Many believe the key cause to a general increase in prices are so-called “inflationary expectations.” For instance, if there is a large increase in the prices of oil, individuals will start forming expectations for higher inflation ahead. Consequently, individuals will speed up their purchases of goods and services at present, thereby raising the demand for goods and services, all other things being equal. This is supposed to set in motion general price increases.

Recently President Trump threatened to invade Mexico—all in its best interest, of course—in order to smash the drug cartels that are responsible for funneling so many illegal drugs into the US. There is no doubt that the drug cartels are wealthy and vicious criminals.

Berkshire Hathaway—the investment holding company run by Warren Buffett for the last sixty years—released its much-awaited annual report in late February. In the report, Buffett himself delved into the topic of capitalism and America’s relationship thereto. Early in the preamble to the report, Buffett hints at the connection between inflation and government malfeasance:

Henri de Saint-Simon (1760-1825), a French intellectual, was one of the founding fathers of socialism. Saint-Simon wanted to forge a “scientific understanding of society” which he would use to eliminate poverty and inequality by centrally planning the economy through the Parisian Banking Houses.

Richard Cobden (1804-1865) was a British member of Parliament who championed free trade, the repeal of the Corn Laws, and a laissez-faire economy.

Developing countries in Africa and the Caribbean continue to press the United Kingdom for reparations, believing that financial compensation will rejuvenate their economies.

[The Struggle for Liberty: A Libertarian History of Political Thought by Ralph Raico. Edited by Ryan McMaken. Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2025; 287 pp.]

The first time I read about “white privilege” in college was on a Blackboard assigned readings list. This was not a class I attended, but had access to in order to provide some help to the professor. As it turned out, I had read the original paper on this topic: Peggy McIntosh’s “White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences Through Work in Women’s Studies” (1988).