There are few things less popular in American politics than raising taxes, which is why there is a longstanding tradition of American politicians finding ways to avoid using the “t” word.

While it’s not surprising to see these sorts of political shenanigans from two parties that have a history of using Orwellian word games to grow government (like the charmingly named Patriot Act), it’s extremely unfortunate to see Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson resorting to the same tactics.

Argentina’s former economic minister, Axel Kicillof, became famous for his assertion that it is possible to centrally manage the economy now because we have spreadsheets such as Microsoft Excel. This assertion comes from the mistaken view that the cost of production determines final prices, and it reveals a profound misunderstanding of the market process. This issue, however, is not new. The first half of the twentieth century witnessed the debate over economic calculation under socialism.

Not every criticism of markets or property rights is socialist. This point might seem obvious, but it often gets lost in the incessant social media shouting matches that surround economic policy. In free-market circles, just about every government intervention these days is dismissed as “socialist,” with the predictable result that the term has lost much of its meaning.

Earlier this month, the Bank of England altered the bank rate of interest for the first time since 2009, pushing it from 0.5% down to 0.25%, with a further cut to 0.1% expected later in the year, and an accompanying £70 billion programme of new quantitative easing.

Monday marked the 45th anniversary of Richard Nixon’s closing of the gold window. As Paul-Martin Foss noted, the result since has been dramatic inflation as central bankers loss the last remaining shackles imposed by the Bretton-Woods gold-exchange standard.

If you’re looking for a short introduction to socialism that rewards rereading, Thomas DiLorenzo’s The Problem With Socialism is it.

Perhaps your son or daughter has returned from college talking about collective control of the means of production and sporting Bernie Sanders t-shirts. Perhaps you’re a political novice looking for informed guidance.

With the games of the 31st Olympiad winding down at the end of this week, the medal standings tell an interesting story about the results of government investment programs. As many have pointed out, the Chinese government has heavily invested in its sportsmen since the 2008 Beijing Olympics—with the largest mass recruitment program of about 400,000 children in special Olympic schools.

The Foundation for Economic Education The Freeman 1995