When anti-socialist, post-Soviet reformers of the Baltic states sought to reign in government power, they looked to solve the money problem first. Moscow held unlimited power to flood their economies with cheap money, and to fund itself as an imperial power lording it over other peoples. That had to end before the market economy could be restored.
One of the persistent Clintonian themes of the 1994 campaign still endures: if “it’s the economy, stupid,” then why hasn’t President Clinton received the credit among the public for our glorious economic recovery? Hence the Clintonian conclusion that the resounding Democratic defeat was due to their failure to “get the message out” to the public, the message being the good news of our current economic prosperity.
America’s bankers consider Robert Morris a hero. More than 15,000 of them belong to Robert Morris Associates. Founded in 1914, the RMA organization strives for professionalism in banking practice and considers ethics paramount.
So who is the revered figure after whom this association of ethical bankers is named? An RMA publication claims Robert Morris was an “American patriot who signed the Declaration of Independence and helped finance our Revolutionary War and establish our banking system.”
When a people rebels and declares its independence, a central state can let them go or beat them into submission. With the collapse of the Soviet empire, we’ve seen some of both. In Chechnya, and adjacent Ingushetia, however, the Yeltsin government chose mass murder to maintain its evil empire.
In 1994, bondholders lost hundreds of billions, thanks to Clinton’s monetary escapades. What happened? It’s a sad story of interest rates and their manipulation by government planners.
In 1993 President Clinton began with a plan to jump-start the economy. His view was simple: the economy was already rebounding, so all it needed was lower interest rates.
The Republican leadership and their advisers are confirming Murray Rothbard’s doubts. Writing in the Washington Post, Rothbard noted the vast ideological divide between the voters and those who control the Republican Congress. His prediction: the leadership will defend the old order of government control even as its legitimacy is unraveling. The revolution was betrayed, he said, even before the Republicans took control.
The intellectual achievements of Murray Newton Rothbard (1926-1995)—eminent scholar and friend—are monumental. He is the author of 25 books and thousands of article in scholarly and popular journals. His work covers the entire spectrum of the social sciences: pure economic theory, history, sociology, philosophy, religion, languages, and politics.
How can business comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act? It can’t. The ADA has created an inescapable trap for companies, a bottomless pit for liberty and property, and an unremitting excuse for harassment and control.
Four in five Americans opposed the $50 billion Mexican bailout, but they were powerless to stop it. When the central bank says it’s in charge—as it does in every financial upheaval of this magnitude—we are supposed to hold our tongues and leave it to the experts, even if their actions generate only uncertainty and volatility.
After two years of pretending to be for free trade, the Clinton administration, backed by the Republican leadership in Congress, finally ‘fessed up. In their dealings with China and Mexico, they shredded two centuries of economic wisdom, repudiated every principle of sensible economic relations, and kicked taxpayers and consumers in the teeth.
