Category Archive: 6b.) Mises.org

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Big Loans, Big Risks, Big Problems

2024-05-30

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2024-05-30

Construction lending juggernaut Bank OZK made news when its shares fell 17% after Citigroup analyst Benjamin Gerlinger wrote in a report that cut his rating to “sell.” Bloomberg reported “Bank OZK faces ‘largely idiosyncratic’ exposure to life sciences relative to peer banks,” with a $915 million loan on the Research and Development District on San Diego’s waterfront, developed by IQHQ Inc..“RaDD has been in development for more than 4 years and we...

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We Have Standards

2024-05-30

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2024-05-30

Tuesday at Power & Market I described a certain type of soft and wobbly Mises Institute “supporter” who believes that the Mises Institute is not allowed to have standards. In the minds of these people, the Institute must publish articles that contradict the Institute’s core editorial positions in the name of “debate” and avoiding “dogmatism.” Apparently, it’s not enough that nearly the entire edifice of the American regime—along with academia...

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Smugglers: True Heroes of Liberty

2024-05-30

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2024-05-30

In the shadows of society, where legality meets defiance, lies a realm inhabited by those often deemed outlaws: smugglers. To some, they are criminals, evaders of the law; to others, they are the unsung heroes of the market, navigating the murky waters of prohibition and regulation to fulfill the demands of consumers and preserve individual freedoms. In this exploration, we unveil the clandestine world of smuggling and illuminate its role as a...

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A Rothbardian Dissection of Javier Milei – Part I

2024-05-30

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2024-05-30

Do you hate the State? Javier Milei, the current president of Argentina, seems to. “The State is a killing machine.” “The State is a criminal organization.” “Taxation is theft.” “Philosophically, I am an anarcho-capitalist.” These are quotes from Milei, a man who offered Argentina a “true liberal option”—classical liberalism. He claims to be a “liberal-libertarian” and an admirer of Murray Rothbard (1, 2, 3). He has said he is a minarchist in the...

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Don’t Listen to the Elites: Trump’s Conviction Is NOT a “Victory” for the Rule of Law

2024-05-30

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2024-05-30

A Manhattan jury’s decision to convict Donald Trump of falsifying business records to break federal election law is being heralded by The Usual Suspects as a moment in which “no one is above the law.” Indeed, both prosecutor Alvin Bragg, who brought the charges, and Judge Juan Merchan, who acted as a member of the prosecution, have proven that they themselves are above the law and can act well outside legal boundaries because no one will set...

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What Exactly Happened at the Libertarian Convention?

2024-05-30

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2024-05-30

What is the Mises Institute? The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard. Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property...

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Watch Our Latest Fed Documentary Teaser

2024-05-30

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2024-05-30

Mises is on the march, and the elites are terrified.For decades, the most powerful institutions, from academia to the corporate press, have made a concerted effort to marginalize the wisdom of Austrian economics. Their control is breaking. From Tucker Carlson to UFC, the name Ludwig von Mises has reached the masses in ways he could have never imagined.Now, we’re looking to take it to the next level.We are releasing our newest documentary, exposing...

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Switzerland Still Cherishes its Traditional Neutrality

2024-05-30

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2024-05-30

With more than 130,000 certified signatures, the “Pro Switzerland” civil movement asked the Swiss government to organize a national referendum on strengthening the country’s international neutrality. After the authorities followed the European Union’s sanctions on Russia and bolstered the cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the referendum organizers want to prevent a gradual erosion of Switzerland’s traditional...

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From Mad (Social) Scientist to Mad Zionist

2024-05-30

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2024-05-30

“First of all, don’t target civilians.”~Murray Rothbard’s first principle of just war in his essay, “Just War”Like Hans Hoppe I have been a friend of Walter Block’s for decades. I co-authored a book and an article with him, sponsored a guest lecture by him at my university; lectured twice at his invitation at Loyola University New Orleans; wrote dozens of online articles in his defense when he was libeled by the administrators of Loyola University...

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Hyperinflation and the Destruction of Human Personality

2024-05-30

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2024-05-30

The Link between Economic Calculation and Human PersonalityEconomists and historians have clearly shown that the destruction of the value and function of money by hyperinflation makes economic calculation impossible and leads to economic and social disintegration and widespread poverty. What is not so clearly understood, even by many economists, is that during periods of rapid inflation, the inability to economically calculate undermines the very...

