Category Archive: 6b.) Mises.org

Dollarization Puts Foreign Economies at the Mercy of the US Regime

Some free-market advocates are pushing for dollarization in Argentina. But the devastating US sanctions against Panama in 1989 show us how dollarization helps the US exercise more hegemonic power over foreign economies.  Original Article: Dollarization Puts Foreign Economies at the Mercy of the US Regime

Read More »

Why Must Supply Precede Demand? Understanding Economic Foundations

In the market economy, wealth generators do not produce everything for their own consumption. Part of their production is used in exchange for the produce of other producers. Hence, in the market economy, production precedes consumption. This means that something is exchanged for something else. This also means that an increase in the production of goods and services sets in motion an increase in the demand for goods and services. According to...

Read More »

The Left Is Now Telling Us (Ukrainian) Nazis Aren’t So Bad After All

Members of the Canadian Parliament recently applauded a Ukrainian member of the Nazi Waffen-SS during World War II. Apparently, it's now okay to be a Nazi so long as you're fighting the Russians. Original Article: The Left Is Now Telling Us (Ukrainian) Nazis Aren't So Bad After All

Read More »

Is It Just War or Unjustified Slaughter of Innocents?

Saturday the world was rocked by the outbreak of war in southern Israel as Hamas fighters crossed out of Gaza, taking hostages and killing Israeli civilians. The political leader of Hamas says the attacks were in response to the Israeli treatment of Palestinians at the al-Aqsa Mosque last week. But other reports indicate that the attack was planned for weeks with the help of the Iranian government and was meant to mark the fiftieth anniversary of...

Read More »

Mark Thornton Explains the Yield Curve, “Soft Landings,” and Today’s Bubble Economy

[In recent months, Senior Fellow Mark Thornton has been covering today's economy in detail in his Minor Issues podcast, so we asked him some questions about where the economy is headed now.] Mises Institute: You’ve become notable for the idea of the “skyscraper curse,” which is an illustration of how an inflationary economy can lead to more and more gargantuan construction projects. The projects keep getting bigger (and taller) until the bust...

Read More »

Haiti May Have Won Independence, But It Is Not Independent of Chaos and Poverty

Haiti famously won its independence from France during a slave revolt, but being independent has not brought political stability or prosperity. Instead, Haitians struggle to get by in the Western Hemisphere's poorest country. Original Article: Haiti May Have Won Independence, But It Is Not Independent of Chaos and Poverty

Read More »

Spending More Taxpayer Money on Foreign Policy Boondoggles Has Solved Nothing

Whether you’re a conservative or libertarian, the notion of government shutdowns is no longer an alien concept considering that Washington managed to add a whopping $1 trillion to the gross national debt in a matter of three months—a large percentage coming from interest expenses alone. Another record for our national debt has been broken again, with $275 billion added onto the national debt in a single day. How we solve this issue is a question...

Read More »

Can We Find a Basis for Private Property Rights?

While Murray Rothbard believed that self-ownership formed the basis for private property rights, other philosophers disagree. Original Article: Can We Find a Basis for Private Property Rights?

Read More »

How To Prevent the Boom-Bust Business Cycle

I recently wrote about how the Federal Reserve has made the economy of the United States much worse than it would have been without their bureaucratic central planning over the past century. While the Fed’s disastrous track record is widely acknowledged even by Fed apologists, they point out that life was not perfect before the Fed either. They correctly note that there were business cycles before the creation of the Fed. So, even though inflation...

Read More »

Get the US Out of the Middle East

The ongoing conflict between the state of Israel and Hamas escalated considerably on Saturday. A group of armed fighters—presumably of Hamas—broke through the Gaza-Israel border barrier and launched what is sure to be a short-lived invasion of southwestern Israel.  At least 700 Israeli citizens—most of them apparently civilians—were killed, and more than one hundred were taken hostage. The Israeli state quickly retaliated with widespread bombing of...

Read More »

How Paper Money Turns Governments into Predators

Aside from stealing your life savings and launching depressions, one of the nastier features of paper money is what it does to governments. In short, paper money transforms governments from parasites to predators. Once a government can print what it likes, it no longer needs taxes. Meaning it no longer needs us. We saw this in living color during the covid lockdowns. Just imagine a world without a central bank where, in the first days of the...

Read More »

A Government Shutdown Is not the Problem. Public Debt Is the Problem.

There are hundreds of headlines all over the news warning of the negative impact of a government shutdown. The negative impact on GDP, according to Bloomberg, is estimated at 0.5% of the quarterly annualized rate if the shutdown lasts for two weeks. Obviously, that is an annualized rate, not the overall hit. The last government shutdown lasted between December 22nd, 2018, and January 20th, 2019, and the United States economy still grew at a 2.2...

Read More »

No, Governor, Rights Are NOT Government-Issued Privileges That You Can Suspend

The recent executive order by New Mexico's governor suspending gun rights in part of the state demonstrates not only her ignorance of the law, but also her greater ignorance of the origin of rights. Original Article: No, Governor, Rights Are NOT Government-Issued Privileges That You Can Suspend

Read More »

Police Mergers Are Not the Answer, but Privatization Is

Out of Pennsylvania’s twenty-five hundred municipalities, about half (1,279) have no police department as of 2013. Since 2013, twenty more municipalities have disbanded their police departments, opting for police coverage by the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP). On top of that, 420 municipalities only provide part-time coverage (no 24/7 coverage), requiring the PSP to “pick up the slack” so to speak. This may seem shocking, but this is the...

Read More »

Why the Fed’s Tight Rate Stance Damages the Economy

In the wake of bad news on inflation, the Federal Reserve is pushing up interest rates. However, a Fed-induced higher rate is not the same as an interest rate decided by the market. Original Article: Why the Fed's Tight Rate Stance Damages the Economy

Read More »

Inflation: Government’s Insidious Form of Theft

While court economists such as Paul Krugman insist that inflation is government's way of ensuring full employment, in reality, inflation is one of the many ways governments steal from productive people. Original Article: Inflation: Government’s Insidious Form of Theft

Read More »

Mises Institute’s Abolish the Fed Documentary

In 1996, we produced a documentary titled Money, Banking, and the Federal Reserve. For the next ten years, we distributed copies all around the world, to our students, our members, and the public. Thousands of people were introduced to the evils of the Fed and central banking. At that time, not many people or organizations were calling for the abolition of the Federal Reserve. The Mises Institute was. And that hasn’t changed. Eventually, the...

Read More »

Government Is the Hidden Hand Directing the Culture Wars

Recent data from the Pew Research Center shows that from 1994 to 2022, Americans’ views of opposing political parties became increasingly negative. In 1994, only 21 percent of Republicans and 17 percent of Democrats held “very unfavorable” views of the other party. In 2022, that category rose to 62 percent for Republicans and 54 percent for Democrats. If we include those who hold “unfavorable” views, then over 80 percent of both Republicans and...

Read More »

Welcome to the Twenty-First Century American Bankruptcy Show

As the US economy sours, look for a wave of new bankruptcies. The Fed cannot pull any rabbits out of its monetary hat this time. Original Article: Welcome to the Twenty-First Century American Bankruptcy Show

Read More »

Cultural Appropriation: The Nontheft of Something No One Owns

Progressives have created a new thought crime: cultural appropriation. However, one cannot appropriate something that is not owned by anyone else. Original Article: Cultural Appropriation: The Nontheft of Something No One Owns

Read More »