Interventionism

France is facing critical shortages of a number of drugs, and one need look no further for a cause than a price control regime.

The usual suspects from the American and European elites are claiming that Spain‘s recent blackout was the result of unusual weather conditions. In truth, Spain‘s dependence upon renewable energy was to blame.

A free market economy does not generate jobs or money. Instead, it creates wealth through exchange and production. Government intervention, contrary to what mainstream economists believe, does not enhance wealth, but instead destroys it.

As egg prices rise, the usual progressive suspects claim it is due to monopoly power by egg producers, calling for government intervention. However, the real reason is government intervention itself.

In any society, there are winners. But how do they win? Successful entrepreneurs innovate, take risks, and satisfy consumer needs in a competitive marketplace.

Carl Menger wrote, “All things are subject to the law of cause and effect.” Unfortunately, modern academic economists all too often confuse correlation of economic phenomena with causality.

“It is ideas that group men into fighting factions, that press the weapons into their hands, and that determine against whom and for whom the weapons shall be used.”

Economist Robert Higgs described the “ratchet effect” in which government either creates a crisis or responds to one, leading to a permanent expansion of government power. After the crisis ends, government retreats—but not to the point where is was pre-crisis.

Our taxes are due today. It‘s a reminder that we must get past the tax reformers’ favorite ploy of revenue neutrality.

The philosopher Karl Popper was a strong critic of Marx, his system, and especially his reliance on historicism. Unfortunately, as David Gordon points out, Popper supported economic interventionism as a viable “third way” for social organization.