Category Archive: 6b.) Mises.org

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Biden and Forgotten Federal Financial Tyranny

2024-01-25

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2024-01-25

Americans were jolted last week to learn that the Joe Biden administration viewed purchasing a Bible as a potential terrorist warning sign. Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, revealed that the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network stretched its “suspicious behavior” definition to include purchasing a Bass Pro Shop hat, as well as items sold by Cabella’s and Dick’s Sporting Goods. If...

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Babylon Bee Deserves Krugman’s Nobel Prize

2024-01-25

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2024-01-25

On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop are joined by Mises Institute Fellow Jonathan Newman to discuss economic fake news, featuring a cameo by Taylor Swift and Selina Gomez. Also, sign up today for our special Radio Rothbard raffle for a free entry into our 2024 Human Action Conference, celebrating the 75th anniversary of Ludwig von Mises's masterpiece. Mises.org/RRraffle. Discussed on the Show  "Selena Gomez...

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Unbreakable Union: Lessons Learned from the Demise of the Soviet Union

2024-01-25

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2024-01-25

[This week marks the one-year anniversary of the death of Yuri Maltsev. Dr. Maltsev had been an economist in the Soviet Union under Gorbachev, and defected to the United States in 1989. This article is an adaptation of a lecture written by Dr. Maltsev for the 2011 Austrian Scholars Conference in Auburn, Alabama.]  The opening lines of the state anthem of the USSR went as such: “An unbreakable union of free republics, Great Rus has united forever....

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The Federal Government’s Version of “Fiscal Responsibility” Offends Merriam and Webster

2024-01-25

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2024-01-25

A glance at the introductory sections in the 2024 budget put forth by the Biden administration might invite dangerous bouts of laughter if only the topic were not so serious and our so-called leaders not so delusional. After the “Budget Message of the President,” the fun begins with “Delivering Results for the American People” and “Growing the Economy from the Bottom Up and Middle Out” followed by the impossible-to-say-with-a-straight-face...

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The Fed Prepares for a Bank Crisis While Telling Americans the Economy is Strong

2024-01-25

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2024-01-25

Last Thursday, Bloomberg reported that federal regulators are preparing a proposal to force US banks to utilize the Federal Reserve’s discount window in preparation for future bank crises. The aim, notes Katanga Johnson, is to remove the stigma around tapping into this financial lifeline, part of the continuing fallout from the failures of several significant regional banks last year. This new policy is reminiscent of the Fed’s actions during the...

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What Does Classical-Liberal Foreign Policy Look Like?

2024-01-24

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2024-01-24

Ryan and Zach review a new book on the basics of the "classical liberal" theory of international relations. Drawing on the work of Mises and Hayek, Edwin van de Haar's new IR book provides a useful and insightful summary of how a pro-freedom foreign policy differs from the usual foreign policy in Washington.  Additional Resources "Human Nature and World Affairs: An Introduction to Classical Liberalism and International...

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Why Open Borders Don’t Work for Small Countries

2024-01-24

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2024-01-24

The arguments of open-borders advocates may be applicable in some corners of the developed world. However, for small countries next to larger ones, open borders bring serious geopolitical consequences.  Original Article: Why Open Borders Don't Work for Small Countries

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Jamaica Still Struggles Economically, But There Is Hope for the Future

2024-01-24

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2024-01-24

The island nation of Jamaica has beautiful beaches but a problem with poverty. Jamaica needs capital and free markets, not more state control of the economy. Original Article: Jamaica Still Struggles Economically, But There Is Hope for the Future

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Why Society Doesn’t Need the State

2024-01-24

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2024-01-24

Thomas Hill Green, an eighteenth-century English philosopher, didn't believe it was possible to have a good society without a powerful state. David Gordon explains why Green’s argument fails to impress. Original Article: Why Society Doesn't Need the State

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A Field Guide to Dubious Fact Checking

2024-01-24

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2024-01-24

It’s now 2024—the Associated Press says so. In case a claim was made that it’s still 2023, the Associated Press wants to assure everyone that that is false. Now, that’s a fact-check. What isn’t a fact-check is most of what is produced by the fact-check industry. PolitiFact, FactCheck.org, and each of the in-house media organizations like CNN’s Facts First are merely confirmation machines, apparatus that reinforce the original lie, like putting...

