Category Archive: 6b) Austrian Economics

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Marx’s Terrifying Vision of “Raw Communism”

2023-03-11

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2023-03-11

[This article is excerpted from volume 2, chapter 10 of An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought (1995).   Another important reason for Marx's failure to publish was his candid depiction of the communist society in the essay "Private Property and Communism." In addition to its being philosophic and not economic, he portrayed a horrifying but allegedly necessary stage of society immediately after the necessary violent...

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A Permanent Wartime Economy?

2023-03-11

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2023-03-11

Progressives view all aspects of human life as a struggle against forces of oppression. Earlier this week on BBC, Professor Mariana Mazzucato suggested governments across the West should simply print money not only to help Ukraine, but also to finance other "wars" against climate change, inequality, and more. Should national treasuries essentially adopt a permanent wartime footing and print far more money, as Mazzucato and Warren Mosler...

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Yearning for Beauty in the Truth of Economic Thinking

2023-03-10

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2023-03-10

Yearning for Beauty in the Truth of Economic Thinking We as a human race have a natural desire for beauty, and we as academics have a tendency to get lost in the weeds and forget this. Mises Institute president Jeff Deist has articulated this better than perhaps anyone before him in a speech (“We Need Truth and Beauty”) where he stated: We know Austrian economics is fundamentally true; in fact, truth is its most important and fundamental...

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One Year Later in Ukraine: Washington and NATO Got It Very Wrong

2023-03-10

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2023-03-10

The foreign policy "elites" have been wrong about regime change, sanctions, "the lesson of Munich," a "rules-based order," and pretty much everything else.   Original Article: "One Year Later in Ukraine: Washington and NATO Got It Very Wrong" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.

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Is the Silicon Valley Bank’s Failure Another “Canary in the Coal Mine”?

2023-03-10

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2023-03-10

If you watched the Fed Chair Jerome Powell testify before the senate and the House, you heard over and over that banks are well capitalized. The non-sequitur should inspire the Shakespearean quote “Methinks you protest too much.” The very next day after the hearings, shares of SVB Financial Group, parent of Silicon Valley Bank, fell 60 percent (and another 30 percent in afterhours trading at this writing) after a Wall Street Journal article...

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The Balfour Declaration

2023-03-10

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2023-03-10

Economics in ActionBy Brian BalfourThales Press, 2022; 306 pp. “Public” high schools are for the most part rotten to the core, and it is widely recognized, if not quite “a truth universally acknowledged,” that they need to be replaced. But what should students in private schools or homeschooling programs be taught? If we wish to rescue our young people from the socialist and “woke” propaganda inflicted on them in government institutions, it is...

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Modern Monetary Theory: Reality check

2023-03-10

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2023-03-10

I’ve written extensively over the past years about the rise of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) and all the terrible dangers it entailed from its very birth, not just for our economies, but for our societies too. Although it captured media interest and monopolized a lot of “expert” debates at the time, one wouldn’t be blamed for thinking it was merely a “flash in the pan”, just another crazy idea that the establishment entertained for a while to...

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Readying the War State: Biden Recommits to Protectionism in the SOTU

2023-03-10

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2023-03-10

President Biden's call for more protectionism isn't aimed improving the US economy. Instead, it is about creating a war-footing autarky. Original Article: "Readying the War State: Biden Recommits to Protectionism in the SOTU" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.

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Ready for Retirement? Fewer and Fewer Americans Are Saving for that Time

2023-03-10

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2023-03-10

Thus, the nearly half the adults in America who haven’t saved remain childlike and live in barbarism. For those who are saving, volatile markets point to a less-than-cozy retirement for the majority. Last year’s beat down of the average 401(k) plan was 20 percent, which didn’t help. But retirement participants are keeping the sunny-side up, believing “they’ll move closer to their retirement goal by ending 2023 with more in retirement savings than...

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The Coming Recession Will Be a Global One

2023-03-09

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2023-03-09

While the Biden White House claims we are on a steady course of prosperity, the more realistic future is that of a global recession. Original Article: "The Coming Recession Will Be a Global One" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.

