Scott Sumner said he had a “modest” proposal: there should be a highly liquid futures market in Nominal Gross Domestic Product (NGDP). Let’s look at that.
MARKETS
European Union Challenged from Right and Left
The heinous ISIS attack in Paris is a game changer in Europe. In addition to the horrific amount of individual casualties, the attack has also threatened severe damage to the long term survivability of the European Union as a political entity. Based on the...
How Do People Destroy Their Capital?
The flip side of falling interest rates is the rising price of bonds. Bonds are in an endless, ferocious bull market. Why do I call it ferocious? Perhaps voracious is a better word, as it is gobbling up capital like the Cookie Monster jamming tollhouses into his maw. There are several mechanisms by which this occurs, let’s look at one here.
What’s Different about Monetary Policy?
Many people agree that it’s important to move to a free market in money (i.e. the gold standard). They also say that it’s just as important to fight bad taxes and regulation. In their view, government interference in the economy is like friction in a car. The more friction you add, the slower the car goes. One source of friction is much the same as any other.
Let me explain why money doesn’t quite work that way, using a few examples.
Bernie The Socialist Embraces Uber Capitalism
People who do not like capitalism, private property and profits in principle often seem to like and embrace its results, in practice.
Money and Banking is Too Important to Leave to Central Banks
Governments and their central banks have usurped market-based money systems to serve the plundering purposes of kings, parliaments, and special interest groups.
Uber is The Entrepreneurial Hero; Socialist Regulators Are The Real Bullies
The beauty of the Uber model is that it actually makes free trade between Uber’s drivers and their customers possible, without the intrusion of the regulatory state.
Volkswagen’s Cheating Was Not Selfish But Self Destructive
In cheating customers and others, VW was not acting selfishly but self-destructively.
A Response to a Critic of Money, Banking, and the Business Cycle
Money, Banking, and the Business Cycle provides a comprehensive defense of Austrian business cycle theory (ABCT). It shows that a free market in money and banking will create the most stable banking and monetary system that is possible.
Reshuffling the Deck in the Mideast
The U.S. presence in the Middle East, which for years provided some control over one of the world’s most volatile regions, appears to have dissolved into chaos. By removing Saddam Hussein from power, the U.S. removed his tyrannical but stabilizing hand from the powder...
The ‘Affordable Housing’ Fraud
It is no coincidence that housing prices in coastal California began skyrocketing in the 1970s, when building bans spread like wildfire under the banner of “open space,” “saving farmland,” or whatever other slogans would impress the gullible.
The Cotton Candy Market
If you borrow then it’s not income. This is why no one in his right mind borrows to buy consumer goods. Those who try cannot sustain it for long… But what if someone else borrows?
Efficient Malpractice
Take the notion of the efficient market. What does that mean? Today, hordes of people are coming out of economics and finance majors believing an absurdity. Yes, I said absurdity. They think that, if the market is efficient, it’s impossible to beat the average...
Crony Socialism: Government Bailouts Do Not Save Jobs
Can the government simply loan failing businesses money and “save jobs?”
Wage Theft
The actual “wage thieves” are the politicians and others who impose minimum wage laws and other directives on the private sector. By impairing and ultimately destroying economic growth, politicians like Hillary Clinton are the ultimate wage thieves.
Socialist Economic Reasoning: Idiotic or Dishonest?
Many people argue that liberals, socialists and progressives do not understand basic economics. I am not totally convinced about that.
Making Good Business Decisions
A quality decision is one that leads to achievement of values.
Equality of Opportunity Versus Equality of Outcomes
Enabling all Americans to prosper and have greater opportunities is a far more achievable goal than equal outcomes.
Apple vs. the Goliath U.S. Government
It does not matter how rich Apple is, or becomes. In the end, the government can do whatever it wants, at least so long as it keeps pushing the limits outside of its Constitutional boundaries, while our courts and citizens do absolutely nothing.
The Myth of Stealing American Jobs
America doesn’t lack economic growth and jobs because China, or other countries, “steal” them. America lacks economic growth and jobs because its own government will not permit its economy to function freely and fully, as a private market economy can and should.
Errors in the “Stakeholder” Approach to Running a Business
The “stakeholder” approach is based on the mistaken premise that everyone that makes a claim on a business must be—or deserves to be—treated equally, and that the business must appease every critic.
Capitalism Does Not Breed “Tyrannical” Bosses
Tyranny—the cruel and oppressive treatment of others by those in positions of power—is not possible under capitalism.
Move Over Entrepreneurs, Make Way for Speculation!
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 the latter are frustrated.
They miss the real harm of zero interest.
Market Magic: The Logical Alternative to Government Bureaucracy
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.
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