Imposing restrictions on trade is not a mere academic exercise. It requires government agents, courts, prisons, police, and the whole panoply of the punitive, coercive state. To oppose free trade is to support more jails, fines, regulations, and more.
Fetter's neglected work is the source of some of the greatest insights in Austrian economics, and deeply influenced Mises, Rothbard, and others.
Ludwig von Mises reminds us that thanks to the rise of markets and capitalism, human beings gained more access to more abundance than ever before. And it is the consumers, not the producers, who have power over the market process.
Lego has finally managed to attract girls to their products with the Lego Friends line. In response, feminists have denounced the line for being too "girly." But Lego is just responding to market demand and what Mises called consumer sovereignty.
For some people, there's nothing that can’t be improved by a big dose of government regulation. Now, even the virtual economies of video games are being targeted as the next frontier in labor laws, price controls, and more.
For some economists, the fact that entrepreneurs make cinnamon rolls instead of selling only celery sticks is a “market failure.” These economists have appointed themselves the arbiters of what is “best” for people, and therefore, what should be sold in the marketplace.
“Austrian insights distill the complexity of what we business owners do down to a very simple mantra: satisfy the desires of others. That's it. That's all any of us are trying to do.”
This week, the Federal Reserve raised the target Federal Funds Rate ever so slightly. The Fed perhaps felt it had to raise rates to protect its credibility, as credibility problems seem to be plaguing similar institutions worldwide.
Statistics can only go so far in telling us about patients, so doctors must deal with uncertainty every day while applying the skills of entrepreneurs. In a way, the best doctors are often the best entrepreneurs.
The biggest technology problem we face today is not the rise of technology in the private sector. New technologies only improve worker productivity and wealth accumulation. The real problem is in the many ways that the state will use technology against us.
