William H. Peterson
There is now a Wikipedia entry on William H. Peterson available here.
Dr. Peterson was a student of Ludwig von Mises, a prominent business economist, and a great man.
Paul’s World
Line of the day, from Michael Kinsley: “Krugman sometimes writes as if, right or wrong, his view is the courageous one, held by folks willing to stand up to the plutocrats and their lackies. But his message to all classes is: party on.”
I also like the way Luigi Zingales put it in 2009:
Regulating Banks the Austrian Way
By ending this legal privilege, we eliminate the ability for banks to grow to such inordinate sizes.
Bring on the Helicopter Money—and Gut the Fed
You would not think that there would be any worthwhile ideas in an article entitled “Bring on the ‘Helicopter’ Money.” Written by hedge-fund manager Daniel Arbess in today’s Wall Street Journal, the article contains a very good idea buried among many bad ones.
A Keynesian Monetary Politburo Member Speaks
The president of the Minneapolis Fed, one Narayana Kocherlakota, decided to devote the entire 2012 Annual Report to not one but two interviews with . . . . . . . . himself. The interviews are a celebration of economic stupidity. A few excerpts:
Killing the Currency
. . . there is no record in the economic history of the whole world, anywhere or at any time, of a serious and prolonged inflation which has not been accompanied and made possible, if not directly caused, by a large increase in the quantity of money. — Gottfried Haberler, Inflation, Its Causes and Cures (1960)1
The Greatest Understatement in the History of Economics
Responding to a question after his speech in Stockholm earlier today, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Charles Plosser admitted that the Fed’s policy of targeting a zero interest rate “is increasingly troubling to many people on the Fed.” Plosser went on to state, “We’re very conscious of the fact that keeping rates at zero for very long periods of time can distort decision making in various ways.” Ya think?
Prohibition Caused the Greatness of Gatsby
The Great Gatsby is a testament to how the Jay Gatsbys of the world can reach the stars with the help of government prohibition.
FDR: Sowing the Seeds of Chaos
FDR locked in a destructive worldwide régime of economic nationalism that eventually led to war.
Burt Blumert
I just had a long conversation with a longtime member of the Mises Institute. We discussed the economy, gold investments, and the great Burt Blumert. I thought it would be worthwhile to post Burt’s Wikipedia entry here for both all the people who admired Burt and younger members and scholars who did not have the pleasure of knowing Burt. He was a great man and a vital figure in building the libertarian movement and the resurgence of the Austrian School.
