about how he is an extreme right-winger (really wanting to taint him as a fascist among left-wing circles). Some independent journalists and observers have commented on how his announced plans could transform Argentina into a prosperous country by following classical liberal policies. One significant...

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The Government Is Making the Economy Appear Better than It Is

2024-01-17

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2024-01-17

As the 2024 general election gets closer, Democrats and proestablishment pundits are growing frustrated with the American public for not feeling as good about the economy as the so-called experts say they should. The elitism of this view aside, it is true that traditional economic indicators are pretty good and that, at the same time, people aren’t feeling good about the economy. Center-left economists have been locked in a debate over whether...

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Stronger-than-Expected UK CPI Helps Steady Sterling after Dollar Rally Extended

2024-01-17

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2024-01-17

Overview: The sharp dollar advance is stabilizing after follow-through gains earlier today. A larger than expected rise in the UK's December CPI helped sterling recover from the push below $1.26, the lower end of a one-month trading range. It is the only G10 currency that is firmer against the dollar ahead of the North American session. ECB's Lagarde pushed back against the early rate cut speculation and this may have stemmed the euro's losses. The...

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