The mission of the Mises Institute, as presaged by Ludwig von Mises in his 1962 review of Murray Rothbard’s Man, Economy, and State: 

Recently Mark Thornton joined the Tom Woods Show to discuss his new book The Skyscraper Curse, and How Austrian Economists Predicted Every Major Economic Crisis of the Last Century.

Download the show here.

Are cracks emerging in the Swedish welfare state?

Leftist experts routinely praise the country for its generous welfare state, and cast shame on countries in the Anglo sphere, such as the United States, for not adopting Nordic style welfare systems.

Although Scandinavian countries feature sizeable welfare states, they are far from socialist. However, the presence of welfare mechanisms in an economy can still be problematic.

Charging the price of an expensive car for a garden-variety amino acid, one we eat every day.

A year ago, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a “drug” called Endari to treat sickle cell disease, which afflicts about 100,000 Americans of African descent and around 25 million more outside the US. Price tag: $28,000 a year.

Are President Trump’s senior cabinet members working against him? It’s hard not to conclude that many of the more hawkish neocons that Trump has (mistakenly, in my view) appointed to top jobs are actively working to undermine the president’s stated agenda. Especially when it seems Trump is trying to seek dialogue with countries the neocons see as adversaries needing to be regime-changed.

Most experts agree that through the manipulation of short-term interest rates, the central bank by means of expectations regarding future interest rate policy, can also dictate the direction of long-term interest rates. In this way of thinking expectations regarding future short-term interest rates are instrumental in setting the long-term rates. (Note the long-term rates are an average of short-term rates in this way of thinking.)

ABC News reports that “Toxic red tide blooms are creeping up Florida’s west coast, killing marine life and irritating humans.” The red (or maroonish) tide is truly a nasty problem that I have experienced first-hand in the form of a ruined vacation.

The 2018 soccer World Cup just ended a few weeks ago. In addition to the strong performance of the European teams in the World Cup, Asian teams have also made progress in this event. For example, although Japanese players do not have the athleticism of the European, African, and Latin American teams, the Japanese team scored in the top 16 of the World Cup by relying on teamwork and a sophisticated understanding of soccer. While in the group stage, the Koreans even defeated the defending champions Germany.

An audio version of this article is available here.

On August 2nd, the Bank of England announced that its Monetary Policy Committee had unanimously voted to raise interest rates. This recent decision by Britain’s central bank saw its key ‘base rate’ of interest rise for only the second time since the 2007/8 crash. The 25 basis point hike brought the base rate up to 0.75%, its highest level since March 2009.