The Short-Lived German Free Trade Movement

In even the most reasonably-informed accounts of classical liberalism, those that eschew the inclusion of the likes of Mill and Rousseau, the spotlight almost invariably falls on Britain and France—on the likes of Adam Smith, Richard Cobden, Frédéric Bastiat, and Benjamin Constant. Yet the German tradition of liberalism—so often overshadowed by the rise of Bismarckian statism, Marxism, and social democracy—played a critical role in shaping the transnational liberal movement of the 19th century.

What’s Good About Democracy?

America is supposed to be a democracy, and people worry about whether elections are genuine or rigged. Should voting by mail be allowed? Should voters be required to show ID? In the current political climate, such questions are important, but there is an underlying premise that libertarians have good reason to question.

Department of War?

Last week President Trump took steps to re-name the Department of Defense the “Department of War.” The President explained his rationale for the name change: “It used to be called the Department of War and it had a stronger sound. We want defense, but we want offense too… As Department of War we won everything…and I think we…have to go back to that.”

Steve Hanke join CapitalCosm to Discuss Trump and Powell, Interest rates, and Inflation

Following Jerome Powell’s latest signal on rate cuts, economist Steve Hanke, Applied Economics Professor at Johns Hopkins University, explains why markets and policymakers keep fixating on the wrong variable. Interest rates don’t drive the cycle, he argues—changes in the money supply do, with long and variable lags.

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