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.
It's the age-old question: is success the result of natural talent or simply hard work? This problem is especially important for entrepreneurs.
Thomas Piketty is wrong. Markets do not concentrate wealth. They work to diffuse wealth and limit the power of any single enterprise. Meanwhile, many lose their fortunes as quickly as they gain them.
Joseph Schumpeter famously predicted that capitalist society would be destroyed by its own success, and the recent student protests around the US are a sign he may have been right.
The true lessons of Thanksgiving are that private property, the market economy, and personal responsibility lead to prosperity, while government intervention makes us all poorer.
Amazon has developed a new way to help people do easy work for a little extra cash. The jobs involve repetitive tasks that computers can't do. But, since the jobs pay below minimum wage, we're told the whole thing should be outlawed.
