So — even if the current cycle is about to turn — it will surely complete the revolution and move upwards once again and possibly faster than we might expect, thanks to the benign self-interest of the millions of new Asian and East European entrants into our complex, highly interconnected, global economy.
As interviewed on CBC’s CKVU and on “WestCoast,” December 4-5, 1989
No wonder, then, that our economic problems center in government enterprises. Government ownership breeds insoluble conflicts, inevitable inefficiency, and breakdown of living standards. Private ownership brings peace, mutual harmony, great efficiency, and notable improvements in standards of living.
Free movement of capital, including human capital, is one of the pillars of prosperity. What explains this migration is not the political will of some evil western countries, but the price system that does an excellent job in directing capital where it can be the most productive.
Despite their horrible reputation, stock speculators perform a crucial service in the market economy. Their attempts to buy low and sell high quickly eliminate mispricings in the stock market.
Rather, the popular debate over Wal-Mart is an important part of a broader debate between freedom and interventionism. Those who vilify Wal-Mart do so not for Wal-Mart's political failings but for Wal-Mart's economic successes.
There is only one system that can support a national and world population on this scale, and it is not socialism, primitivism, or any other than capitalism. Moreover, no form of government can create wealth.
However, even though the Federal Reserve's monetary excesses may occasionally lure too many into day trading and real estate investing, both are worthy entrepreneurial activities. There is nothing inherently slimy about trading real estate, and certainly nothing warranting the state's regulation of this market.
Every human being, by his nature, is free; he controls himself. But in the Old World, men believe that some Authority controls them. They cannot make their energy work by any such belief, because the belief is false.
Last Friday, I presented a paper (co-authored with Walter Block) at the 49th Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space at the International Astronautica
