Writing this week for Bloomberg, Tyler Cowan made the case that Brazil is “still the country of the future.” While I share Cowan’s optimism for the nation’s future, his focus on the country’s diversity, size, and vaguely federalized political structure overlooks the real story – that Austrian economics and libertarianism is winning the battle of ideas within the country.
Most experts regard consumer’s psychological disposition as the driving force of an economy. If consumers are optimistic and happy with the economy, no recession can occur — so it is believed. According to the popular way of thinking, if consumers are active, this is said to be a good sign for economic health. If consumers do not spend enough then it is seen as bad news. Indeed surveys of business activity show that during a recession, businesses emphasize a lack of consumer demand as the major factor behind their poor performances.
Complaining that they can’t keep up with all the changes to the law, police departments in Colorado are demanding that the legislature impose a moratorium on any new cannabis-related legislation.
The Colorado Springs Gazette reports:
Socialism, Economic Calculation, and Entrepreneurship • By Jesús Huerta de Soto • Edward Elgar, 2010 • 320 pages
You know you have crossed into the Austrian light when you wake up one morning and everything has become clear. From that point forward, for the rest of your life, you realize that almost every societal problem you encounter, no matter how simple nor how complex, is usually something to do with involuntary coercion, threatened violence, or some other failure of state interference in the free market.
Last Friday saw the release of a bombshell jobs report, with headlines exclaiming that the US economy added over 250,000 jobs in July, far in excess of any forecasts. The reality was far more grim. Those “jobs” weren’t actually created by businesses – they were created by the statisticians who compiled the numbers, through the process of “seasonal adjustment.” That’s a bit of statistical magic that the government likes to pull out of its hat when the real data isn’t very flattering.
Libertarians enjoy accusing each other of blind devotion to their favorite ideas and thinkers. In fact, it almost seems like a major pastime in the liberty movement to make this charge, and to revel with others in self-congratulatory “gotcha!” moments directed toward members of the outgroup.
I find this state of affairs frustrating, all the more so because in many cases (and I assume everyone knows of at least a few examples) neither side is really interested in reaching an accord. The result is that both accusers and accused perpetuate disagreement and factional conflict.
Both before and after September 11, 2001, the FBI has considered “eco-terrorism” one of its primary domestic terrorism concerns.
The role of the economist—to point out the unsuitability of central planning as a means to attain the level of welfare all countries seek—Mises characterized as a “thankless task, [as] most people are intolerant of any criticism of their social and economic tenets… [and] do not understand that the objections raised refer only to unsuitable methods and do not dispute the ultimate ends of their efforts” (Mises 1944, i
