One of President Trump’s proposals for his new term is to abolish the federal income tax and replace it with tariffs as the primary revenue source for the US federal government. In a brilliant rhetorical move, he suggests implementing this through abolishing the Internal Revenue Service and replacing it with the “External Revenue Service,” claiming that the tariffs collected by this new agency would be financed by foreigners rather than Americans. This sure sounds like a good deal.Trump has claimed that “tariff” is the most beautiful word in the English language, even more so than “love.” Perhaps it would be if it were a device by which one could costlessly extract funds from foreigners. But is a tariff capable of doing such a thing?Standard microeconomic analysis tells us that the

What is the Mises Institute?

The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard. Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.

What is the Mises Institute?

The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard. Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.

Some residents of St. Louis, fed up with the nonprotection from the city’s police, have hired private security to deal with the problem. The egalitarian Left, of course, doesn’t like that.

Original Article: "Egalitarianism as a Revolt against Safety"

Bureaucrats operate with de facto electoral unaccountability.
Download lecture slides at Mises.org/MU23_PPT_31.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 27 July 2023.

Bureaucrats in the Deep State | Tate Fegley

Video of Bureaucrats in the Deep State | Tate Fegley

Moving policing outside of the realm of economic calculation contributes to many of the problems we see.
Download lecture slides at Mises.org/MU23_PPT_22.
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 26 July 2023.

The Political Economy of Policing | Tate Fegley

Video of The Political Economy of Policing | Tate Fegley

There are certain goods and services that egalitarians, as third parties, would prefer that no one enjoys rather than for some to have more than others. (The proviso “as third parties” is necessary since egalitarians will not do without these goods and services themselves, but they still see fit to comment on inequalities from afar.) One of these services is public safety, as shown in a series of articles written by ProPublica reporter Jeremy Kohler complaining about the fact that people in St. Louis can hire private security, rather than about everyone in the city being equally unprotected.
Consider this headline: “St. Louis’ Private Police Forces Make Security a Luxury of the Rich.” That is one way to spin the fact that the supposed engine of providing “equitable” public safety—the St.

Crime is increasing in American cities, but don’t count on police to protect you. The Defund the Police movement has less to do with that than most people think.

Original Article: "You Can’t Depend on the State to Maintain Public Order"

Although commonly used, Max Weber’s definition of the state—an entity that has a monopoly on the legitimate use of force within a given geographical area—can mislead people into thinking that the state is the only or even the primary reason for security and order. This is illustrated in the trends in the nonstate provision of security, as revealed by my Google alert for the phrase “private police.” Lately, incidents of car and bike theft have led individuals to either organize themselves to prevent and respond to it or hire private security to do so.
One example is a gas station in Philadelphia (a city that has frequently been in the news lately due to growing crime problems, having set a new personal record for annual murders) that has hired security armed with rifles to protect patrons,