Today in the The Telegraph, there is an excellent article by Allister Heath blasting to the arrogance of central bankers and their role in the growing global financial crisis.
Heath goes on to illustrate how vital Austrian economics is to understanding how the world really works:
“I champion an economic order ruled by free prices and markets...the only economic order compatible with human freedom.”
Wilhelm Röpke died on this date fifty years ago. He was an excellent economist thoroughly grounded in a realistic view of human action and who, therefore, continually fought against the dehumanizing effects of Keynesian and mathematical economics. He has also served as one of my intellectual inspirations in his effort to incorporate economics into the broader fabric of general social thought.
As this election cycle has demonstrated yet again, Democrats are not shy about calling for tax increases. In every election cycle they call for more taxes, whether through corporate taxes (to tax “the rich”) or through increases to the income tax via Obamacare “penalties.” Republicans, on the other hand, like to pledge to not raise taxes.
Listen to the Audio Mises Wire version of this article.
[This article is excerpted from Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis.]
The New York Fed publishes a series called “Crisis Chronicles”, and a particular episode on the Panic of 1819 bears striking resemblance to Murray Rothbard’s book, The Panic of 1819: Reactions and Policies. The authors, James Narron, David Skeie, and Don Morgan, seem to paraphrase Rothbard, but do not cite him.
If you hoped that monetary policy would ever return to normal, you’re in for some disappointment. It appears as though central banks are hell-bent on doubling down on their mistakes.
Even the Fed, which has for years been describing the economy as “expanding at a moderate pace,” and which a few months back was saying it was “hawkish,” has, through Janet Yellen’s testimony today, been forced to admit that a rate cut may again be on the horizon:
On January 21, 2016 European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi signaled that the governing council may provide more stimulus at its next meeting in March. “There are no limits to how far we’re willing to deploy our instruments,” Draghi predicted.
