Descriptive terms which people use are often quite misleading. In talking about modem captains of industry and leaders of big business, for instance, they call a man a “chocolate king” or a “cotton king” or an “automobile king.” Their use of such terminology implies that they see practically no difference between the modern heads of industry and those feudal kings, dukes or lords of earlier days. But the difference is in fact very great, for a chocolate king does not rule at all, he serves.

The Netflix series Stranger Things is the surprise hit of the year. It’s especially refreshing for libertarians, who can finally enjoy a show where the main villain is government itself: at last, the antagonist isn’t the market or even a corrupt politician, just government. Maybe its best plot twist is that there’s nary an evil corporation to be seen.

The US Federal Reserve (Fed) is considering raising rates. Is the “normalization” of interest rates about to happen which savers and investors have been yearning for? Most likely not. Policymakers are merely realizing that the policy of zero rates — or even negative rates as in the euro area or Switzerland — doesn’t work as intended.

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton had their first shared television event of the election season this week as the American political circus continues. Noticeably absent was any discussion of the real issues affecting the American people.

Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics 19, no. 2 (Summer 2016)