T. Hunt Tooley is chairman of the department of history at Austin College and an Associated Scholar of the Mises Institute. In this interview with The Austrian, Dr. Tooley examines what we can learn today from the First World War. 

THE AUSTRIAN: It has now been 100 years since the United States entered the First World War. Was getting involved in foreign wars in this way a break from past policy, or was the US already going in this direction?

As I’ve traveled around the country making speeches at college campuses, I’ve noticed that very few young people want war. In fact, I’d say that 90 percent of the people I come into contact with are opposed to new wars. So, the question is this: If so few people seem to want war, why do we keep getting so many of them?

The answer lies on how politics works in Washington, DC, and it lies in what kinds of people want political power.

Thanks to public apathy, combined with aggressive politicians, we get wars, even when so much of the population doesn’t want them.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news before a three day weekend, but St. Louis Fed President James Bullard informs us that ”U.S. prices are now 4.6 percent below the price level path established from 1995 to 2012, when inflation was growing near the Fed’s target of 2 percent each year.”

This lower than expected price level is deeply “worrisome,” for Bullard. 

Economic impact studies are everywhere.

Whether it’s to support a new highway project, special tax breaks for solar energy, the building of a civic center or sports complex, or to promote subsidies for Hollywood film producers, you can find an economic impact study, often touting how great the project will be for the state or local economy.

In 1800, you had to work, on average, one hour to obtain ten minutes of artificial light. Today, this same hour allows you to buy 300 days of light. In 1900, one kilowatt-hour of electricity cost one hour of work. This costs five minutes of our time now. Buying one cheeseburger in McDonald’s required 30 minutes of hard labor in 1950. This same sandwich now costs about three minutes of your life.

Earlier this week the Trump administration announced their proposed budget for 2018.

One of the cardinal rules of government accounting and rhetoric is to call any slowdown in the growth rate of government spending a “cut.” This gives the impression that less is being spent when more is being spent. It’s just that less is being spent than the government had planned on spending otherwise. 

With the discussion over the Trump budget this week, there’s lots of talk of cuts, but it’s important to remember that there are absolutely no cuts whatsoever in the actual amount of money the government plans to spend.