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The Failure of Conservatism

2024-05-29

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2024-05-29

The Failure of American Conservatism and the Road Not TakenBy Claes G. RynRepublic Book Publishers, 2023; 468 pp.Claes Ryn, a leading conservative intellectual who taught politics for many years at the Catholic University of America, is by no means a libertarian, but readers of The Misesian can learn much from this book. I’d like to discuss two topics: first, the criticism of Harry Jaffa and his mentor, Leo Strauss; and second, the full-scale...

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US Arms Sales Are a Clear and Present Danger

2024-05-29

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2024-05-29

The Biden administration’s recent decision to pause an arms sale to Israel elicited predictable reactions from advocates for both sides of the Gaza War represented in the United States, and while that decision did not stop other arms shipments to Israel, it underscores the political significance of arms sales as an instrument of US foreign policy and intervention in foreign conflicts. Joe Biden’s Department of State recommended the pause in arms...

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“Fallout” through a Liberty Lens

2024-05-29

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2024-05-29

I realize that this is not usually the forum for television critiques, and I am certainly no television critic. Nonetheless, while I very much enjoyed the show, there were some issues raised in the new Prime drama Fallout that made my Austrian senses tingle. I often find that when I discuss politics or philosophy with people, I am constantly asked or expected to defend positions that I have never occupied and would never occupy.This seems due to...

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Don’t Call It Free Trade

2024-05-29

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2024-05-29

Earlier this month, The Atlantic ran an article by Rogé Karma arguing that after nearly half a century of commitment to unmitigated free trade, politicians and thought leaders in both parties are making a historic turn toward protectionism. This characterization has been gaining popularity in recent years, appearing in articles and reports by both opponents and proponents of America’s supposed protectionist turn.From The Atlantic article:Since the...

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Why Does America Have a Lack of Libertarian Representation?

2024-05-28

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2024-05-28

Those unfamiliar with American electoral politics may be puzzled by America’s presidential elections. Recently, it seems as though most elections result in two largely unpopular candidates winning their party’s nomination, but no viable third option emerges. While the United States does allow candidates to run as independents or under third-party banners, these candidates rarely make an impact at the national level.The reasons for this are largely...

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Socialized Medicine and Death

2024-05-28

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2024-05-28

Rick Rozoff recently sent me a message that helps us understand a basic feature of socialized medicine. It is closely associated with death. Socialists complain that the free market makes medical care “too expensive” for the poor and middle class. Because of this, they propose to provide “free” medical care for everybody. Of course, it isn’t free. It’s either paid for by taxes or inflation, which is itself a cruel tax.But once the “free” care is...

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The Best Investment You Can Make

2024-05-28

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2024-05-28

For more than thirty years, lecturing at Mises University has been the highlight of my academic year. Students arrive filled with excitement about this experience—a weeklong intellectual feast that for many of them will be life changing. What a delight for an economics professor like me to have the opportunity to teach free market, Austrian economics to intelligent, motivated, and wonderful young people with a genuine passion for learning. Opening...

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We Oppose the State, its Socialism, and its Wars

2024-05-28

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2024-05-28

In case you haven’t read it lately—or perhaps you’ve never read it—the mission statement of the Mises Institute states that the Institute “exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian school of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.”For those who find this mission statement to too non-specific, I recommend consulting the decades’ worth of...

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Biden’s Tariffs Are Another Nail in the Dollar’s Coffin

2024-05-28

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2024-05-28

President Biden recently raised taxes on American consumers and businesses and may have hastened the end of the dollar’s world reserve currency status. President Biden did this by increasing tariffs on Chinese imports.Specifically, President Biden raised tariffs on products including Chinese-produced steel and aluminum and many components imported from China for use in manufacturing electric vehicle batteries. Tariffs on Chinese-made semiconductors...

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Central Banks Are Destroying Our Economies

2024-05-28

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2024-05-28

Central banks’ monetary policies are the most perverse government intervention. Their consequences are dire, last for a very long time, and people don’t perceive them as problems or don’t comprehend the damage they are doing. Monetary policy (monetary expansion and artificially low interest rates) has five main consequences that harm overall living standards.Price InflationThis is the most obvious consequence, and yet, it is very misunderstood by...

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