The Olympics are supposed to be the epitome of fair play and honest competition. Why can’t the International Olympic Committee practice what it preaches? The high prestige associated with securing the Games to be held in a candidate city has increased the lengths people are willing to go to secure them. This alone is not so troubling. After all,
Enough people were upset with my previous post claiming that Mt. Gox is suffering a bitcoin bank run because it is holding only a fractional bitcoin reserve that it caused me to think twice about the claim. I could have been wrong, but I doubt it . Actually, the backlash was strong enough that it made me think that perhaps I was using some common
A recent publication in the History of Economics Review by Matt McCaffrey: “Conflicting Views of the Entrepreneur in Turn-of-the-Century Vienna” McCaffrey, Matthew History of Economics Review; Summer 2013; 58; ABI/INFORM Global pg.
We can add one more question to all those already being asked about Sochi’s Olympics like, “ why did it cost so much ?”, and “ where did all that money go ?”, Where are all the spectators? Photographs of the Games reveal sparse crowds at the events. Even some senior Olympic figures have “complained about the lack of buzz.” We can rule out the
The European Union (EU) is currently discussing banning “bankruptcy.” Not the actual financial act, but the word. Apparently there is a stigma attached to going bankrupt. It leaves people thinking that perhaps you are not credit worthy and that they should think twice about lending you money. To stop people governments from being unduly harmed by
Canada is amongst the top countries in the world when it comes to safety and security. So what could be so bad that it enticed tens of thousands of Canucks to flee the country in 2013? How about socialized healthcare ? With public health services provided across the country, and private alternatives illegal in many of them, Canadians are not
Last June I pointed to four unfortunate facts in the Chinese economy. 1. Overall credit had increased to $23 trillion dollars, up from $9 trillion as recently as 2008. 2. This amount of credit was over 200 percent of GDP, an increase of 75 percentage points in just five years. (By comparison over the same period the United States’ ratio of
Start with a simple proposition: America does not have a healthcare problem. The services provided are the best on this planet, and people from around the world travel to its hospitals and clinics to seek treatment. If they can afford it, that is. If there is a problem it is not on the service side but rather with the costs. So, what is the main
My article over at Mises Canada yesterday outlines why there is so much confusion when it comes to banking relations. It´s a product of the laws. In a bank run there are two sets of people - depositors and bankers - who both think they have a legal claim on one sum of money. Laws that allow for fractional-reserve banking ingrain this confusion in
HSBC has apparently stopped letting customers withdraw more than £5,000 from their British bank accounts unless depositors can provide evidence of “ why they wanted it .” According to the BBC : Stephen Cotton went to his local HSBC branch this month to withdraw £7,000 from his instant access savings account to pay back a loan from his mother. A
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.