Mises Daily

Rothbard's willingness to engage in frank criticism of bad ideas from any source only underscores his insistence on honesty and independence of mind.

Printing green pieces of paper doesn't make an economy richer. If done without restraint, it leads to runaway price inflation. As an added downside, it also allows governments to slaughter millions of people. (The world wars could not have been waged if the belligerents had stuck to the gold standard.)

Then the welfare, the relief, the compensation, instead of being nationally sponsored cash prizes for idleness and ineptitude, could go where the old independent uncompromising fathers themselves would have intended it and blessed it.

"The bailouts, in fact, were an example of government intervention to prevent the free market from holding CEOs accountable."

We may not even be fortunate enough to have any market readjustment at some time in the future. Instead, spurred on by people who have lost all sense of economic reality, the government may take complete control of the economy. Then, true enough, there will be no depression and unemployment in the accepted sense; but the alternative is not pleasant to contemplate.

Gray embraces an extreme version of environmentalism, under the guidance of James Lovelock. According to this bizarre view, human beings are in danger of upsetting the Earth, which is viewed not as a mere planet but as a living organism. At times, Gray despairs of human beings altogether and appears a veritable misanthrope.

Don't be among those who believe that the government has discovered the secret of prosperity in the offices of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

Got a problem? Just give the government even more power, and our friendly, competent rulers will take care of everything. I shudder to think that columnists may actually get paid for spouting such childish twaddle.

What an irony it is that the capitalist entrepreneurs so despised by the Arts and Crafts Movement turned out to be its saviors.

To escape from Darwinian struggle, man must take advantage of social cooperation through the division of labor. Here, in Mises's view, lies the veritable key to civilization.