I.O.U.S.A. Misses Point
[This essay originally appeared on LewRockwell.com.]
Employee “Free Choice” Act
I just received an ominous (but informative)
Economics and Its Opposite
One of the fatalities of publishing at a rocket pace is that some amazing treasures get overlooked. So this column, perhaps the first of a series, covers some titles in the Mises Store that have not received much attention in the praiseworthy swirl of mania over Rothbard’s Mystery of Banking and America’s Great Depression, and Mises’s Causes of the Economic Crisis, titles which speak directly to the moment. I’ll start with an unlikely title here, a book by an author you have never heard of.
History Is Clear
[This article originally appeared on LewRockwell.com.]
It is often said “there are no atheists in a foxhole.” The other week, as world financial markets melted down, CNBC go-to wise man Art Cashen put a market spin on that familiar line drolly saying, “there are no libertarians in a market crash.”
The Hypocrisy of State Collusion
Recent headlines speak volumes about the hypocrisy of the state. On the one hand, we have state persecution of private firms for collusion, price-fixing, monopolization, etc., e.g.
Book Review: The Case Against the Fed
[Book Review: The Case Against the Fed by Murray N. Rothbard • Ludwig von Mises Institute]
After 80-plus years of inflation and devastating booms and busts, how do we get rid of the cause of these economic cancers? “The only way to do that is to abolish legalized counterfeiting: that is, to abolish the Federal Reserve System, and return to the gold standard,” answers Murray Rothbard in his book The Case Against the Fed.
Book Review: Principle and Interest: Thomas Jefferson and the Problem of Debt
[Book Review: Principle & Interest: Thomas Jefferson and the Problem of Debt by Herbert E. Sloan • Oxford University Press • 1995 • viii + 377 pages]
In his History of Economics classes, Murray Rothbard told us that it was important not just to study what policies and theories held sway during the past, but to examine why certain economists or politicians advocated the policies they did.
Book Review: The Central Banks
[Book Review: The Central Banks by Marjorie Deane and Robert Pringle • Viking Penguin • 1995 • 369 pages]
Believing that America’s central bank, the Federal Reserve, has almighty power over interest rates and, in turn, the well-being of the country’s economy, the financial press constantly focuses its attention on the actions of the Fed. Fed watching has become a thriving industry, with insiders like former Fed Governor Wayne Angell commanding $100 per minute for his take on what the Fed will do with interest rates.
Book Review: Hidden Order: The Economics of Everyday Life
[Book Review: Hidden Order: The Economics of Everyday Life by David Friedman • Harper Business • 340 pages + xi pages • 1996]
Anyone who has met David Friedman knows he is a man looking to pick an argument. Only the naive or foolish will attempt to joust with him. Careful study of Friedman’s new book, Hidden Order: The Economics of Everyday Life, will make the reader a better thinker and a more skilled debater, whether the topic is economics, politics, crime, or love and happiness.
