Is it time to abolish the Supreme Court? This was the question Ryan McMaken asked following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. While the high court may have been created with the lofty ideals of being above the political fray, the desperate scrambling of politicians on both sides of the isle illustrates how broken and partisan the court has become in practice. As Jeff Deist notes, the increased centralization of the rule of law has seen the court play a role in further dividing the country.
Of course, the loss of faith in the Supreme Court simply mirrors the larger global trend of deteriorating faith in central intuitions. With every day comes a new headline of governments and other central planners desperately trying to regain control, be it Japan’s central bank panicking in their embrace of negative interest rates (which are doomed to fail), or Saudi Arabia scrambling to respond to the current oil market, or escalations in the global war on cash. Try as they might, the global planners will not be able to return to the unsustainable status quo.
Luckily it is in times like this that spur people to look for real solutions. This week, Mises.org set new records in website traffic. Thank you to all of our incredible donors, supporters, and readers who help us spread the ideas of Austrian economics, freedom, and peace.
We dive deeper into negative interest rates on the latest Mises Weekends. Paul-Martin Foss, founder of the Menger Center, former monetary aide to Ron Paul, and frequent Mises Wire contributor, joined Jeff to discuss the ramifications of such a policy. With a growing chorus of mainstream economists calling for it, including former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, could the Federal Reserve turn to negative interest rates as their next Hail Mary?
In case you missed any of them, here are articles from this past week’s Mises Daily and Mises Wire:
- How to Reverse the Innovation Slowdown by Peter St. Onge
- Why Negative Interest Rates Will Fail by Frank Hollenbeck
- How Government Buys Your Support by James Bovard
- Made-up Government Stats Inflame Contempt for Britain’s Obese by Mark Tovey
- Why Women Pay Higher Prices for the “Same” Products by John Doston
- Scalia’s Fate by Jeff Deist
- Could Banks Become Public Utilities? by Paul-Martin Foss
- Abolish the Supreme Court by Ryan McMaken
- Dark Clouds over Auburn by Mark Thornton
- Republican Debate: What Makes A Candidate Strong? by Hunter Lewis
- The Shooting War on Cash Begins by Joseph Salerno
- One-Third of Americans Don’t Know Who Scalia Was by Ryan McMaken
- Cartel Catastrophe: Saudi Arabia’s Oil Dilemma by Troy Vincent
- Is This Why the Bank of Japan Hit the Panic Button? by Ryan McMaken
- “Monopoly” Goes Cashless by Joseph Salerno
- Professor Richard Vedder on the Great Depression by Joseph Salerno
- How US States Compare to Foreign Countries in Size and GDP by Ryan McMaken
- War on Cash: The Fix Is In by Paul-Martin Foss
- Is Democracy the Problem? by Ryan McMaken
- Can Trump’s Anti-Iraq-War Stance Win in South Carolina? by Ryan McMaken
- Thanks to NATO, Americans Pay for Turkey’s Wars by Ryan McMaken
- Why Breaking Up Big Banks Is No Solution by Paul-Martin Foss
- Rothbard Gets Credit by Jonathan Newman
- Is the Fed Flashing A Recession Sign? By Mark Thornton
- Treasury Deposits at Fed Prop Up Money Supply Again in January by Ryan McMaken
