The imposition of Colbert's regime of statism, monopoly, and prohibitive tariffs, combined with Louis XIV's high taxation and centralization, gave rise, by the late 1660s, to a growing tide of opposition by merchants and nobility alike.
"Within the Misesian-Hayekian framework, the only permanent solution to existing malinvestment is to allow its liquidation and the readaptation of the structure of production."
Recorded at Mises University 2010. Includes an introduction by Mark Thornton.
The exercise of arbitrary or dictatorial power is, of course, the whole purpose and function of all those agencies, commissions, and czars.
The horror of starvation no longer terrifies men living in a capitalist society.
Setting your entire production structure on the whims and fancies of bureaucrats and politicians, based upon central-planning diktat quickly leads to economic chaos.
"Jefferson described the new judicial establishment as 'a parasitical plant engrafted at the last session on the judiciary body'."
I cannot agree with Professor Krugman's statement that the Austrian business-cycle theory is not "worthy of serious study."
On January 22, 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev, the president of the Soviet Union, decreed that all existing 50- and 100-ruble banknotes were no longer legal tender and that they could be exchanged for new notes for three days only and only in small quantities. This had the effect of instantly deleting large portions of the savings and accumulated capital of private citizens.
"New York City taxicab licenses are strictly limited in number — so much so, that they have been sold for as much as $30,000. This effectively bars the poor from entering the field as owners."
