New Obama Anthem

Writes Morgan Reynolds: “We no longer hear the Wall Street cliché “Don’t fight the Fed,” which suggests a new song to me for the Obama-Biden administration to warble next year to the music of “I Fought the Law” by the Bobby Fuller Four. Note that “Robbin’ people with a … SIX gun” is the original line–no change needed.”

WE FOUGHT THE MARKET
The Barack Obama Four
(Barack, Bair, Bennie, and Timmy G.)

The book and music killers

One theory of copyright is that it promotes the production and distribution of literary works. Well, that myth is completely shattered in chapter five of Against Intellectual Monopoly by Michele Boldrine and David Levine. The chapter is pithy, thorough, dead on in its practical analysis, and deeply radical. It is the perfect illustration of why I think this is one of the most original and compelling books on economics in a generation.

Forced Sterilization

It is often useful for Americans to look toward Europe for a portent of things to come, at least with respect to the political climate. Recently the Dutch Labour MP introduced a rather disturbing new bill for consideration. This despicable piece of legislation seeks to grant the government the power to forcibly sterilize women.

The Importance of Failure

Bailouts attempt to erase the effects of losses, or economic failure. But such efforts inevitably undermine the loss aspect of “profit and loss.” Profit and loss go together — like up and down, left and right, good and bad. If we try to do away with losses, we’ll wind up diluting the meaning of profits.

Seen and Unseen Cost of Patents

[This is part 4 of an ongoing live blog of Against Intellectual Monopoly]

Drugs patents took it on the chin a few years ago, when major drug companies refused to sell cheap AIDS drugs in Africa. Presuming the drugs work, countless lives might have been saved. But the desire to protect the high price on the patented drug--despite the low marginal cost for producing additional units--trumped the humanitarian impulse to save lives. The large drug companies refused to budge, despite protests from all over the world.

The Misesian Case against Keynes

I – Classical Economic Theory

It is my goal to reconstruct some basic truths regarding the process of economic development and the role played in it by employment, money, and interest. These truths neither originated with the Austrian school of economics nor are an integral part of only this tradition of economic thinking.

Ben Bernanke’s Blunders

 

The strangest thing about the ongoing financial crisis is that US Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has so far come out of it relatively unscathed. Except for the narrowing of some credit spreads over the last few months, economic indicators have not sustainably improved since Bernanke initially moved to address the crisis. In fact, matters have grown significantly worse.

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