When I was fourteen years old, my family took a trip to Germany which was my first excursion outside of the United States. At that age, Dr. Pepper was all I drank, and my parents accommodated this by buying me a large case of Dr. Pepper to help me survive. German Dr. Pepper, though, tasted slightly different than what we bought in the United States. At age fourteen, this was a mystery to me — just one of many oddities in another country, I assumed.

When Time-Warner announced it planned to merge with another major communications firm, many feared the new company would exercise near-total monopoly power. These concerns led some to call for government action to block the merger in order to protect both Time-Warner’s competitors and consumers.

YIPPEE! Iceland’s populist left-anarchist/libertarian/hacker Pirate party just shook up the corrupt political establishment in Iceland by winning 10 seats in the oldest parliament in the world. The fact that the party did not even exist 5 years ago shows the power of populist movements to rapidly effect radical political change. We can only hope that this trend continues.

Gold clause contracts provide an avenue for states to promote the use and acceptance of gold and silver, and undermine the Fed’s monopoly on money.

What Are Gold-Clause Contracts? 

Assuming you had the money, would you loan $10,000 to be paid back over 30 years plus 3 percent interest?

What if price inflation skyrocketed? That would benefit the borrower and deeply harm you as the lender. Even if you were repaid, the declining value of those repayments wouldn’t come close to making up for your loss in purchasing power.

According to some commentators the US federal budget deficit still remains a major economic problem notwithstanding that it draws less attention than in the past. The Federal Government budget had a surplus of $33.4 billion in September against a surplus of $90.9 billion in September last year. The 12-month moving average of the Federal Government budget stood at a deficit of $49 billion in September against a deficit of $44.2 billion in August and a deficit of $37 billion in September last year.

Government programs (such as subsidies and student loans) designed to inflate both the supply and demand for higher education have driven a wedge between universities, students, and employers. Like any other economic good, the value of a higher education degree is determined on the market, at the intersection of the subjective valuations and appraisements of those constituting the supply and demand of that particular good.

In the twenty-first century, it seems that during every year divisible by 4, the left recycles their “analysis” that many Americans vote against their self-interest by not electing Democrats. The most famous of these quadrennial efforts was historian Thomas Frank’s 2004 What’s the Matter with Kansas, which spent 18 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.

Inferno is a great thriller, featuring Tom Hanks reprising his role as Professor Robert Langdon. The previous movie adaptations of Dan Brown’s books (Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code) were a success, and I expect Inferno will do well in theaters, too.

Langdon is a professor of symbology whose puzzle solving skills and knowledge of history come in high demand when a billionaire leaves a trail of clues based on Dante’s Inferno to a biological weapon that would halve the world’s population.