Central bank apologists assert that zero interest will help the economy. It hasn’t yet, and it never will. However, the main concern by both Fed defenders and foes alike is the worry that prices might rise. Well, prices aren’t rising now. So the former are smug and …
People have long lists of things they think the market can’t possibly do — from building subways to fighting wars. Sometimes, the market does them anyway.
There is absolutely no moral reason to boycott the company.
Many cities have granted monopoly power to taxi companies — the right to prevent entry by others.
To make people eat their seed corn, we need to add the essential element: a perverse incentive. Let’s look at monetary policy in this light.
FedEx turned out to be much better than the U.S. Postal Service, teens ignore Hollywood and become rich and famous on YouTube, people skip hotels and find rooms via Airbnb and so on. Who knows what discoveries await if we don’t let tired old rules get in the way?
One of the great voices for personal liberty was that of the British economist and political philosopher, John Stuart Mill. His essay, “On Liberty,” though penned well over 150 years ago, is a classic statement that the individual should be respected in his right of...
Imagine running a rink company at the end of the roller skating craze. You know it is not going to survive for long. How do you operate your business? You milk it. Well, that’s now happening across the entire economy.
Resolute Forest Products’s CEO Richard Garneau is a business hero.
No one knows what such a Middle East will look like. But given the volatility of the region, change is unlikely to be pretty.
I wrote a story about poor Clarence who retired in 1979, and even poorer Larry who retired last year. I created these characters to challenge the notion of calculating a real interest rate by subtracting inflation. The idea is that the decline of a currency can be measu…
In his July 17th Blog, Let’s Get Real About Gold, author and Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Zweig likened investor interest in gold with the “Pet Rock” craze of the 1970’s, when consumers became convinced that a rock in a box would provide...
Why it would desirable to incorporate a balanced budget amendment into the U.S. Constitution.
Hillary Clinton gave a speech warning that the new “sharing economy” of businesses such as the ride-hailing company Uber is “raising hard questions about workplace protections.” Democrats hate what labor unions hate, and a taxi drivers’...
Uber is hugely successful, posing a threat (via competition) to New York city’s cab companies. The mayor and other members of the New York City government seek to protect those cab companies by throttling, impeding or otherwise undercutting Uber.
Why does it rule in business?
With apologies to his fans, Jerry is an evil little mouse who constantly pesters Tom the Cat. Tom tries and tries, but cannot seem to overpower someone who is a fraction of his size and strength.
Watching Stephen Moore attempt to debate Paul Krugman was like that.
Nearly 10,000 people turned out to hear Bernie Sanders in Wisconsin. Why? Apparently, many Democrats want socialism.
A woman will be on the new $10 bill, bumping Alexander Hamilton aside.
The notion of nominal interest paints a misleading picture of losing purchasing power..
How do people’s ideas on morality affect their economics?
Despite Greece’s almost complete lack of financial integrity, neither NATO nor the EU can afford the political cost of a Greek exit from the EU.
The stories are all over the Internet. Governments are forcing us into a cashless society. Supposedly the pretext is terrorism, and the real reason is to take more control.
Fed apologists argue that the economy would be even more unstable, if we had no monetary central planner. However, the fact is that it became a lot less stable after the Fed was created.
The Exxon CEO is a rare exception, with the courage to defend his company’s moral right to pursue its own interest: profitable production of fossil fuels.
The biggest deflation in the history of the country came after the Fed was founded, and that deflation contributed to the Great Depression of the 1930s. As for bank failures, they reached levels unheard of before there was a Federal Reserve System.
“The top 25 hedge fund managers made more than all the kindergarten teachers in the country,” declared President Obama in a discussion of poverty at Georgetown University. Calling them “society’s lottery winners,” he proposed to hike their taxes....
Pragmatism is widely considered a virtue in business, but it is in fact a perilous approach, antithetical to long-term profitability.
It isn’t clear that the Fed has brought any substantial improvement in macroeconomic stability.
Obama’s stereotype of all rich people as being “born” into it (hence the lottery analogy) betrays not only willful ignorance, but an irrational hatred of production and success.
Why do most people criminalize wealth creation while others cheer and appreciate it?
Our monetary system is failing, but explaining that isn’t easy.
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