[Excerpt from Human Action]
A critical examination of the philosophical systems constructed by mankind’s great thinkers has very often revealed fissures and flaws in the impressive structure of those seemingly consistent and coherent bodies of comprehensive thought. Even the genius in drafting a world view sometimes fails to avoid contradictions and fallacious syllogisms.
Bloomberg had an interesting report this week looking at the political contributions of Federal Reserve employees this election season. Unsurprisingly, Hillary Clinton is dominating the field, receiving $18,747 in contributions — over four times more than all other candidates combined.
Remember back in December when we highlighted that one of the responses to central banks’ introduction of negative interest rates might actually be a raising of interest rates by banks to borrowers?
Former Mises Fellow Mateusz Machaj has published a new paper, “Can the Taylor Rule be a Good Guidance for Policy? The Case of 2001–2008 Real Estate Bubble,” in the journal Prague Economic Papers. The full text (PDF) can be found here.
Rick Santelli yesterday went on one of his trademark rants, this time extolling the virtues of Wall Street and complaining about the anti-Wall Street sentiment that has become prevalent during the current election cycle.
On the banks and Wall Streeters, he says, they have a “big bulls-eye in their back” and proclaims “these are great industries and they are run well.”
History was made this weekend in Brazil as protesters numbering in the millions took to the streets to protest for the removal of President Dilma Rousseff, who has been embroiled in a massive corruption scandal while Brazil’s economy has suffered from a devastating recession.
Demagogue politicians love to play on popular fears that low-wage foreigners are “stealing” good paying American jobs by way of outsourcing and globalization. The claim is made by protectionists of all political stripes, whether leftists complaining of a “rigged economy” or rightists speaking of other countries “beating us” economically.
In an interview on Bloomberg TV Monday, David Stockman explained the Trump phenomenon as a “repudiation” of the failed economic policy that presently dominates Washington.
In the course of the interview, however, one of the Bloomberg commentators returned to well-worn bullet points and claimed “we’ve created, like, millions of jobs” since the last recession.
In this article, Claudio Grass, Managing Director at Global Gold Switzerland, talks to economist and Mises Institute Senior Fellow Thomas DiLorenzo. This exclusive interview covers central bank monetary policies, Keynesian economics, the economic“recovery,“ political correctness, and much more.
