The crash of the Argentine peso last month brings to a close yet another foredoomed experiment in South American left-wing populism. The precipitous “devaluation” of the peso by 15 percent against the U.S. dollar in January represents its steepest decline since the devaluation of 2001 when Argentina defaulted on its foreign debt. From January 21 to the close of trading on January 23 the peso dropped from 6.88 per dollar to 8.00 on the official market. On the black market the peso fell by 6 percent on January 23 to 13 to the dollar. Over the past year the peso has declined by 35 percent.

Many commentators following the NSA scandals have been eagerly awaiting the recommendations of the US government task force on the matter, and the proposed reforms to be implemented by President Obama to bring the spy agency under control. If you’re interested in this kind of thing, you can watch the president’s recent speech and nod your head approvingly when he talks about the “tradition of limited government” in the United States, and the constitutional limits his government is at pains to respect.

We can add one more question to all those already being asked about Sochi’s Olympics like, “why did it cost so much?”, and “where did all that money go?”,

Where are all the spectators?

Enough people were upset with my previous post claiming that Mt. Gox is suffering a bitcoin bank run because it is holding only a fractional bitcoin reserve that it caused me to think twice about the claim.

I could have been wrong, but I doubt it.

Every week seems to bring a new attack on the Austrian school, or even the Mises Institute specifically. This week, it’s the turn of E.J. Dionne, that aging “progressive” at the Washington Post whose idea of proving something correct consists of noting that it is popular.

The Olympics are supposed to be the epitome of fair play and honest competition. Why can’t the International Olympic Committee practice what it preaches?

E.J. Dionne admits here that the Austrian school is winning. The theories of the Austrian school of economics are leading to “gridlock” in Washington DC. Well, that is a good first step. Unfortunately, the column is filled with underhanded attacks on the Austrians and more misguided thinking than I care to report. HT: RW & FL

The Olympic Charter which supposedly guides the spirit of the Games makes the following claim:

The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.

Ever wonder what a digital bank run looks like? Nearly one million Mt. Gox users are finding out first hand.

The Tokyo-based exchange, popular amongst currency traders, has risen in prominence by offering its customers storage services in a variety of currencies. This effectively makes it act as an online bank. One such “currency” that it allows accounts to be denominated in is bitcoin.