The authors who think that they have substituted, in the analysis of the market economy, a holistic or social or universalistic or institutional or macroeconomic approach for what they disdain as the spurious individualistic approach delude themselves and their public. For all reasoning concerning action must deal with valuation and with the striving after definite ends, as there is no action not oriented by final causes.
To gain an insight into future economic conditions, many economists follow a variety of consumer and business surveys.
The rationale for conducting surveys is that the knowledge regarding future economic conditions is dispersed, so the chances of any one particular individual obtaining an accurate picture of the economy are very low.
A large group of people selected randomly is therefore likely to yield the most accurate picture possible. Or so it is believed.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s recent speech on immigration really missed the point. I understand Trump’s frustration over the US government’s inability to control the US borders and keep out those who would come to this country illegally. Trump was right that the media ignore legitimate questions we have on our immigration policy and he is right that special interests have a great interest in maintaining the status quo.
The Federal Reserve and in particular fiat money ruins the incentive to save for a better future. Half of all Americans have zero dollars in a savings account and another 20% have less than $1,000.
Paul Krugman again went after Germany on August 26 in his New York Times column, “Germany’s Drag.” After the German government posted a 1.2 percent of GDP fiscal surplus for the first half of 2016 — way above the IMF forecast of 0.3 percent — it seems as if Krugman couldn’t contain himself anymore.
The protection of endangered species is an area where most economists claim there is a market failure. Because of this, the majority of people feel that this duty can only be accomplished through government actions. Throughout the world, governments have tried a variety of methods to do so. Among the most popular methods are creating national parks or preserves for the animals and, through law, protecting the animals from being hunted or controlled. In 1966, the United States signed the Endangered Species Preservation Act which listed 78 different species that would be protected.
Brexit continues to look better and better. Not only has the British economy not collapsed, as was predicted by mainstream economic oracles, but the EU’s own actions continue to destroy the myth that it was primarily a free trade zone and not simply about political power.
In the most fundamental sense we are all, with each of our actions, always and invariably profit-seeking entrepreneurs.
Today is Hans Hoppe’s birthday. He is an outstanding libertarian theorist, in the tradition of Murray Rothbard, and his strikingly original work ranges widely over philosophy, history, and economics. Among his many contributions are a defense of self-ownership and property rights through argumentation ethics and a trenchant criticism of democracy. He is a scholar of the highest integrity and courage, and all lovers of liberty are in his debt.
