Mises Wire

Understanding any era of history requires the ability to view complex things. 

The long-awaited biography of William F. Buckley Jr. is hardly worth the wait of thirty years. David Brady, Jr., reviews it, saving our readers the pain of reading themselves.

While it is true that colonial era governments sometimes burned paper money after receiving it in the form of taxation, why they burned the money is for reasons other than what MMT advocates are claiming. In the end, the MMT promoters are telling a false history.

EU Central Bank President Christine Lagarde has declared that anything that might lead to private currencies must be stopped. Yet, as F.A. Hayek noted, one way to confound central banks is through private currencies.

America recently celebrated Independence Day, but Americans were too quick to abandon their own individual freedoms and individual sovereignty and submit to the state.

The Trump administration has withdrawn its promised $4 billion for the California Bullet Train project because this project does not have a viable future. While they may complete the 171-mile Central Valley portion, the rest of the project is dead in the water.

President Trump is proposing a $1.5 million levy on Chinese-built ships that enter US harbors. Since a majority of cargo ships have been produced by Chinese shipyards, the costs would be substantial. This action also would damage US exports, yet another unintended consequence of US policies.

The Federal Trade Commission has fined the makers of the video game Fortnite more than $500 million ostensibly for violations that have no legal basis. This is yet another case of the feds shaking down producers in the name of “consumer protection.”

The White House is boasting about a new trade “deal” with the EU. But every supposed benefit that comes from the agreement applies only to a small subset of the country while leaving the American public, as a whole, worse off.

The old classical liberal political tactics of constitutionalism, state building, and universal suffrage have clearly failed.