In Minnesota, the CBS 4 affiliate reports: “more people are carrying guns than ever before, but the crime rate remains low”:
We took a hard look at the numbers, and found: Minnesota has a high rate of gun ownership, and a relatively low rate of violent crime.
As Ryan McMaken noted in a 2014 article:
February 19 is the Day of Remembrance for those who wish to recall that on February 19, 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 authorizing military personnel to lock American of Japanese descent in concentration camps that are often euphemistically called “internment camps.”
This article illustrates the usefulness of the methodology of the Austrian school of economics. No scientific inquiry can occur without a method, be it carefully considered or willy-nilly. Yet, mainstream economists pay little attention to the methods they use. Apparently they are satisfied to mimic the method of physics. For economists as a whole, the Austrians stand virtually alone as students of methodology. The usefulness of the economic theory developed from their method challenges mainstream economists to reconsider their own methodology.
Neo-banking authors devote strong efforts to historical studies which they intend to support the thesis that a free-banking system would protect economies from cycles of boom and depression, owing to the “monetary equilibrium” mechanism. Nevertheless the empirical studies produced thus far have not focused on whether free-banking systems have prevented credit expansion, artificial booms and economic recessions.
Over the past several years, I have participated in a number of short courses on Austrian economics, and for some I was involved in the planning stages. The one aspect of such planning that stands out in my memory has to do with the issue of methodology.
Reading through Security Analysis, the roadmap for investing first published in 1934 by Benjamin Graham and David L. Dodd, I learned something quite interesting: The basis of stock valuation had changed quite drastically in the period between 1927 and 1929.
Most people consider consent to be a straightforward concept. Parties voluntarily agreeing beforehand to the actions taking place between them sounds simple enough, right? Unfortunately, life — and more specifically, the state — has a way of overcomplicating situations. For example, last year a woman claimed she was raped by two NYPD detectives after being pulled over and detained while with her friends.
Governor Rick Scott of Florida has called on the FBI director, Christopher Wray, to resign after it was revealed the FBI failed ot follow up on leads related to this week’s school shooter. The FBI also failed to even follow its own protocol in terms of forwarding information to the local field office:
Listen to Ryan McMaken’s commentary on the Radio Rothbard podcast.
Should the feds be permitted to treat anyone who is not a choirboy like a criminal suspect? Unfortunately, local, state, and federal agencies have a long history of targeting, harassing, and entrapping fans of untraditional music. Because so many innocuous activities have become criminalized in recent decades, it has never been easier for the feds to tar any group they please. Precedents established against devotees of unruly music could be used in the future against peaceful libertarians.
