Polygamy and Free Association

Marriage has long had a significant economic aspect to it, and states know this, which is why they have fought so long and hard to regulate and control it. Families, of course, are a basic part of any economy, and historically, they form one of the foundational building blocks of a society’s economy. Consequently, it’s not surprising at all that the American federal government has involved itself in marriage-related matters that are seemingly local in nature.

Understanding the Cold War: A Bibliography

I recommend that readers begin with the essay by Murray Rothbard listed here. As Rothbard often stressed, one cannot infer a nation’s foreign policy from the nature of its domestic regime. Communist totalitarianism did not necessitate an aggressive foreign policy; and in the post-World War II period, Rothbard contended, Russian foreign policy was largely defensive in character. The main Communist danger to America was internal rather than external.

Happy Birthday, Hans

Today is the sixty-fifth birthday of Hans-Hermann Hoppe. In the Preface to his The Economics and Ethics of Private Property, Hans says: “My largest debt is to Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard, the twentieth century’s two greatest—though much neglected—economists and social philosophers.” Hans is the worthy successor of these great thinkers; and, like them, he is devoted to freedom and utterly rejects compromise. In The Economics and Ethics of Private Property, he argues that all deviations from the free market are forms of socialism.

Leading Keynesian Economist Uses The “D” Word

Most Keynesian economists do not want to admit that we are in another depression. They find the word painful.

They find it painful because it contradicts the idea that Keynesian economic ideas have ended depressions forever. It also contradicts the idea that the massive and continuing Keynesian stimulus applied by world governments since 2008 has worked. For this and other reasons, euphemisms such as the Great Recession have been embraced not only by Keynesian economists, but by their allies in government and in the mainstream press.