Category Archive: 6b.) Mises.org

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ESG En Route to Etatism

2023-03-27

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2023-03-27

The Henry Hazlitt Memorial Lecture, sponsored by Harvey and Mei Allison. Recorded at the 2023 Austrian Economics Research Conference hosted at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, March 16–18, 2023. [embedded content] 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....

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No, We Don’t Need More Nuclear Weapons

2023-03-27

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2023-03-27

Advocates for more military spending tell us the taxpayer must pay to expand the US's nuclear arsenal.  Because of China. In truth, the US's arsenal is in no danger of not "keeping up." Original Article: "No, We Don't Need More Nuclear Weapons" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.

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Does Cost Cutting Undermine Economic Growth?

2023-03-27

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2023-03-27

Keynesian economists claim that cost cutting by companies in order to protect profits can lead to an economic slump. They believe that if everyone tries to cut costs, demand from retrenched workers for goods and services weakens, and as a result corporate revenues and profits come under pressure. This necessitates new layoffs, and the downward spiral accelerates. Popular thinking presents economic activity as a circular flow of money: spending by...

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Defending Private Property: Principles of Justice in Rothbard’s Ethics of Liberty

2023-03-27

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2023-03-27

The Murray N. Rothbard Memorial Lecture, sponsored by Steven and Cassandra Torello. Recorded at the 2023 Austrian Economics Research Conference hosted at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, March 16–18, 2023. [embedded content] 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...

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Why Fractional Reserve Banking Is behind Bank Failures

2023-03-27

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2023-03-27

Drug addicts suffer major withdrawal symptoms when they go cold turkey. In the case of high-tech startups and their banks (like Silicon Valley Bank), the super-low-interest-rate stimulant has been taken away by the drug dealer (the Fed) via interest rate hikes. With cheap credit drying up, firms switched to pulling cash out of SVB, all while the same interest rate increases caused the value of SVB’s assets to fall. SVB’s balance sheet couldn’t...

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The Bank of England: Money Creation in Their Own Words

2023-03-27

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2023-03-27

Central banks usually don't admit their guilt in the destruction of money, but the Bank of England unwittingly comes clean. Original Article: "The Bank of England: Money Creation in Their Own Words" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.

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The Last Lie Government Will Ever Tell

2023-03-27

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2023-03-27

The more powerful a government, the more likely it is to engage in war and conquest. Case in point: US involvement in Ukraine. In 2014 the US led a coup that displaced a “democratically elected” president, Viktor Yanukovych. In November 2013, . . . Yanukovych rejected a major economic deal he had been negotiating with the EU and decided to accept a $15 billion Russian counteroffer instead. That decision gave rise to antigovernment demonstrations...

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Socialism Isn’t about Creating Economies. It Is about Amassing Political Power

2023-03-26

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2023-03-26

Most socialists are not misguided about how to have a prosperous economy, for that is not their goal. Original Article: "Socialism Isn't about Creating Economies. It Is about Amassing Political Power" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.

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Influencers and Subjective Value: They Have Something to Teach Us

2023-03-25

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2023-03-25

The latest from the world of social media is the role of "influencers." There is a perfectly good economic explanation for their popularity. Original Article: "Influencers and Subjective Value: They Have Something to Teach Us" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.

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How Banking Could Work

2023-03-25

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2023-03-25

With commercial banks exposed by the recent bailouts, Americans question whether “their money” is truly safe despite the promises of FDIC insurance. Jeff and Bob walk through the mechanics of how a full reserve bank could work in a truly free market based on the concepts and taxonomy of Mises’s Theory of Money and Credit. Mises's A Theory of Money and Credit: Mises.org/TMC Bob's study guide to A Theory of Money and Credit: Mises.org/HAP388a John...

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Inflation Can Get Much Worse

2023-03-25

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2023-03-25

In this episode, Mark looks at the far away minor issue of the impact of hyperinflation in Zimbabwe. Even though they have switched from Zim dollars to US dollars, ordinary people are still suffering. Their government and its inflationary monetary policy is manifesting itself in some interesting ways. Be sure to follow Minor Issues at Mises.org/MinorIssues.

