Monty Pelerin's World

ObamaCare Showdown with Judge Vinson

2011-03-11T00:57:00Z

In a post a couple of days ago entitled ObamaCare -- The Final Straw That Keeps on Giving I speculated on the possibility of impeachment for violation of the oath of office for any Congressperson voting to expend funds on what was declared an unconstitutional law. Subsequent to that post, the mainstream media reported that Judge Vinson had granted a motion for stay. It is likely, if all you read was the "Pravda" version of the news that you might believe that the Judge Vinson has blinked...(read more)

Madison is Merely the Opening Act

2011-03-11T00:54:00Z

Madison, WI may be taking up most of the domestic headlines with its budget battles, however that will change. All states and municipalities are, to various degrees, similar to Wisconsin. Government spending is not sustainable. The fantasy world of the last couple of decades produced higher GDP as a result of debt expansion. Neither the GDP nor the tax revenues generated are coming back any time soon. Governments at all levels spent like drunken sailors, assuming the cornucopia of excess tax revenues...(read more)

Economic Mess is Structural Not Cyclical

2011-03-11T00:51:00Z

[caption id="attachment_9670" align="alignleft" width="97" caption="Chris Martenson"] [/caption] [caption id="attachment_16437" align="alignright" width="100" caption="John Williams"] [/caption] For more than a year, I have argued that regardless of what you want to call our current economic crisis, it is not current and not cyclical. It is secular. That is, the problems that surfaced began many years ago, back in the...(read more)

The Canary is Dying and So Is Our Future

2011-03-11T00:45:00Z

Wikipedia describes the use of animals as early warning sensors. Canaries were used by miners: The classic example of animals serving as sentinels is the canary coal mine. Well into the 20th century, coal miners in the United Kingdom and the United States brought canaries into coal mines as an early-warning signal for toxic gases including methane and carbon monoxide. The birds, being more sensitive, would become sick before the miners, who would then have a chance to escape or put on protective...(read more)

Lazy Man's Guide to Mises

2011-02-23T11:27:00Z

The name Ludwig von Mises is synonymous with classical liberalism. He was an unrepentant champion of freedom and free markets. His beliefs, unlike so many of us, were not something he inherited from his parents or society. Many he obtained from others, but many he was the original developer using his incredibly strong and fertile mind. He was unique in the sense that he truly added to the body of knowledge. His ideas were not popular amongst the ruling class and the institutions they controlled,...(read more)

Hyperinflation is a Small Price to Pay

2011-02-23T03:12:00Z

The US is hurtling toward out-of-control inflation while the political class tries to convince the hoi polloi that inflation is not a problem. Government-generated CPI data show tame inflation. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke claims deflation, not inflation, is the danger to the economy. Despite government propaganda every shopper knows inflation is already a serious problem. The Financial Times presented annual price increases for various items, which included the following: heating oil +41...(read more)

Faking Our Way to Sovereign Bankruptcy

2011-02-23T03:10:00Z

As political events in Egypt play out, including likely contagion to other parts of Africa and the Middle East, attention is diverted from the real threat to our country -- government insolvency. From Jeff T. Allen, writing in American Thinker : There will soon be a crisis affecting US citizens beyond any experienced since the Great Depression. And it may happen within the year. Unlike the Great Depression, however, we will enter such a shock in a weakened state, with few producers among us and record...(read more)

Bernanke’s Cowardice Has Sealed Our Fate

2010-11-09T23:08:00Z

Proper formatting of this article can be found on author's website at www.economicnoise.com The history of government management of money has, except for a few short happy periods, been one of incessant fraud and deception. Friedrich Hayek The day after the election the Federal Reserve launched QE2, the second round of Quantitative Easing. This public relations euphemism attempts to hide the fact that the Fed is “printing money” (the Fed actually does it electronically these days). “Cheating...(read more)

Keynes as "Useful Idiot"

2010-09-02T01:17:00Z

The milk of American politics may be money, but the fuel for American socialism is Keynesian economics. Keynesianism’s inherent bias toward bigger government has made it the indispensable tool for statists around the globe. Politicians' natural wont to spend and control benefited immensely when John Maynard Keynes published the General Theory in 1936. His work initially provided rationale for the ad hoc efforts to fight the Great Depression. Subsequently, it provided support for growth in government...(read more)

Desperate Economic Action Ahead?

2010-08-10T22:20:00Z

Aug 10 2010 The Apocalypse The economic condition of the country continues to decline toward its rendezvous with an, as yet, unknowable catastrophe. Speculation regarding this outcome is natural because self-interest, if not self-preservation, is at stake. Here is but one possibility. It is not a prediction, but a look at a series of not improbable events that could develop. Any similar government desperation would change our economic world overnight. It is mid-year 2012. The country has officially...(read more)

Walter Williams, American

2010-08-03T17:41:00Z

I recommend highly an interview by Daily Bell with Dr. Walter Williams. The interview conveys what Dr. Williams is about and what America is supposed to be about. Very worthwhile and he is a breath of fresh air and sense. Daily Bell described Williams thusly: Yes, throughout his career Dr. Williams has been a courageous, even lonely, voice, standing against black victimization and for freedom at a time when there were very few voices to be heard sounding his sentiments. He has spent his life attempting...(read more)

The Pretence of Knowledge

2010-08-03T12:13:00Z

The "Pretence of Knowledge" was the title of economist Friedrich Hayek's 1974 Nobel speech . In his first few sentences, he described the then-prevailing economic condition in words appropriate to today: ... [this economic condition] has been brought about by policies which the majority of economists recommended and even urged governments to pursue. We have indeed at the moment little cause for pride: as a profession we have made a mess of things. Hayek's words in 1974 were not...(read more)

Inflation: The Last Gasp of the Obama Economic Crisis

2010-08-03T12:06:00Z

Inflation: The Last Gasp of the Obama Economic Crisis Inflation is neither strategy nor solution; it is the last gasp of a desperate ruling class. Inflation is the inevitable ending of this awful economic crisis. The only questions are how much and when. Rising support champions inflation as a salvation strategy. Richard Russell in a recent newsletter provides the rationale (emboldening by Mr. Russell): In my opinion, the US MUST default on its debt . There are two ways to default. One is simply...(read more)

Our Patrick Henry Moment is Here

2010-08-01T15:34:00Z

Our Patrick Henry Moment Is Here By Monty Pelerin Obama's election was supposed to transform America, at least in his mind. This country's first socialist president strode into office confident that he would remake this country. Fortunately for the country, the timing of his election was twenty, if not fifty, years too late. Socialism has failed in its pure form wherever it has been tried. Now it has failed in its modified form. While much of the world realizes this, President Obama is either...(read more)

Final Post

2010-05-02T20:21:00Z

I have been very frustrated by the site behavior at Mises.org. It is perhaps the best site on the web as a result of its enormous content. Unfortunately, I can no longer post on this site because of the inability to cut and paste from my site. It is not practical for me to re-write my content in order to submit it to Mises.org. I have no idea what has changed, but am unable to get any response from the webmaster or anyone else. If things are ever corrected, I will post here again. I want to thank those who followed my posts and communicated via comments or direct emails. In the meantime, I intend to post to my own site only at www.economicnoise.com If anyone has a solution to this problem which developed about a month or so ago, I would be pleased to hear from you. Monty Pelerin at montypelerin@gmail.com