It is no secret that secret Swiss bank accounts are not so secret anymore, as political elites throughout the world led by the U.S. government wage an all-out war against financial privacy, even to the point of scheming to stamp out cash. But Swiss financial innovation knows no bounds.
The Mises Institute was founded as a research center based on classically liberal ideas that have always been under fire: the ideas of Mises and the tradition of thought he represents. That means a focus on the Austrian School of economics, and, in political philosophy, individual liberty and the need to prevent the State and its interests from crushing it, as all States everywhere are inclined to do.
This week the Mises Institute held its Fall Campaign and the response has been extraordinary, which coincided with Ludwig von Mises’s 135th birthday this past Thursday. Everyone here at the Institute takes incredible pride in continuing our namesake’s legacy in being an uncompromising voice for the ideas of Austrian economics, freedom, and peace.
After the UK Brexit, politician Nigel Farage appeared at a Donald Trump rally in Mississippi. Hillary Clinton lashed out at Farage and the campaign to the leave the European Union. She accused the opposition to the European Union of “having fuelled anti-immigrant sentiments” and “being a brand of extreme nationalism.”
In the post-debate spin, few noted Hillary Clinton’s pride in coining “trumped-up trickle-down” economics to accuse Donald Trump of policy malfeasance. However, it is important, because every time anyone has ever used the term “trickle-down” economics (or its rhetorical cousins, “tax cuts for the rich,” “voodoo economics,” etc.) it has been a trumped-up, intentional misrepresentation.
A study published a couple of months ago in the BMJ (British Journal of Medicine) made headlines for claiming that medical errors are the third leading cause of death. As expected, the reactions were swift and polarized.
For some, the study confirmed that the self-serving healthcare system is utterly careless about the welfare of patients. For others, the claim was complete hogwash, based on faulty methodology designed to justify further regulatory oversight.
The Bank of England recently announced that it will not be pursuing plans to introduce its own Bitcoin-style cryptocurrency in the near future.
“Hillary Clinton Proposes 65% Top Rate for Estate Tax” blared a headline in The Wall Street Journal. Since the current top statutory tax rate on estates is 40 percent, Clinton’s proposal is nothing if not audacious. I can’t recall Barack Obama, our most left-leaning president, ever calling for a 65 percent increase in tax rates for the rich.
