Mises Wire

Week in Review: December 24, 2016

Merry Christmas from everyone at the Mises Institute. After a year dominated by the political pageant, we hope your holidays are dedicated to what’s most important: family, friends, and communities that transcend the pettiness of politics.

Perhaps no story captures the incredible spirit of the season like the Christmas truce, the often overlooked tale of British and German soldiers putting down arms for a shining moment during WWI. In the face of barbarisms like war and terrorism, we can never lose sight of the power of the human spirit — and the impact of ideas. As Lew Rockwell noted this week:

We live at a historic moment. The state preens and grows, yet its lies are believed by a smaller percentage of the public than ever before, especially by good young people. The Mises Institute, with the example of men like Hazlitt, our technological know-how, an unbeatable network of scholars, and the great body of work that constitutes our heritage, is uniquely poised to take advantage of this crucial opportunity.

As Hazlitt said, “The times call for courage. The times call for hard work. But if the demands are high, it is because the stakes are even higher. They are nothing less than the future of liberty, which means the future of civilization.”

If you want to help the Mises Institute in this battle of ideas, please consider making a tax-deductible year-end donation today.

On Mises Weekends, Jeff is joined by Ronald Stöferle to discuss Austrian economics and its application to financial markets. As our great friend Dr. Bob Murphy said on an earlier show, knowledge of economics is necessary — but not sufficient — to be be a good investor. Ronald, who co-authored the book Austrian School for Investors, bridges the gap between understanding the economy and understanding how to invest money, in a highly readable and succinct format.

By understanding money, value, interest rates, business cycles, and capital from an Austrian perspective, the smart investor knows far more about fundamentals than many fund managers and investment advisers. Most of those managers and advisers are dangerously ignorant of monetary policy, and don’t understand inflation — so they’re stuck trying to time booms and busts. This book won’t only change the way you look at making money, but how you look at Austrian economics itself.

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And in case you missed any of them, here are the articles featured this week on the Mises Wire:

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Note: The views expressed on Mises.org are not necessarily those of the Mises Institute.
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The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard. 

Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.

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