Interventionism

“It is ideas that group men into fighting factions, that press the weapons into their hands, and that determine against whom and for whom the weapons shall be used.”

Economist Robert Higgs described the “ratchet effect” in which government either creates a crisis or responds to one, leading to a permanent expansion of government power. After the crisis ends, government retreats—but not to the point where is was pre-crisis.

Our taxes are due today. It‘s a reminder that we must get past the tax reformers’ favorite ploy of revenue neutrality.

The philosopher Karl Popper was a strong critic of Marx, his system, and especially his reliance on historicism. Unfortunately, as David Gordon points out, Popper supported economic interventionism as a viable “third way” for social organization.

We should not look just at the visible and obvious results of tariffs. We must also look at the good things that the tariffs keep from happening.

The fallout of FDR‘s gold adventures was far worse than reneging on US gold bond redemption. FDR declared that the price of gold would henceforth be increased to $35 per ounce from $20.67 per ounce, which immediately devalued the US dollar.

The Atlantic recently published an article claiming that modern “food deserts” exist because the government fails to enforce a New Deal law meant to force up prices and stifle competition. Once again, we see how progressives push their economic illiteracy on everyone else.

More than a century ago, Congress created the Federal Reserve System to intervene in the American economy. Not even the biggest critics of the central bank‘s formation could have predicted the economic disasters it brought about.

Organized labor, which long has been the bedrock of the Democratic Party, is being courted by the MAGA Republicans trying to bolster their image with the “working classes.” But labor unions are no true friend to the working class.

As the Trump administration cuts thousands of federal jobs, it‘s good to remember that the public sector‘s “services” provide no actual net value to the “national product.”