Category Archive: 6b.) Mises.org

The “Climate Emergency”: Fueled by 21st Century Marxism

The eternal “climate emergency” is upon us. While doomsday is said to be around the corner, the reality is that the only thing rising is the level of government control.  Original Article: The "Climate Emergency": Fueled by 21st Century Marxism

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After Ukraine, Realpolitik Will Be the New Interventionist Status Quo

From the onset of the current Israeli-Hamas conflict, the statements from the Joe Biden administration and Congress were crystal clear: America is the indispensable nation, and we’re rich and powerful enough to be able to afford two wars to guarantee the safety of the world. Even with the displeasure over an unstoppable growth in debt and a declining economy, the message to both the domestic and international audiences is DC will get involved...

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The Federal Reserve is Running Losses. Does This Cost Anyone Anything?

The new problem we now face arises from the fact that huge deficits are only manageable so long as interest rates remain very, very low.  Original Article: The Federal Reserve is Running Losses. Does This Cost Anyone Anything?

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Student Loans: The Continuing Crisis That Is Getting Worse

The leviathan does not rest in pursuing free universities, creeping ahead unchecked by either reason, law, or accounting principles. Why is student assessment of their federal-debt-financed degrees so low? Why are 26 percent of past payments delinquent? More than 50 percent of students agree that they either studied the wrong major or wasted time and money. Less than half have found work in their major field of study. Public dialogue is lured into...

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Israel Isn’t the Brilliant Friend of Freedom the Beltway Claims It to Be

While Israel receives praise for being a "democracy" in the undemocratic Middle East, its surveillance policies mirror those of China, which is decidedly not democratic. Original Article: Israel Isn’t the Brilliant Friend of Freedom the Beltway Claims It to Be

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Killers of the Flower Moon Is about Government Failure

The newly-released movie "Killers of the Flower Moon" depicts what happens when politically-connected people can use the state to carry out nefarious deeds. Unfortunately, government failure is one lesson that is sure to be lost here. Original Article: Killers of the Flower Moon Is about Government Failure

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Is Migration a Tool of the Consumptive Class?

An unfortunate consequence of increased wealth is the growth of the parasitic consumptive class of political and cultural elites. Labor migrations often follow in the wake of damage that elites do. Original Article: Is Migration a Tool of the Consumptive Class?

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Jim Chanos and Stock Markets

In this week's episode, Mark looks at the implications of famed investor Jim Chanos shutting down his hedge fund which specialized in shorting stocks. The closure comes as stock markets in the US hit all time record highs. Mark frames these two events in light of the Austrian Theory of the Business Cycle.  Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues. Get your free copy of Murray Rothbard's Anatomy of the State at...

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Fed Rate Cuts Will Not Save The Economy

Market implied Fed Funds rate discount a string of cuts starting in January 2024 and culminating in a 4.492 percent in January 2025. These expectations are based on the perception that the Federal Reserve will achieve a soft landing and that inflation will drop rapidly. However, market participants who assume rate cuts will be bullish may be taking too much risk for the wrong reasons. The messages from the Federal Reserve contradict the previously...

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The Fed Is Draining Our Economy Like Farmers Have Drained Their Aquifers

In an October column, Paul Krugman admonished people who are not all in on the Joe Biden economy and declared that we are headed at worst for a “soft landing” in which an economic slowdown—if it happens at all—will be short and shallow. He wrote: The most important reason for optimism is that an ever-widening range of indicators suggests that the conventional wisdom—that we needed a recession to bring inflation under control—was wrong. Instead, we...

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Overcoming Chinese Communist GDP Myths

In March, at the National People’s Congress, Beijing set its annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth target. Since 1985, in every year but one, China has met or exceeded its official projections, raising doubts about whether or not Beijing’s claims of rapid growth can be believed. The New York Federal Reserve issued a report in 2020 that challenged the numbers, saying that China’s GDP growth chart was too smooth for the data to be authentic....

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Seven Reasons to Abandon the Public Health System

Despite the numerous permanent problems faced by public healthcare systems, a significant number of people (such as citizens, politicians, and doctors) still seem to deem them necessary and believe that the problems associated with them can be solved by, for example, better management, increased expenditure, or central planning. Therefore, in this essay, the main arguments in favor of a gradual departure from public systems will be presented...

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Bourne Again

In his new book Only a Voice: Essays (Verso, 2023), the critic and essayist George Scialabba brings to our attention the wisdom of two authors who analyzed the dangers of war: Randolph Bourne and Dwight Macdonald. In this week’s column, I’d like to discuss what Scialabba says about them. Bourne will be a familiar name to many readers owing to Murray Rothbard’s praise of him, but he was not a libertarian. Like John Dewey, he was a Progressive and a...

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Co-Creator Explains Javier Milei’s Plan to Abolish the Central Bank

Nicolás Cachanosky was a co-author on the dollarization proposal for Argentina that Javier Milei publicly endorsed. Nicolás explains to Bob the outlines of the proposal, which involves replacing pesos with USD for bank deposits, currency in circulation, and central bank liabilities. How to Dollarize Argentina: Mises.org/HAP423a Rear More from Nicolás: Mises.org/HAP423b The Human Action Podcast Episode with Peter Lewin: Mises.org/HAP423c...

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Private Medical Care STILL Is a Better Deal Than Government Care

Most people have a negative view of business monopolies. Whether for allegedly exploiting workers, causing inefficiency, or crowding out potential challengers, most government-granted monopolies undoubtedly hurt entrepreneurs and customers. This basic distrust of monopolization disappears as soon as one enters the floors of the United States Senate or Congress. Government-forced monopolization arises in virtually every industry, but nowhere is it...

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Help the Institute Fight Censorship and Expose Government Tyranny

Dear Friend, In the chapter of The Road to Serfdom entitled “The End of Truth,” F.A. Hayek wrote that in a totalitarian society “truth” is not determined by scholarship, research, discussion, and debate but by pronouncements by the government “authorities.” Anthony Fauci’s notorious “I am science” declaration is a perfect example of such totalitarian thinking, as is Al Gore’s “settled science” declaration regarding global-warming research. Of...

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The Interest Rate Shock Will Blow Up the Government’s Ponzi Game

As the federal government continues its Ponzi scheme of issuing debt to pay for past debts, interest rates will increase to the point where this no longer is a tenable strategy—if it ever was. Original Article: The Interest Rate Shock Will Blow Up the Government’s Ponzi Game

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How Government Meddling Makes Us Poorer

The Austrian (TA): At mises.org, we’ve focused a lot on how monetary policy can increase inequality and impoverishment. But the same could be said of many other non-central-bank interventions in the economy. What are some of these interventions that are making us worse off? Per Bylund (PB): I think what is important to remember is that any change in the economy implies a shift in the production structure and thus in how resources are used. This...

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Are Businesses Entitled to a Fair Profit?

In my experience of public policy discussions, one of the most frequent weasel words used as an intended trump (not Trump) card has been “fair.” Like another commonly played political trump card, “need,” fairness does not have a clear meaning. That provides a great deal of wiggle room for equivocation, almost always used to justify forcing some Americans to pay for what someone else wants. Fairness has no universal meaning beyond “more for me or...

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Contra CATO: COVID-19 Vaccinations Are Not a Free Market Victory

A Cato Institute associate has declared the development of the covid-19 vaccines to be a free-market “triumph.” The only thing that has triumphed in this sorry episode has been the rapid growth of coercive government power. Original Article: Contra CATO: COVID-19 Vaccinations Are Not a Free Market Victory

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