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Biden’s Middle East Policy Puts Americans at Risk

2024-01-24

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2024-01-24

The situation in the Middle East is growing more and more dangerous for the Americans stationed there. Two Navy SEALs are dead after being lost at sea off the coast of Somalia while searching a boat that was allegedly carrying weapons bound for Yemen. And many US troops have suffered concussions and other brain injuries in rocket attacks in Iraq and Syria. President Joe Biden and his advisors are reportedly convinced that it is only a matter of...

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The Promise of Human Action

2024-01-23

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2024-01-23

[This speech was delivered at the Mises Institute on the 50th anniversary of the publication of Human Action in 1999.  This year, May 16-18, join Dr. Joseph T. Salerno, Dr. Thomas J. DiLorenzo, Dr. Jörg Guido Hülsmann, Dr. Mark Thornton, and more for a conference in honor of the 75th anniversary of Human Action at our campus in Auburn. Space is limited. Register here.] In a 1949 memo circulated within Yale University Press, the publicity department...

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Government Banks Would Be a Dangerous Tool for Progressive Ideologues

2024-01-23

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2024-01-23

Last month, Democratic Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez proposed a bill that would allow the incorporation of financial institutions controlled by states and municipalities. These banks would be not-for-profit, tightly regulated, and given special government subsidies. The Congresswomen claim that public banks are necessary because the private sector has been “rigged” against “those grappling with the costs of simply trying...

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Rethinking Keynesian Theory: Debunking Interest Rates and Inflation Myths

2024-01-23

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2024-01-23

In the realm of macroeconomics, a legion of PhD economists in central banks passionately contends that interest rates are a pivotal policy tool for managing the economy. Simultaneously, these economists firmly uphold that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is an accurate gauge for measuring inflation—a widespread acceptance of this CPI as a valuable metric. The current theoretical state of macroeconomics should be classified as negative knowledge, akin...

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Bye Bye Willie: The Political Rent-Seeker

2024-01-22

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2024-01-22

On January 1, 2024, the famous Steamboat Willie entered the public domain. The intellectual property that is the original Mickey Mouse design has been controlled by the Walt Disney Company since 1928. The internet blew up in excitement as a result. Within minutes of the world waking up to the news, horror games were announced based on the design of the famous mouse. The editors of Wikipedia were practically Olympic racers, waiting for the moment it...

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Social Media Should Not Be Blamed for the Consequences of Democracy

2024-01-22

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2024-01-22

So-called social media is frequently maligned for the nastiness it brings, with focus often set on the personal attacks and trolling that tend to haunt potentially reasonable discussions. X (formerly Twitter) is supposedly the worst, on which people engage in endless mudslinging and bullying. However, the other platforms are not better. The common explanation for the degenerative nature of social media discourse is that the platforms are developed...

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Can an Easy Money Policy Increase Employment of “Idle Resources”?

2024-01-22

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2024-01-22

When an economy suffers a recession, some factors of production, such as labor, become unemployed. Keynesians believe that expanding credit and fiat money will bring back full employment. That's not how an economy works. Original Article: Can an Easy Money Policy Increase Employment of "Idle Resources"?

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Yemen: The Forgotten Neoconservative-Supported War in the Middle East

2024-01-21

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2024-01-21

While Western attention is on the Israel-Hamas conflict, war quietly rages in Yemen with predictable destruction. Not surprisingly, US interventionism is fueling this fight. Original Article: Yemen: The Forgotten Neoconservative-Supported War in the Middle East

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The Establishment Is Unmasking Itself

2024-01-21

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2024-01-21

American political and economic elites insist that they should have authority over everyone else. As people rebel, the elites are only doubling down on their original demands. Original Article: The Establishment Is Unmasking Itself

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“Humanitarianism” as an Excuse for Colonialism and Imperialism

2024-01-21

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2024-01-21

Spreading civilization and human rights has long been used as an excuse for state-building through colonialism and imperialism. This idea dates back at least to early Spanish and colonial efforts in the New World, and the rationale was initially employed as just one of many.  The importance of the conquest-spreads-civilization claim increased, however, as liberalism gained ground in Europe in the nineteenth century. Liberals were more skeptical of...

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