Just one visit to Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar tells a visitor how Turks store value. The Turkish monetary authorities have a history of debauching their currency so Turks store their wealth in gold and rugs. There are 373 jewelers and 125 rug stores in the bazaar.

In 1966, one US dollar bought 9 lire. By 2001, a dollar bought 1.65 million lire. Four years later, six zeros were lopped off the lira and a dollar equaled 1.29 new Turkish lire. Today, a dollar can be traded for around 1.80 lire.

Raico begins his work of conceptual clarification by asking, what is classical liberalism?

[Guido Hülsmann wrote the Foreword to Classical Liberalism and the Austrian School by Ralph Raico (2012)]

Dana Milbank doesn’t like Paul Ryan’s budget proposal that was released this week.  Why?  Well, Ryan cuts spending on the poor in order to pay for tax cuts for the rich.  Milbank writes:

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke went back to the classroom to educate young minds at George Washington University about the history and role of central banks and the Federal Reserve in particular.

On the topic of financial panics, Bernanke asks the students if they’ve seen the movie “A Wonderful Life.” Not as many students had seen the movie as he had hoped. Bank panics are a serious problem Bernanke explains. Banks borrow short and make long-term loans that are illiquid.

The Supreme Court is going to consider the constitutionality of ObamaCare in the coming weeks, but the government takeover of healthcare didn’t start with the current president, but with Harry Truman decades ago.

We’re told the nation’s health care needs fixed: That the free market isn’t providing for this vital service adequately. However, America’s healthcare hasn’t been left to the free market since World War II. The president has promised that more government will make healthcare cheaper and more available.

Barack Obama’s recent statement on fair trade, a statement applauded by some leading Republicans, contains some easily recognizable errors in international trade theory. The central problem with his remarks is seen in his following position:

Small business is the subject for debate in today’s Wall Street Journal. Small business is said to be the main job creator in the U.S. economy and with unemployment still high, and a punk business climate, a goosing from government policy is thought to be the tonic to put us right back comfortably in bubble land.