We can feel the winds of warmongering blowing through Europe as the continent raises the specter of war with Russia. Recently, the European Commission unveiled a series of measures to strengthen the defense of EU member states, most notably through the ReArm Europe plan. The plan—which was endorsed by the Extraordinary European Council on March 6, 2025—aims to mobilize €800 billion for the EU’s defense capabilities. It includes a redirection of public funds, but not only: it also includes the use of public savings.

We often read of a variety of schemes put forward by pundits and politicians as a good way to pay down the national debt, even while ignoring the fact the federal government continues to rack up trillions more in debt every year.

Most contemporary political philosophers, unfortunately, are not libertarians. Nicholas Wolterstorff—best known as a founder of “reformed epistemology” but a philosopher of extraordinary range—is no libertarian either—far from it. In Understanding Liberal Democracy (Oxford, 2012) though, he assails a vastly influential school of thought in a way that libertarians will find useful.

It is not uncommon to hear people make the one-sided case for a minimum wage policy by arguing that a minimum wage ought to be implemented so that people get paid more. To be fair, there is some truth in their argument—a higher minimum wage would mean higher nominal wages for the people paid minimum wage after the policy is implemented.

The U.S. gov has approved $17.9 bln for Israeli military operations in Gaza and elsewhere since Oct 7, substantially more than in any other year since the U.S. began granting military aid to Israel in 1959.

ECB cuts rates on weak growth, markets bet on more easing: The Fed is addicted to easy money, but the European central bank is even more addicted. 

I recently stayed in an incredible house—a high-ceiling, high-quality, high-tech, mansion-type property that isn’t even in my wildest dreams to ever own. No matter how well I do in my working life—plus my parents’ inheritance on the sad day they die, plus bitcoin doing its things in rearranging the monetary premia of the world—I’ll never land in this astonishing villa.

Listed and linked below are the readings that all students must complete before attending RGS. 

All materials are available on Mises.org free of charge, and most readings are available in multiple formats (e.g., PDF, ePub, HTML, audio). Complimentary physical copies of the readings will be available to attendees upon arrival at RGS. Physical copies can be mailed in advance to U.S. addresses upon request by emailing felicia@mises.org.

The last excuse that diehard defenders of President Trump’s tariff policies have advanced now lies in ruins. Trump had put in place exorbitant tariffs, these defenders acknowledged, but this was just a negotiating tactic, to get the targeted countries to lower their own tariffs on American goods. But if that is his aim, he is pursuing it in a blunderbuss fashion. As Paul Craig Roberts, a strong defender of tariffs, says: “Trump’s position on tariffs is problematical for many reasons. First, let me say that historically tariffs were a legislative issue.