In the early evening of October 8, 1882, one of the richest men in the world was about to eat his supper in his private dining car. The train to which he was attached had just arrived in Chicago from Michigan City, Indiana, but before he could pick up his fork, a brash young reporter, freelancer Clarence Dresser, burst into his car asking for an interview. He wanted to know the railroad’s guidelines for establishing freight rates.“I’ll talk to you...
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Category Archive: 6b.) Mises.org
Congressional Omnibus is Like a Bad Hollywood Movie Sequel
This weekend’s late-night spending vote in Congress seems like another in an endless series of sequels to a bad suspense movie. Just at the brink of “disaster,” just before the stroke of midnight, Congress pulls off a miracle and passes an omnibus bill to save us from a “government shutdown!”The heroes have saved the day!Unfortunately, this latest sequel is as bad as the previous ones, as the American people are left with a massive $1.2 trillion...
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The Bolivian National Census: A Stark Reminder of the Perils of Unchecked Government Power
On Saturday March 23rd Bolivia held its national census, an exercise that is a routine in data collection in most countries around the world. And the recent census in the Andean nation is just a reminder of what lurks beneath the surface of this autocratic survey. While purportedly aimed at gathering demographic and socioeconomic data, the census raises profound questions about individual liberties, privacy rights, economic efficiency, and the...
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Navigating the Slippery Slope: How Hoover’s Interventions Paved the Way for the Great Depression
Herbert Hoover's presidency is often mythically mischaracterized as a period of strict nonintervention in the economy. However, it was in fact defined by a series of economic maneuvers that not only deviated from laissez-faire ideology, but also significantly contributed to the onset of the Great Depression. He initiated his term in 1929 with a proactive push by establishing the Federal Farm Board and later the Reconstruction Finance Corporation....
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The Hoax of “Multiculturalism”
According to “Britannica,” multiculturalism is “the view that cultures, races, and ethnicities, particularly those of minority groups, deserve special acknowledgment of their differences within a dominant political culture. See this. In fact, “multiculturalism is a gigantic hoax. The people behind it, including brain-dead Biden and his gang of neocon controllers, want to impose a totalitarian tyranny on us, telling us whom we can and cannot...
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The Forgotten Austrian: Peter F. Drucker and the Welfare State
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Federal Judges Co-Opted America’s State Constitutions
The idea that the federal Bill of Rights is the only thing standing between freedom and tyranny in America is deeply ingrained in the American mind. It is ubiquitous in our speech, for instance, as can be seen in how we use phrases like "my Second Amendment rights" or "I want to plead the Fifth [Amendment]." It is also assumed that unless the federal Supreme Court has intervened to declare that a legal right exists, then the...
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Libertarian Scholars Conference 2025
The Mises Institute will host a one-day Libertarian Scholars Conference on March 20, 2025 in Auburn, Alabama. The first Libertarian Scholars Conference was held in New York City in 1972 under the aegis of the Center for Libertarian Studies. The conference was held annually (except for 1973) throughout the 1970s in New York or Princeton, New Jersey (1977, 1978), with the 8th and last “national” conference taking place at the Hotel Diplomat in New...
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Two Cheers for Vivek Ramaswamy for His Commentary on the Fed
The 2024 presidential primaries have never been in much doubt, but Vivek Ramaswamy emerged from his presidential campaign poised for the future. In part, Ramaswamy distinguished himself with his criticism of the Federal Reserve. For most of the election cycle, scarcely a word has been said about the Fed by other 2024 presidential candidates. It is therefore worth reviewing what Ramaswamy had to say about monetary policy during his campaign.As...
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Austrian Economics Research Conference 2025
The Austrian Economics Research Conference is the international, interdisciplinary meeting of the Austrian school, bringing together leading scholars doing research in this vibrant and influential intellectual tradition. The conference is hosted by the Mises Institute at its campus in Auburn, Alabama, and is directed by Joseph Salerno, academic vice president of the Mises Institute and professor emeritus of economics at Pace University.The...
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California’s Latest Hustle: Utility Bills Based on Ratepayers’ Income
Utility bills—for electricity, natural gas, water, and garbage—have by long-standing tradition been based on customer usage, measured in kilowatt-hours of electricity, therms or Btu of natural gas, hundred cubic feet of water, or number of garbage cans. Every residence and business has electric, gas, and water meters that measure utility usage.But changes are afoot in the utility business as federal and state governments urge Americans to convert...
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Ryan McMaken on the History and Benefits of Secession
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Boyd’s Bounty Brings Boom-Time Bucks
Pattie Boyd, British fashion model and muse to two rock superstars, George Harrison and Eric Clapton, engaged Christie’s to auction love letters from Harrison and Clapton in addition to other memorabilia. As with all other assets these days, Boyd’s bounty went for boom-time prices. Chron.com reports, “Christie's, the world-renowned auction house, said its online sale of The Pattie Boyd Collection sold for around 2.82 million pounds ($3.6 million),...
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A Case for Argentina’s Dollarization: Why and How to Implement It
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Ayn Rand and the Austrian Economists
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The Drug War
In this episode, Mark shares the latest video in the Mises Institute's The Costs of the Progressives series, "The Drug War," which cites Mark's research on the economics of prohibition."The Costs of the Progressives" is a historical series that focuses on great leaps in Washington's consolidation of power on a variety of issues that affect our day-to-day lives, and the costs we pay with our taxes and our liberty:...
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Personal Medical Bankruptcy: Made in DC
One unintended consequence of federal government intervention or regulation of medicine is individuals or families declaring federal bankruptcy for large unpaid medical bills. US healthcare costs and miles to the nearest star is measured in trillions. US healthcare spending reached $4.1 trillion in 2020 according to the most recent data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Americans spent $12,530 per person on medical care in...
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The Fed Doesn’t Know the Natural Rate of Interest
Published in The Wall Street Journal:Mr. Levy describes the Fed’s permanent problem: It doesn’t and can’t know what the natural rate of interest is. Everyone should pity the members of the Federal Open Market Committee, who must inwardly confess that they can’t know the answers, yet have to play their parts in the Fed melodrama nonetheless.Alex J. PollockSenior fellow, Mises InstituteLake Forest, Ill.Appeared in the March 14, 2024, print edition as...
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Self-Ownership and the Right to Self-Defense
Self-defense is an ancient common law right under which necessary and reasonable force may be used to defend one’s person or property. As Sir Edward Coke expressed it in 1604: “The house of every one is to him as his Castle and Fortress as well for defence against injury and violence . . . if thieves come to a man’s house to rob him, or murder, and the owner or his servants kill any of the thieves in defense of himself and his house, it is no...
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Hazlitt Against Keynes on Unemployment and Wages: A Lesson for Modern Macroeconomics
The Failure of the ‘New Economics’ thoroughly demolished the Keynesian system. Unfortunately, this “economic demolition” as Rothbard called it (Hazlitt 2007 [1959], xvi), went ignored by the mainstream despite it carrying implications that would have prevented the decline in theoretical vigor of mainstream economics that was Keynesianism. Hazlitt’s argument against Keynesianism was more than a mere theoretical critique; it was a robust argument...
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On Swiss National Bank
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USD/CHF stays above 0.9100 nearing the highs since October
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SNB Sight Deposits: increased by 17.0 billion francs compared to the previous week
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Pound Sterling falls back as upbeat US Retail Sales strengthen US Dollar
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Canadian Dollar remains vulnerable after strong US Retail Sales
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2024-04-09 – Martin Schlegel: Interest rates and foreign exchange interventions: Achieving price stability in challenging times
Main SNB Background Info
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