Lincoln’s New Deal
In Frank W. Taussig’s The Tariff History of the United States, he describes the mass of unprecedented financial legislation that took place, which likely would not have occurred absent the context of the war,
The Struggle for Liberty: A Libertarian History of Political Thought
Covid: The New, “New Deal” Revisionism Is Already Starting
As a history teacher and an economist, it never ceases to amaze me at the success of certain historical myths (in this case, defined as verifiably untrue beliefs) have come to dominate popular understanding. Often it seems that no presentation of facts to the contrary of such myths are sufficient to dislodge them.
Too Obvious to See?
The Trump-Musk assassination troops going through the federal bureaucracy will eventually arrive at an oddball entity called the Federal Reserve. It is and isn’t many things, which if confusion is your sport, is part of its charm.
This series explores the complex systems that shape our world—how individuals fit within them, how we can confidently face the unknown, and why understanding complexity is key to human thriving.
The Madness of Presidential Tariffs
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds is an early study of crowd psychology by Scottish journalist Charles Mackay, first published in 1841 under the title Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions. The book was published in three volumes: “National Delusions”, “Peculiar Follies,” and “Philosophical Delusions.”
The first three chapters address economic events to include:
Tariffs Also Tax Capital, Not Just Consumption
In a recent column, Paul Craig Roberts wrote that tariffs not only made international trade possible, but that they were merely a tax on consumption and were neutral elsewhere—and should be much-preferred to income taxes. He wrote:
