What Greece (and All of Europe) Should Do Next
My advice for Greece and all of Europe in the wake of the Greek “no” vote:
1. Leave both the European Union (EU) and the European Monetary Union (EMU).
Piketty Interview Inadvertently Shows How Centralization Fails Europe
The much-hyped Thomas Piketty has given an interview to Die Zeit in which he lambastes Germany as hypocritical on the issue of Greek debt repayment. It’s fascinating and astonishing to witness. The great centralizers seem surprised that yoking together wildly different nations, economies, languages, and cultures doesn’t work. This is what Mr.
Portugal’s Experiment in Drug Decriminalization Has Been a Success
This month, Portugal celebrates fourteen years of drug decriminalization. The grand experiment is now considered a happy success considering it was adopted out of desperation and in the face of dire warnings from proponents of the global drug war.
The Black Hole of Defense Spending
Ryan McMaken’s post about the F-35 Lightning II rightly points out that the only thing defense spending actually defends are the profits of defense contractors. Yet no matter how egregious the waste of taxpayer money, people still seem to think that if the Pentagon isn’t supplied with a steady stream of increasingly high-tech, expensive toys, any day now the communists will be parachuting into rural America, Red Dawn-style.
Greece’s Biggest Problem Is Its Anti-Capitalist Culture
It’s considered politically incorrect to criticize culture these days, but whether using euros or drachmas, in or out of the European Union, Greece really has to, somehow, sort out its cultural dysfunction. I’m not talking about its customs, traditions, architecture or music, and I’m definitely not talking about its food. I’m talking about its cultural anti-capitalism. The negotiations, deals, counter-deals, referenda, protests and everything in between all mean very little if Greeks, by and large, don’t ditch their statist zeitgeist and rediscover Greek capitalistic exceptionalism.
A Lesson From the Greek Crisis: Safe Deposit Boxes Are Not Safe
Last week the Greek government imposed capital controls to prevent cash from escaping from the Greek banking system, which is on the brink of collapse. These repressive financial measures, which were invented by “Hitler’s banker” Hjalmar Schacht in the 1930s, include the closing of banks, limiting cash withdrawals from ATMs to 60 euros ($67) per day, and the banning of all money transfers via credit and debit cards to accounts held in foreign countries.
Jurassic World: Don’t Blame It On The Market
In the fourth and latest installment of the Jurassic Park franchise, a theme park containing cloned dinosaurs plays host to horrifying scenes as visitors are preyed upon by reptilian attractions that have eluded the confines of their cages.
Rothbard: The Free-Market and Antigovernment Roots of the American Revolution
Historians have long debated the precise causes of the American Revolution: Were they constitutional, economic, political, or ideological? We now realize that, being libertarians, the revolutionaries saw no conflict between moral and political rights on the one hand and economic freedom on the other.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac CEOs Get Huge Pay Raises
Back when I was an economist for the State of Colorado, I sat on a panel/task force in 2006 in which some of the left-ish members suggested a new tax on Fannie and Freddie to pay for subsidized housing.
The Fannie and Freddie reps were indignant. “Why, we’re a private company,” they protested. “It’s just plain wrong to tax a private company.”
Five Laws to Repeal on Independence Day
Unfortunately, Independence Day has become a day for many to celebrate the United States government. The actual historical event behind the day, however — the adoption of the Declaration of Independence — was an illegal act of political defiance that led to secession and the overthrow of an entire system of mercantilist government in North America.
Moreover, it is quite anachronistic to connect the modern unified nation-state known as “the United States” to this event, nor does it make sense to invoke anything having to do with the Constitution of 1787.
