Reading the news and scratching my head. That’s what I have been doing as reports about Georgia, Russia, and South Ossetia populate the Internet. As usual, there are a myriad of economic lessons underlying the event that can be found beneath the official interpretations offered by the principals and their functionaries in the media. But first, let
When the bailout passed last week, no one was surprised. In fact, what looked like a principled opposition to massive legal theft on Monday was transformed into a done backroom deal by Friday once the bill ballooned from three to 400-plus pages, filled with crumbs that congressmen could throw to their districts. It may be that, 25 years from now,
Taking a page from the excellent Robert Higgs , James K. Galbraith surveys the banking industry and wonders why the bailout is necessary. He writes (“A Bailout We Don’t Need”): Just look at interest rates. Last week, in the panic, the federal government could fund itself, short term, for free. It could have raised money for 30 years and paid less
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.