Intellectual freedom cannot exist without political freedom; political freedom cannot exist without economic freedom; a free mind and a free market are corollaries. – AYN RAND
Many advocates of interventionism are bewildered when one tells them that in recommending interventionism they themselves are fostering anti-democratic and dictatorial tendencies and the establishment of totalitarian socialism. They protest that they are sincere...
NOTHING is more unpopular today than the free market economy, i.e., capitalism. Everything that is considered unsatisfactory in present-day conditions is charged to capitalism. The atheists make capitalism responsible for the survival of Christianity. But the papal...
The characteristic mark of this age of dictators, wars and revolutions is its anticapitalistic bias. Most governments and political parties are eager to restrict the sphere of private initiative and free enterprise. It is an almost unchallenged dogma that capitalism...
The news media are in the process of creating a great new historical myth. This is the myth that our present financial crisis is the result of economic freedom and laissez-faire capitalism.
Many socialist authors emphasize that the recurrence of economic crises and business depressions is a phenomenon inherent in the capitalist mode of production. On the other hand, they say, a socialist system is safe against this evil. As has already become obvious and...
Given the state of affairs created by the U.S. Central Banking system this classic on Free Banking and the Gold Standard by Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973) is all the more relevant today . Excerpted from his book “Human Action: A Treatise on Economics”...
Did lack of regulation create the subprime mortgage crisis? I am asked this all the time. The short answer: Of course not. Nowhere close. Not a chance. Here is the long answer. What regulations have we had? The mortgage originator (your local bank or mortgage broker)...
Excerpted from Chapter 23, Part IV of Mises classic The Theory of Money and Credit (1912). The people of all countries agree that the present state of monetary affairs is unsatisfactory and that a change is highly desirable. However, ideas about the kind of reform...
Here is a letter by John Allison, President & CEO of BB&T, that was sent to every member of Congress. Dear Senator/Congressman/Representative: BB&T is a $136 billion multi-state banking company. We have 1,500 branches throughout the mid-Atlantic...
Congress, the Treasury, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Federal Reserve are hell-bent to bail out the housing and financial industries and then regulate them into rigor mortis. All this with no judicial review and a bill for taxpayers on the order of...
Capitalism–even semi- capitalism–punishes the wasteful expenditure of funds on anything, including on executive salaries.
August 14 marks Social Security’s 73rd birthday–placing it eight years past standard retirement age. But, despite the program’s $10-trillion-plus dollar shortfall, no politician dares to suggest that this disastrous program be phased out and retired;...
We don’t look to arsonists to help put out fires but we do look to politicians to help solve financial crises that they played a major role in creating. How did the government help create the current financial mess? Let me count the ways. In addition to federal...
In one of those front-page editorials disguised as “news” stories, the New York Times blames “the lucrative lending practices” of banks and other financial institutions for helping create the current financial crisis of millions of borrowers...
Yahoo! has just released its first-quarter earnings numbers, and neither the market nor analysts are impressed. What will be the company’s next move? Multiple suitors claim that they can leverage Yahoo!’s online products and talented employees better than...
Why does college cost so much? There are two basic reasons. The first is that people will pay what the colleges charge. The second is that there is little incentive for colleges to reduce the tuition they charge. Those who want the government to provide subsidies to...
Those who argue that the taxpayers should be forced to subsidize people who go to colleges and universities seldom bother to think beyond the notion that education is a Good Thing. Some education is not only a good thing but a great thing. But, like most good things,...
A front-page headline in the New York Times captures much of the economic confusion of our time: “Fewer Options Open to Pay for Costs of College.” The whole article is about the increased costs of college, the difficulties parents have in paying those...
Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, pandering to anti-trade activists, suggest that should they become president, they will restrict trade agreements. Before you buy into their promised paradise, there are a few trade questions you might...
How to Start Replacing It With Solid Gold
Consumption expenditure is not the main form of spending in the economic system and does not pay the national income or gross domestic product. Most spending in the economic system is in fact concealed under the head of net investment.
The widespread establishment of partial gold clauses is an essential step in the protection of the buying power of creditors. It would also be a major step on the path toward the establishment of sound money.
Credit expansion boosts profits more than does simple inflation because the reduction in interest rates it brings about serves to increase the time lag between the making of expenditures for capital goods and labor and their subsequent appearance as costs in business income statements.
Environmentalism thus stands a very strong chance of ultimately reverting to the more traditional socialism of massive government construction and engineering projects.
The article below was originally published on the website of The Intellectual Activist on April 17, 2001 shortly before an impending writers strike that was averted near the eleventh hour. Now, six years later, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) is again threatening...
Economic theory does not operate in a vacuum. Institutions, such as the property rights structure, determine how the theory manifests itself. Similarly, the law of gravity isn’t repealed when a parachutist floats gently down to earth. The parachute simply...
The turmoil in the credit markets now emanating from the collapse of the housing bubble can be understood in the light of the theory of the business cycle developed by Ludwig von Mises and F.A. Hayek.
Amid all the hand-wringing and finger-pointing as housing markets collapse, mortgage foreclosures skyrocket, and financial markets panic, there is very little attention being paid to the fundamental economic and political decisions that led to this mess. The growth in...
According to the Onalaska Life Newspaper, millions of dollars worth of vouchers that were part of Microsoft’s settlement of a Wisconsin class-action antitrust case remain unclaimed. The settlement requires Microsoft to make available to class members up to...
It is a minority of “activist” shareholders–together with anti-business politicians–who are shrieking about “outrageous” CEO pay packages.
The first fundamental law of demand postulates that the lower the price of something, the more will be demanded, and the higher the price, the less will be demanded. To my knowledge, there are no known exceptions to the law of demand. That was until last fall when 650...
Below is a quote from Washington Post business columnist Steven Pearlstein excerpted a column he wrote on Google titled “How Much More Should It Be Allowed to Grab?” [P]recisely because of its success, it’s fair to ask if Google should be barred from...
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