Normal?

Why do people keep referring to the last several years as normal? Over and over again I hear supposed experts on CNBC and other news channels saying things like “normally,” “how things usually are,” or “under normal circumstances” when referring to the economic conditions present over the past several years. I hear the talking heads asking when banks will return to “normal lending practices.”

There is nothing normal about a recession; likewise, a boom phase is equally abnormal. During the boom phase no one asked when the banks would return to normal lending practices.

Newton and IP

I’m reading a great book, Einstein’s Mistakes (google version), by Hans Ohanian. Extremely intelligent physicist and fun writer–very opinionated and spins great narratives of Galileo and Newton as a prelude to discussing Einstein. The book is about all the mistakes Einstein made in his discoveries and papers, how he made his great insights sometimes despite the mistakes, and even sometimes because of them.

Massive Debt Deflation in Store?

Resource Investor quotes Elliot Wave analyst Steve Hochberg

“The systemic build up of total market credit is so large, currently about $52 trillion, that its implosion will swamp the Fed’s attempts to inflate. And as Conquer the Crash discusses, the remaining dollars that are not extinguished through bankruptcy, restructuring and write-offs, will increase in value. The thirst for cash will be insatiable relative to all other assets.

More States Increasing Minimum Wage

Even though the federal minimum wage is scheduled to rise again this year ($7.25 on July 24), more and more states are increasing their minimum wage to an amount higher than the federal minimum. There are now twenty-seven states, plus the District of Columbia, that have a higher minimum than the federal minimum. An interactive map with details on minimum wage laws in the states is available here.

Graduate Students: Go Mainstream

Those searching for a Ph.D. that will allow them to pursue an academic career in Austrian economics should read Michael Rozeff’’s article on LewRockwell.com. Although the topic of the article is “Stimulus as Seen through Becker’s Chicago Lens,” Dr. Rozeff provides in passing an instructive description of his own graduate education at the University of Rochester’s School of Management which stimulated and encouraged his interest in Austrian economics.

Obama is Wrong About Entrepreneurship

One of the most harmful of Barack Obama’s public-private partnerships (PPPs) has to do with his support of entrepreneurship in an attempt to “spur job growth.” I would like to show why this is not only a particularly bad idea but also a destructive one, leading to exactly the opposite of the result sought by the program. Contrary to popular myth, startup companies do not generate many new jobs, and actually create net job losses after their first year.

The Case for Natural Money

Studying Jörg Guido Hülsmann’s latest book, The Ethics of Money Production, is a vastly enriching experience. After building his case for natural money on the inviolability of an individual’s right to his own property, he then shows us how the state has spent the last 400 years usurping this right for the benefit of a privileged few through its protection of fractional-reserve banking.

The Water Wizards of Oz

It is near impossible to imagine any private company not enjoying the “problem” of high demand for its products and services. Yet there are some products that are repeatedly reported as shortages. There is one thing these products have in common: government intervention, typically in the form of price controls. This is especially the case with water in Melbourne, Australia.

Bailing Out the Red Light District

Nobody could imagine that pornographers would be brazen enough to line up at the government trough. But sure enough, “Hustler” magazine publisher Larry Flynt and Joe Francis of “Girls Gone Wild” fame have asked their local Congressman Henry Waxman for $5 billion because, “People are too depressed to be sexually active,” according to Flynt. Ever the patriot, Flynt says an unsexed nation is an “unhealthy” nation. “Americans can do without cars and such but they cannot do without sex.”
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