[Part I of The Politics of Obedience: The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude by Étienne de La Boétie, written 1552–53.]

I see no good in having several lords:

Let one alone be master, let one alone be king.

The professional laundry I use just informed me that their shirt-folding machine has broken, so they now must fold my shirts by hand. This of course means “an up-charge” - or so they say. How much? $0.35 per shirt.

So I have to pay a higher price as a consumer because the laundry can’t maintain its equipment? So hear this manager talk, you would think that this was somehow built into the structure of the universe, a mandate from the Almighty that I must cough up. It’s no one’s fault but I have to pay the price.

The Mises Institute is pleased to welcome John Papola to the Austrian Scholars Conference, March 11-13, 2010, Auburn, Alabama. John is the co-producer along with Russell Roberts of “Fear the Boom and Bust,” the youtube smash hit that pits Hayek against Keynes in a rap song about the business cycle.

Over at the Atlantic Daniel Indiviglio writes that the government’s current CPI numbers “should serve as a reminder that inflation isn’t what we should be worrying about at this time.” After all, the index rose only 0.2% in January and fell 0.1% if food and energy are stripped out, the first ngative reading since the 1980’s.

Given a fixed amount of money and increasing productivity, the value of money rises relative to the value of other goods (all caveats apply). The consumer sees this valuation change through falling prices at the checkout line.

Interestingly, given a fixed amount of points and improving performances in Olympic events, the value of each point rises relative to the underlying set of skills (jumps, spins, etc.). The viewer see this through falling points at each subsequent Olympics.

Some errors die hard. In today’s CNN Money, an interview with economist David Rosenberg featured this distortion:

A disgruntled taxpayer who has had a difference of opinion with the IRS since the 1980’s crashed his plane into an Austin, Texas office building where 190 IRS employees work, after setting fire to his house.