It's strange how most people are willing to give the police and the courts the benefit of the doubt and pretend as if the system somehow knows something that we do not know. Anyone hauled off to jail, they believe, probably deserved what is coming to him.
Krugman dismissed the idea that Keynesianism was best suited for totalitarianism and he ignored my inquiry about the fact that the mess we are in is precisely because the US government has pursued Keynesian policies for the past eight decades.
Recorded at the Ludwig von Mises Institute; Auburn, Alabama; 9 October 2010.
Caplan could just as easily have written, "An optimal solution to education would actually involve gang members randomly beating up college freshmen." I am not exaggerating. Caplan's statement is literally equivalent to my own suggestion.
Recorded at the Ludwig von Mises Institute; Auburn, Alabama; 8 October 2010.
Bailing out Bear Sterns while letting Lehman fail, the two TARP votes, and the incessant clamor about (nonexistent) systemic risk were geared toward bailing out Wall Street firms on the wrong side of housing risk.
Government spending — whether on our current armed forces and their more than 800 foreign bases or on "green" energy and other government-favored projects — does not produce prosperity. It only diverts resources.
Despite the chorus of praise, the TARP bailout was a terrible idea that will cost taxpayers both directly and indirectly through its perverse incentives. Only the Austrians consistently opposed the Republican and Democrat bailout schemes.
How often do you hear the minarchist say, "Well, I don't like government, but we at least need things like traffic laws. We need a government to keep us safe"? What if we actually began to publicly advocate the abolition of traffic regulations?
Austrians get a bum rap for their prescription for recession. The readjustment process is not cruel; it is about permitting production to align more closely with consumer preferences. Recovery, like growth and development, requires forward-looking planning.
