It is a hopeless task to interpret a symphony, a painting, or a novel. The interpreter at best tries to tell us something about his reaction to the work. He cannot tell us with certainty what the creator's meaning was or what other people may see in it.
Excerpted from a speech given in the House of Commons on the civil disabilities of the Jews, April 17, 1833: "Let us do justice to them. Let us open to them the door of the House of Commons. Let us open to them every career in which ability and energy can be displayed."
Principles of Politics was written in the immediate aftermath of Napoleon's rule over France and much of Europe. It is a defense of all forms of freedom against despotism. Constant considered natural rights to be the best foundation for liberty.
In the pipeline are dumb regulations for almost everything that plugs in or fires up in your home. The administration is meddling with every room in the house, goofing up technology and raising prices.
The key to avoiding "busts" is to avoid the credit expansion and "booms" that cause them. Booms are not periods of prosperity but of the squandering of wealth. The longer they last, the worse is the devastation that follows.
Capital and interest theory, and its relation to income, is a very complex area of economics. It is also one in which the Austrians have made major contributions, and these unravel current confusions.
Can the government tell the Fed what to do? If Congress and the president are agreed about what to do, yes. If there is disagreement over monetary policy — and there usually is — then the Fed does pretty much what it wants.
No one could have admired and respected Ludwig von Mises more than did Murray Rothbard, who dedicated his magnum opus in economic theory, Man, Economy, and State, to his great mentor. Yet Rothbard did not shy away from criticizing Mises when he believed such criticism to be called for.
Though he devoted much of his life to writing, editing, publishing, and political activism, it isn't really for any of these activities that Jo Labadie should be remembered fondly by libertarians in the 21st century.
The worst of Bernanke's statements came in 2006, near the zenith of the housing bubble. This was the era of the subprime mortgage, the interest-only mortgage, the no-documentation loan, and the heyday of mortgage-backed securities.
