In his article last week on the United States’ economic freedom ranking, Per Bylund writes: 

Last week, I mentioned how mega events like the Pope’s business are a burden on tax payers, and bad for local businesses. Study after study has statistically shown that such events do not contribute to the local economy. and now the anecdotal evidence is in for the Pope’s visit:

Yesterday, the AP reported that the Pope’s visit was “a flop for businesses.”

Early this year, Wired ran an uplifting, yet also heartbreaking story on a smuggling operation taking place on the North Korean border. The smuggled goods are USBs containing e-books, music, action movies, and episodes of the sitcom ‘Friends’ — in other words, snippets of life in the developed world, where supermarket shelves are always full.  The purpose of the operation is none other but to overthrow Kim Jong-Un’s regime by opening the minds of its citizens.

Mises Daily Monday | Andrew Syrios writes: 

There’s something very odd about the United States military that makes many of the most budget-hawkish fiscal conservatives turn into starry-eyed, big government welfare pushers.

In what Agence France-Presse calls a “fierce independence row,” Spain prepares for Catalonia’s secession vote on Sunday. Rhetoric in recent months has increased since last November’s “symbolic” vote in Catalonia in which Catalinian officials claimed a lopsided victory.

WND.com recently interviewed Mark Thornton and asks if there’s an employment divide between young and old workers:

The truth about employment statistics is ugly when laid out in black and white.

Tom Woods writes: “Fortune magazine took a bit of a swipe at me this week, taking aim at my defense of the free market in the face of the comments of Pope Francis. I devote this episode to a full-fledged response. Lots of anti-Austrian misconceptions dealt with here. Enjoy!”

Senior Fellow Mark Thornton is interviewed on The Power & Market Report. Dr. Thornton discusses the Skyscraper curse in Auburn, Alabama, the relationship between skyscrapers and the Austrian business cycle, and why the market forgets about crises.

Read the Mises Daily article mentioned in the interview here. 

Pope Francis made history this week when he became the first pontiff to speak before Congress. While his speech made headlines in calling for global action against the dubious problem of global warming, it became clear that Francis had not listened to the advice of Lew Rockwell or familiarized himself with the works of Tom Woods. In fact, Dr.

Social media exploded with outrage this week after American investor Martin Shkreli purchased the rights to sell the drug Daraprim and raised the price %5,000 percent from $13.50 to$750.

Shkreli was able to do this because federal law bans the importation of the drug. According to the International Business Times, a generic version of the drug is available in India at a price of 10 cents.