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Can Congress Cancel Biden’s Endless Wars?

2023-03-09

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2023-03-09

Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop look at how the regime's narrative on foreign policy is failing, and how some in Congress are finally standing up to the warfare state. Yet, the regime wants more US wars in Syria, Ukraine, and now even Mexico. And you will pay for it all. Will the voters demand a more sane foreign policy in 2024? [embedded content] Recommended Reading "The Costs of War in Syria" by Ryan McMaken (2013):...

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The Censored Generation

2023-03-09

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2023-03-09

The Censored Generation Incredulity. Astonishment. Disgust. Anger. It is these feelings—amongst others—that describe the general reaction to the revelations of the Twitter Files and other egregious episodes of Big Tech censorship of the electronic public square. The implicit deal with companies like Twitter, Facebook, Google, etc. is very simple: we will look at your ads if you give us a service for free. The deal did not include censorship. But...

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Saudi Arabia’s Quandary: The End of the Petrodollar

2023-03-09

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2023-03-09

As the Biden administration continues to inflate the dollar, other nations are questioning the existence of the petrodollar. Original Article: "Saudi Arabia’s Quandary: The End of the Petrodollar" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.

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Fiscal Illusion and Entitlements

2023-03-09

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2023-03-09

As the State of the Union address and subsequent pronouncements have made clear, American politics is in the firm grip of fiscal illusion. One example is President Biden’s bragging that “In the last two years, my administration has cut the deficit by more than $1.7 trillion—the largest deficit reduction in American history,” which implied that we should only look at a short run effect which had little, if anything, to do with the policies he...

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Money Supply Growth Went Negative for the Third Month in a Row, and Is Near a 35-Year Low

2023-03-08

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2023-03-08

Money supply growth fell again in January, falling even further into negative territory after turning negative in November 2022 for the first time in twenty-eight years. January's drop continues a steep downward trend from the unprecedented highs experienced during much of the past two years. Since April 2021, money supply growth has slowed quickly, and since November, we've been seeing the money supply contract for the first time since the 1990s....

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The Attack of the Subversive Elites

2023-03-08

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2023-03-08

We can be sure that the "natural elites" of which Hans Hoppe wrote are not among the Davos crowd. That group of "elites" has an agenda, and it is not liberty and free markets. Original Article: "The Attack of the Subversive Elites" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.

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A Permanent Wartime Economy

2023-03-08

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2023-03-08

“Governments create money all the time. We do that for war.” “This whole notion that you run government like you run a household…is a complete myth”Economist Prof Mariana Mazzucato tells #Newsnight Government’s should address social issues through taxhttps://t.co/P0zxS1DNGF pic.twitter.com/I6NLtXgDqN— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) March 6, 2023This is the argument for more money printing, and perhaps unlimited money printing, recently advanced by...

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What Would Happen If American Elites Told the Truth?

2023-03-08

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2023-03-08

What if America’s elite told the truth? It seems a ridiculous question to ask. It’s obvious to most of us here that our politicians, bureaucratic managers, and state-associated business leaders hardly ever tell the truth. What use is it for us to ask, “What if?” There seems to be a considerable amount of social pressure urging us to abandon our better judgment, not for the sake of reason, but for cooperation. If we don’t, the uncritical mob will...

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Secession Is Inevitable. War to Prevent It Is Optional.

2023-03-08

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2023-03-08

The answer lies not in doubling down on political unity, maintained through endless violence or threats of violence. Rather, the answer lies in peaceful separation.  Original Article: "Secession Is Inevitable. War to Prevent It Is Optional." This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.

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Odds Are Rising That the Fed Will Trigger the Next Bust

2023-03-08

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2023-03-08

From March 17, 2022, to the end of January 2023, the US Federal Reserve (Fed) increased its federal funds rate from practically zero to 4.50–4.75 percent. The rise in lending rates came in response to skyrocketing consumer goods price inflation: US inflation rose from 2.5 percent in January 2022 to 9.1 percent in June. Notwithstanding inflation falling to 6.4 percent in January 2023, the Fed continues to signal to markets that it will continue to...

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