Based on his book sales, John Kenneth Galbraith was probably the most read economist of the 20th century. From the publication of his first bestselling book The Great Crash in 1954 through the 1980s, the American left-liberal intelligentsia and media breathlessly anticipated and wildly celebrated the publication of each new book.

I was reading Jeffrey Herbener’s incredibly educational introduction to The Meaning of Ludwig von Mises (which he also edited), and came across a quote he cites from Carl Menger’s Investigations into the Method of the Social Sciences that makes abundantly clear how close Menger and Mises were to each other on method, contrary to the claims of

What if the unintended consequences are actually intentional?

That’s the thought I had recently upon learning about upcoming Medicare fines on hospitals that readmit patients due to complications within 30 days of an initial discharge. The logic is straightforward: If hospitals do not make a patient well the first time, then they suffer the additional cost of a fine.

Today the Mises Institute faculty provide excellent responses to Paul Krugman and his query re Austrian economics, MMMF, and financial intermediation.

But even legitimate intermediation can be a source for bad policy. Re MMMF and the past crisis see some interesting commentary by Garett Jones at

http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2012/10/bailouts_are_fo.html