Trump’s Tariffs Are a Tax on Americans

On Thursday March 1, the Trump administration announced plans to impose 25% tariffs on imports of steel and 10% tariffs on imports of aluminum.

The US President is of the view that without the required protection, the US steel and aluminium industries are likely to follow the deteriorating path and this in turn will undermine the US labor market.

The steps announced by the US President raises the likelihood of a global trade war. President Trump seems to believe that war is great and that the US will emerge triumphant.

Murray Rothbard’s Birthday

Today would have been Murray Rothbard’s 92nd birthday. He was an unforgettable friend, whose immense knowledge of many different fields was unsurpassed in my experience. In a lecture on the Austrian Theory of the Business Cycle, he mentioned the common objection that the expansion of bank credit might have no effect, if investors anticipated trouble. After the lecture, I asked whether Mises had answered this point.

Chief Powell Is Walking a Monetary Tightrope Blind

Some commentators might even have felt some sympathy for Fed Chief Powell in his first testimony before Congress. He is so obviously navigating a treacherous monetary path ahead without any reliable compass. That is no different from the reality of his predecessor’s position, but at least in Mr. Powell’s case, there is not the academic triumphalism; rather the big danger evident is institutional complacency. 

There Are Fewer School Shootings Now Than During the 1990s

Now that I have several children, I’m often in the company of other parents who talk about the way things “used to be.” When the issue of child safety comes up, I hear parents sadly shake their heads and say things like “it’s not like it was when we were kids ... the world is so much more dangerous now.” 

Usually, the sentiment behind this idea is that there are more murders now than there used to be.