The Dollar Gives Way to Euro Cash, says Pravda.

They could have cut to the chase years ago and admitted what Bush said yesterday: they are going to try to extract more money from the population via higher taxes to fund the transition (from a pure transfer program to an actual forced savings program). (Thanks LRC.)

How does any political movement that begins by being opposed to the state avoid being absorbed by the state? The most crucial step, writes Lew Rockwell, is to decide what you are for and what you are against from the very outset.

The Gringrich generation of Republicans wasn’t all it was cracked up to be when elected, but thanks to this New York Times analysis we know even more: the remaining members have become the source of the problem, having gone from cutters to big spenders. Compare the results of political markets with those of free enterprise: what would happen to a company hired to put out fires when it was discovered that it was lighting them instead?

Mises Institute adjunct scholar Richard Vedder was interviewed this morning on NPR’s Morning Edition about his new book, Going Broke by Degree: Why College Costs Too Much. Listen here. Sounds like a great book. From the interview:

While getting on the escalator at the London underground station tonight, I noticed a sign reading: STAND ON THE RIGHT HOLD THE HANDRAIL NO STROLLERS DOGS MUST BE CARRIED Well, I was standing on the right, I was holding the handrail, and I certainly had no stroller. But I wasn’t carrying a dog! Luckily, no one noticed. But I’m thinking of getting something small – a rat terrier? – so as to avoid trouble in the future. [Read full diary]

Excellent letter by Tom Woods (sent a bit late but with a good excuse)--

February 14, 2005

Carol C. Harter, President
University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Dear President Harter: