The Flat Tax Is Still Not Flat
An expanded version for The New American of my recent article on the Flat Tax is now available online here.
Get Government Out of Coin Manufacture
Coin dealers and collectors are still reeling from the US Mint’s announcement that it had run out of American Eagle gold coins. But what ought to surprise every American isn’t that a government agency came up short. It’s that the US government should be making little metal discs at all. Now socialism is dead, but not when it comes to coining. So coin shortages keep breaking out, as they have ever since governments first monopolized coin making in ancient times.
The Bogus “Credit Crunch”
For months Alex Tabarrok has being doing a great job yelling to all the world that this “credit crunch” is bogus. What’s hilarious is that even his critics--see this post by Mark Thoma--rely on evidence that actually proves Alex’s case. I summarize the relevant findings in this blog post. An excerpt:
The Corrupt Origins of Central Banking
Central banking has been a corrupt, mercantilist scheme and an engine of corporate welfare from its very beginning in the late 18th century. Northern merchants provided the main political support for Hamilton’s Bank, whereas southern politicians like Jefferson supplied most of the opposition to it, seeing it as destructive of liberty and prosperity.
The Magnificence of Disposable Diapers
For the environmentally conscious, disposable diapers are not the enemy. If anything, they are better for the environment than the reusable diapers that have been trumpeted as the diapers of choice for the progressive and the enlightened. And once again, analysis trumps intentions. So go green: put down the cloth diapers and buy that extra-large package of disposables.
The Myth that Laissez Faire Is Responsible for Our Present Crisis
The news media are in the process of creating a great new historical myth. This is the myth that our present financial crisis is the result of economic freedom and laissez-faire capitalism.
The attempt to place the blame on laissez faire is readily confirmed by a Google search under the terms “crisis + laissez faire.” On the first page of the results that come up, or in the web entries to which those results refer, statements of the following kind appear:
“The mortgage crisis is laissez-faire gone wrong.”
The Credit-Crunch Myth
Three economists for the Minneapolis Fed have written a paper called “Myths about the Financial Crisis of 2008.” The myths they refute: 1) Bank lending to nonfinancial corporations and individuals has declined sharply, 2) Interbank lending is essentially nonexistent, 3) Commercial paper issuance by nonfnancial corporations has declined sharply and rates have risen to unprecedented levels, and 4) Banks play a large role in channeling funds from savers to borrowers.
Financial Crisis Talk
[From a talk given to a Memphis-area discussion group on Tuesday, October 14, 2008.]
Is “Loser Pays” Libertarian?
In another thread here, a commentor asks, “What, exactly, is un-libertarian about “loser pays” laws in civil suits?” This sentiment is common among libertarians who seem to assume that the “loser pays” rule is preferable, from a libertarian point of view, to a system in which each side pays its legal costs.
The Founding Father of Crony Capitalism
When the government announced its trillion-dollar bailout (for starters) of Wall Street plutocrats, defenders of the bailout pulled out what they apparently believed was their secret weapon: the myth of Alexander Hamilton as the alleged inventor of American capitalism. Hamilton, they said, would approve of the bailout. Case closed. How could anyone dispute “the architect of the American economy”?
