Mises Daily Friday by Mark Thornton: 

Communities like Baltimore and Ferguson have been crippled by government regulations and the American nanny state. Now is the time to allow local residents to break free of government wage controls, government schooling, and government prohibitions.

During his presidency, Barack Obama on many occasions has claimed that the market economy is based upon what he (and other leftists) call “trickle-down economics.” A few years ago, Obama declared:

Alan Reynolds writes at Investors Business Daily:

I have long been baffled by the Quixotic efforts of such prominent economists Paul Krugman and Joe Stiglitz to blame economic stagnation in the eurozone on insufficient government spending. 

Dr. Thornton appeared this week on Press TV to discuss the recent jump in the US trade deficit.

A partial transcript: 

Press TV: How are we supposed to look at this if this is the largest increase in imports on record?

Lew Rockwell and Jeff Deist invite you to join them at the Mises Circle on Thursday, May 7 with talks by a compelling slate of speakers on the topic “Are We on the Edge of the Economic Abyss?” The line up includes James Grant, Judge Andrew P.

Mises Daily Thursday by Ryan McMaken: 

With huge debts and an immensely inflated supply of dollars, the US is vulnerable to its own “Suez moment” in which foreign regimes can nullify American foreign policy without firing a shot.

The US government has approved several firms’ plans for ferrying cargo between Florida and Cuba. Why haven’t people been ferrying goods to Cuba until now? Because any entrepreneur seeking to do such a thing faced heavy fines and even imprisonment under US federal law. 

The acceleration of trade between Cubans and Americans represents and expansion of freedom in international trade, and also expands the boundaries of legal economic action under US federal law. 

The Baltimore police now imply Freddie Gray’s arrest was necessary because he was carrying an illegal knife. But why are taxpayers paying the government to arrest people for carrying knives? What about the right to own and bear knives? 

Mark Thornton discusses Ted Cruz’s new tax proposal, flat taxes, and proportional taxes on Newsmax TV. 

Thornton examines the economic distortions caused by taxation, as well as the stated rationales and downsides of the many gimmicky new tax proposals that have arisen in recent decades.