Capitalism is a wondrous human institution for the mutual betterment for all in society. Yet, critics often insist that market systems enable sellers to take advantage of buyers, because those on the demand-side often lack the specialized knowledge that suppliers possess, thus, enabling a possible exaggerated misrepresentation of what is being offered for sale. What is missed is that market competition generates the incentives and opportunities to earn profits precisely by not misinforming or cheating the buyer.

In a recent column for Mises Wire, Doug French raised very important issue of negative interest rates.  Quoting Fleckenstein Capital He wrote,

Yesterday a Parisian BBB-rated company (i.e., quasi junk) issued $500 million in three-year notes yielding negative 0.026%. We have been peppered with so many absurdities, nothing seems absurd anymore…

French continues with his own observations: 

Why was James Madison so critical of democracies? Moreover, why was he so concerned about them when, according to the definition he provided, “democracies” basically don’t exist anywhere, either in his time or in our own. 

Today, many conservatives like to claim that “the Founding Fathers” opposed democracy and supported less majoritarian republics. 

Coinbase, the cryptocurrency trading platform, has been ordered by a federal court to turn over information sought by the IRS relating to more than 14,000 of the site’s users. As TechCrunch puts it, the IRS noticed “the number of tax returns claiming gains from virtual currency didn’t line up with the emerging popularity of digital currencies like bitcoin as an investment vehicle.” 

The epic sale in mid-November of the painting Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci at the auction price of more than $450 million to a Middle Eastern buyer contained within its occasion three key lessons about the difference between market value and the market for Value — a distinction that perhaps best defines the long-term difference between wealth and money.

Gary Schlarbaum, one of our generous supporters, has again offered to match all donations received through December 9.

That means your $10 donation becomes $20, your $25 donation becomes $50, and so on.

Yesterday Donald Trump nominated Marvin Goodfriend to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, one of the numerous vacancies that have emerged over the course of the past year. While his prior nominations of Jay Powell as Chairman and Randal Quarles as Vice Chair represented a disappointing commitment to the status quo, his selection of Goodfriend is a dangerous act of outright betrayal to Trump’s core constituency of working class voters.

Roy Cordato recently wrote a very good article for the Carolina Journal on the deduction of state and local taxes:

Should you ever be taxed on “income” that is not, in any meaningful sense, yours?