Mises Wire

Historically, many sovereign states have granted separatist cultural and ideological groups political autonomy as a means of avoiding full secession. The US legal system prevents this.

With Trump’s crony capitalism, the government taking equity positions in US businesses, and socialists making real inroads in the Democratic Party, it is hard to find defenders of free markets.

In this week’s Friday Philosophy, Dr. David Gordon reviews The Influence and Significance of Human Action After 75 Years edited by Joseph T. Salerno. He gives his thoughts and questions on some of the points made and recommends it and Human Action.

Social contract theory was used to critique a form of the state, but was also used to legitimize the modern nation-state.

One of the prevailing myths today is the belief that AI can help to “automate” the economy. That is impossible, given that only humans can determine the value of something.

Buc-ee’s—the roadside travel phenomenon—seems to cater to the extremes in our society. Either customers love shopping at the place or it is yet another symbol of capitalist oppression.

Economics is far more than what people see as “the economy.” It is the central organizing factor for civilized society.

AI has created enormous demand for new data centers, and many communities do not want them nearby. The Rothbardian answer is not blanket permission or blanket prohibition, but a property-rights framework and the return of market forces that government policy has largely displaced.

Can government policy replicate a market economy and improve the outcomes? That is the subject of the book, Moonshots and the New Industrial Policy. Lipton Matthews takes a deep dive into these questions.

Washington is pursuing industrial policy again, this time being an attempt to form a minerals consortium with other countries to secure minerals vital to US manufacturing. No doubt, this initiative will end up on the ash heap of bad policy.