Interventionism

The only way politicians can really improve the economy — and our lives — is by (1) getting out of the way, and (2) undoing the policies they've previously implemented that hamper it.

F.A. Hayek, in a forgotten article from 1941, observes the tragedy that "men of science and engineers" may "frequently be found leading a movement which in effect merely serves to support the unholy alliance between the monopolistic organizations of capital and labor."

Richard Cantillon saw the essence of the business-cycle problem long ago. When the government's national bank inflates the money supply by increasing the supply of banknotes, he writes, it reduces the rate of interest and can increase the price of stocks. This is a corrupt process.

Thomas Mun set forth what would become the standard mercantilist line.

The Wikipedia entry  on the real-bills doctrine advances the controversial proposition that banks can increase the quantity of money without diminishing the purchasing power of each unit. I will refer to it as the Sproul doctrine.

Thomas Mun set forth what would become the standard mercantilist line. He pointed out that there was nothing particularly evil about the East India Company trade. The company imported valuable drugs, spices, dyes, and cloth from the Indies, and it re-exported most of these products to other countries.

Just as more and more analysts are worried about the economy imploding again, the NBER announces that the recession ended back in June 2009. The whole episode underscores the crudity of mainstream economics.

Our analysis indicates that not only can fiscal stimulus not revive the economy but, on the contrary, it can also make things much worse.

Coke's legal-economic philosophy might be summed up in a phrase he used in Parliament in 1621: "That no Commodity can be banished, but by Act of Parliament."

The only chance to prevent the exchange value of fiat money from collapsing altogether is a return to sound money — a way that would start by reanchoring fiat monies to gold, as outlined most prominently by Mises, Rothbard, and Sennholz.