The Greek drama continues to unfold with the risk of “grexit” becoming increasingly likely. Yet, a large majority of the Greek people want to keep the euro. This, however, would require the Greek government to live within its means — something it has not been able to do for decades. With anti-austerity parties gaining strength continent wide, Greece may be the first, but not the last, to leave.
The release of the encyclical Laudato Si by Pope Francis last week had the predictable result of winning the Pontiff plaudits and huzzahs in the world’s press, and another round of bewildered head-shaking among observant Catholics. Whether in his formal remarks or his off-the-cuff observations, Pope Francis repeats many of the common objections to (and caricatures of) the market economy, objections we might encounter in the writings of any of the leftist thinkers who dominate the Pope’s Jesuit order.
Ben Bernanke reveals more about his own views when he comments on the $10 bill controversy to replace Alexander Hamilton. Bernanke attacked Secretary Jack Lew’s idea to replace Hamilton with a women:
In Breaking Bad, Vince Gilligan created one of the best shows in television history. He has followed it with a prequel, Better Call Saul!, which traces how the ethically-challenged lawyer featured in the earlier show — Saul Goodman — developed out of a perennial loser named Jimmy McGill. Breaking Bad fans are overjoyed that Gilligan has struck gold twice, and Better Call Saul! looks to become another television classic. And, although the show is not overtly libertarian, libertarians can learn from it.
Readers who want to get a flavor for the ideas of Friedrich Hayek will find an excellent introduction in Donald Boudreaux’s The Essential Hayek. The book can be downloaded free by clicking here.
The manager of one of Great Britain’s biggest bond funds, which has £4 billion under management, is now advising investors that the time has come “to hold physical cash,” along with gold and silver.
In a world of private property rights, where the contracts that derive from those rights must be honored, there would be no controversy about the rights of corporate “stakeholders.” Owners of capital resources pool them and delegate day-to-day control to corporate management as their agents. The only stakeholders those delegated agents agree to represent are the owners of those resources (i.e., the shareholders).
Reuters reports:
Any changes to the rate that the Federal Reserve pays to banks on excess reserves will take effect immediately upon approval, rather than at the end of a two-week maintenance period, the central bank announced on Thursday.
The change is being made to improve the ability of the Fed to use the payments made to banks on excess reserves as a tool for raising its target interest rate.
As election season ramps up, many people are falling into political camps and assuming that their candidate will be wholly different from either the current administration or the contenders in the other camp. But for the past eighty years, United States presidents have been remarkably similar once in office. Most presidents, whatever their promises as candidates (usually to shrink parts of government) end up waging wars overseas and expanding government control here at home. The problem is not any one politician, be it Barack Obama, or George W. Bush, or Ronald Reagan.