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The Myth of “Economic Power”

2023-03-25

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2023-03-25

A very common criticism of the libertarian position runs as follows: Of course we do not like violence, and libertarians perform a useful service in stressing its dangers. But you are very simpliste because you ignore the other significant forms of coercion exercised in society—private coercive power, apart from the violence wielded by the State or the criminal. The government should stand ready to employ its coercion to check or offset this...

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Democracy Created Canada’s Lethal Healthcare System

2023-03-25

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2023-03-25

The provision of private healthcare in Canada is contingent on the ability of private actors to satisfy all of the conditions embedded within government legislation. However, the severity of these conditions means that most aspects of private healthcare are essentially outlawed, as they have been for many decades. Perhaps that wouldn’t matter if the government kept the promise it made to Canadians when it arbitrarily imposed universal healthcare...

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Climate Activism: The Second Children’s Crusade

2023-03-24

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2023-03-24

Modern secular society embraces a new religion complete with prophets, crusaders, commandments, contrition, and even a holy land: East Anglia, United Kingdom. These congregants will behave idiosyncratically in the economy. The activist green movement increasingly parallels Western religious structure, even generating a modern version of the medieval Children’s Crusade. Motivated by hope, the first Children’s Crusade assembled in 1212 under the...

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The Rise of the Medical Security State

2023-03-24

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2023-03-24

The New Abnormal: The Rise of the Biomedical Security Stateby Aaron KheriatyRegnery Publishing, 2022; xxv + 278 pp. Aaron Kheriaty is a medical doctor who taught for many years at the University of California Irvine School of Medicine and headed the school’s medical ethics program. Though highly regarded as a teacher, he became a “nonperson” when he challenged the university’s compulsory covid vaccination policy and was fired from his position: “In...

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Karl Marx Was Not an Economist

2023-03-24

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2023-03-24

Despite the massive intellectual feat that Marx’s Capital represents, the Marxian contribution to economics can be readily summarized as virtually zero. Professional economics as it exists today reflects no indication that Karl Marx ever existed. —Thomas Sowell If socialists understood economics they wouldn’t be socialists. —F.A. Hayek Karl Marx is a very popular name in social sciences. As a scholar of the nineteenth century, he is still a part of...

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The Political Response to our Banking Crisis

2023-03-23

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2023-03-23

This week on Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop are joined by Peter St. Onge, a fellow at the Heritage Foundation and a regular contributor to the Mises Wire. This episode looks at the political response to the recent turmoil in the banking system and how the Austrian position looks today relative to 2008. St. Onge makes a case for optimism. [embedded content] Recommended Reading "It Turns Out That Hundreds of Banks Are at...

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Libertarian Law by Democratic Means: Utilitarianism and the Demythologization of Authority

2023-03-23

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2023-03-23

Mises saw essentialist values as fallacies because they were unverifiable and saw metaphysical ideas as a key component of authoritarianism. His solution was utilitarianism. Original Article: "Libertarian Law by Democratic Means: Utilitarianism and the Demythologization of Authority" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.

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Statism Is Destroying Real Wages

2023-03-23

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2023-03-23

When we read about the US economy, we often get wage growth as a signal of a strong labor market. It is hardly a strong market when the labor participation rate and the employment to population ratio are both below the February 2020 level and have been stagnant for months. Additionally, the headline figure of 4.6 percent annualized wage growth is misleading, as it shows a nominal and average figure that disguises a much tougher environment....

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Don’t Take Liberties with Liberty

2023-03-23

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2023-03-23

Have you ever thought about the relationship between the words liberty and freedom? Frequently, the words are used interchangeably, but I have always preferred liberty. Perhaps my preference goes back to Thomas Jefferson’s reference to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” in the Declaration of Independence. Perhaps it traces to Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty or give me death.” Perhaps it is because “with liberty and justice for all” is...

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