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Understanding “Austrian” Economics, Part 2

All the rest of Austrian economics follows from these basic insights.

Let a Billion Preferences Bloom

Let a Billion Preferences Bloom

There isn’t much room for diversity and dissent, however, when everything is decided politically. Mass customization and diversity are commercial society’s virtues. Mass regimentation and uniformity are political society’s vices. The stark contrast is clear in the proximity between Halloween and Election Day.

Google is Not a Coercive Monopoly

Google is Not a Coercive Monopoly

“Monopoly” means either “the only firm in an industry” or “a firm with explicit, government-granted privileges that prevent other people from competing with it.” Google doesn’t fit the bill.

The Myth of the Failure of Capitalism

The Myth of the Failure of Capitalism

The nearly universal opinion expressed these days is that the economic crisis of recent years marks the end of capitalism. Capitalism allegedly has failed, has proven itself incapable of solving economic problems, and so mankind has no alternative, if it is to survive, than to make the transition to a planned economy, to socialism.

A Tale of Two Camps

A Tale of Two Camps

Biking around the woods, I noticed something strange. There are two campgrounds near my house. One is full. Lots of people pitch tents or park trailers at a place called Maurice’s. A short bike ride away is a much bigger campground that’s almost entirely empty. Why?

The Curse of Automation

The Curse of Automation

“A curse on machines! Every year, their increasing power devotes millions of workmen to pauperism, by depriving them of work, and therefore of wages and bread. A curse on machines!”

The Importance of the Middleman

The Importance of the Middleman

They would gladly suppress the capitalist, the banker, the speculator, the projector, the merchant, and the trader, accusing them of interposing between production and consumption, to extort from both, without giving either anything in return.

No Better Investment Than Taxes?

No Better Investment Than Taxes?

It is nonsense to say that the Government officer will spend these hundred sous to the great profit of national labour; the thief would do the same; and so would James B., if he had not been stopped on the road by the extra-legal parasite, nor by the lawful sponger.

Disbanding The Troops

Disbanding The Troops

You do not see that to dismiss a hundred thousand soldiers is not to do away with a million of money, but to return it to the tax-payers.

President Donald Trump is a Classic Mercantilist

President Donald Trump is a Classic Mercantilist

Trump is a classic mercantilist. A mercantilist favors exporters over importers and the use of government tariffs to promote (or “protect”) less efficient, but politically favored “national champion” companies against their foreign competitors.

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