Category Archive: 6b.) Mises.org

Marxists Have a Plan for Housing: Make Sure There Is Less Available

“Stay in your lane” is a frequently heard refrain nowadays, normally a piece of advice directed at those who, by virtue of some aspect of their identifying characteristics or profession or beliefs, express views which are deemed unwelcome. “Stay in your lane” is not often fair and appropriate advice to be given in debate. I submit, however, that “Stay in your lane” is usually fair and appropriate advice to give a Marxist who opines on matters which...

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What the Trump Indictment Tells Us about the Regime

Ryan and Tho talk about why Trump is the only former president to be prosecuted for crimes. The ruling class has agreed to not prosecute their own, but since they see Trump as an outsider, he is fair game. In truth, we'd be better off if more presidents and former presidents faced prosecution. [embedded content] Recommended Reading "With the Trump Indictment, America Is a Step Closer to Being a Banana Republic" by Bill Anderson:...

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Roosevelt’s 1933 Gold Theft and Default

[April 5 is the 90th Anniversary of Franklin Roosevelt's executive order banning private ownership of gold. In this selection from Part III of America's Money Machine: The Story of the Federal Reserve, economist Elgin Groseclose shows how FDR's executive order was part of a larger effort to deliberately debase the dollar, drive up prices, nationalize gold markets, and default on gold-based bonds. All the while, he claimed the dollar "a...

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Is It Real Money or Just Artifice?

Money proper is not artifice. It is a physical "thing" of value, acquired through labor and emerging out of the needs of individuals, who through voluntary exchanges determine its value. Original Article: "Is It Real Money or Just Artifice?" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.

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The RESTRICT Act Will Only Restrict Our Liberties

Earlier this month, Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) introduced the Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology Act, or the RESTRICT Act. The bill is being floated as a possible means for the federal government to ban TikTok over its connection to the Chinese government. However, the RESTRICT Act’s vague language and broad scope has many voicing concerns about the bill’s threat to free speech and...

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Sharekh Shaikh On The Digital Revolution In Market Research

Market research is a tool for gathering data about customers and consumers that businesses hope will lead to insights about their behaviors and preferences that can be translated into innovation, better service and better business performance. As with any dynamic system, it has changed over time, and the effects of entropy have begun to show themselves in invalid techniques, invalid data, and invalid conclusions. And as with virtually all business...

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Politics Is Turning Us into Idiots

From race to gender to nearly everything else, decisions about what is correct or incorrect are made according to politics. This is a recipe for social destruction. Original Article: "Politics Is Turning Us into Idiots" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.

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Who Are the Wealth Destroyers, Politicians or Billionaires?

Thinking that billionaires are a policy failure has become pervasive in the United States. Politicians like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Elizabeth Warren are leading the charge in the demonization of billionaires. Left-leaning politicians and their allies think that billionaires corrode society by accumulating large fortunes, which amplify inequality. As such, many propose taxation as a tool to promote fairness by redistributing resources, yet such...

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The Fed’s Capital Goes Negative

The Federal Reserve’s new report of its balance sheet shows that in the approximately six months ended March 29 it has racked up a remarkable $44 billion of cumulative operating losses. That exceeds its capital of $42 billion, so the capital of the Federal Reserve System has gone negative to the tune of $2 billion—just in time for April Fools’ Day. This event would certainly have surprised generations of Fed chairmen, governors, and, we’d have...

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To Fight the State, Build Alternatives to the State

The challenge at hand is more than simply opposing the state. Rather, it is necessary to build up, reinforce, and sustain institutions that can offer alternatives to the state. Original Article: "To Fight the State, Build Alternatives to the State" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.

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

Last week, Fox News aired a segment discussing the possibility that the US dollar will cease to be the global reserve currency and what that would mean for Americans. The tone of the piece suggested that a “catastrophic” decline of the US dollar was not only possible, but perhaps even imminent. CNN last week also aired its own segment suggesting the US will face “a reckoning like none before” if the “dollar’s dominance” in the global economy falls...

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What Our Energy Future Be? A Few Ideas

Access to energy has long been taken for granted as society became quite used to relatively stable prices and the ample abundance of energy. Meanwhile, the business side of energy was relegated to industry insiders, policymakers, and market traders dealing with the matter as a profession. However, the perceptible rise in prices and the fear of supply shortages have pushed energy considerations to the forefront of societal consciousness. This crunch...

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Is the Fed Trying to Bail Out the World? Sure Looks Like It

Like the arsonist who then heroically fights the fire he set, the Fed is increasing its efforts to bail out banks both at home and abroad. This does not end well. Original Article: "Is the Fed Trying to Bail Out the World? Sure Looks Like It" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.

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Cancel Culture: The Digital Panopticon

The panopticon is a hypothetical surveillance and control system first imagined by philosopher Jeremy Bentham in the eighteenth century. It’s envisioned as a tool to control the behavior of a large number of people with as little effort as possible. Here is one description: “The panopticon is a disciplinary concept brought to life in the form of a central observation tower placed within a circle of prison cells. From the tower, a guard can see...

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SVB’s Failure Is Not an Excuse for More Regulation

Recently, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a bank that was heavily involved in cryptocurrency, collapsed. Naturally, Democrats want to exploit the situation to rush through new regulations. But that will only make the problem worse. The failure of Silicon Valley Bank, a forty-year old, $200 billion bank, has caused many to worry about the country’s economic stability. Among the concerned is Senator Elizabeth Warren, who wants to reinstate some of the...

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Peasants, Rise Up! The Croquants of the 17th Century

Seventeenth-century French kings and their minions did not impose an accelerating burden of absolutism without provoking grave, deep, and continuing opposition. Indeed, there were repeated rebellions by groups of peasants and nobles in France from the 1630s to the 1670s. Generally, the focus of discontent and uprising was rising taxes, as well as the losses of rights and privileges. There were also similar rebellions in Spain in mid-century, and in...

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Why Most of the World Isn’t on Board with the NATO-Russia War

Many governments support continuing the Ukraine war, but ordinary people in Europe, America, and the developing world fear the war will bring economic disaster.  Original Article: "Why Most of the World Isn't on Board with the NATO-Russia War" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.

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

Conservatives have been pressuring “the Liberal government to address what they term a violent crime wave, citing the killings of five police officers in five months and a surge of violence in cities across Canada.” Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said that violent crime is up 32 percent, gang killings are up 92 percent, and “Police tell us that often they have to arrest the same people multiple times in the very same day because they are...

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Bipartisanship Is Not a Substitute for Voluntary Exchange

Politicians tout "bipartisanship"—that often just means one's pocket will be picked even more cleanly. Original Article: "Bipartisanship Is Not a Substitute for Voluntary Exchange" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.

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Would Stress Tests Have Prevented the Failure of SVB? Probably Not

“This is all about regulation and the fact that at some point in time there was great advocacy for making sure that the regional banks and the smaller banks didn't have to comply with some of the rules that perhaps would not have allowed them to get into this situation because there would've been stress testing and more oversight and more watching of what was going on.” ~ Rep. Maxine Waters (D), Financial Services Committee, March 15, 2023 As fate...

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