Austrian Economics and Value Investing
The fascinating Australian web site of Leithner & Co., Pty. Ltd. contains a wealth of material combining economic theory, financial economics, and Benjamin Graham’s views on investing.
GDP, Measured in Gold
Economist Paul Kasriel looks at the GDP measured not in dollars but in gold and finds that it peaked in 2001 has been declining since. Kasriel says: “ ‘real’ GDP peaked in 2001, and has declined for two successive years since. Of course, this is consistent with the notion that a nation’s standard of living declines.”
Barnett’s New View
From Eric Knauer: In the preface of Randy Barnett’s new book, Restoring the Lost Constitution, he states:
Combating Spam - Public or Private?
While Congress is debating the “best” way to regulate spam the private market is developing its own means of doing so. See this CNN.com article on the current state of these private solutions.
AMT
Heading for a Fall, by Fiat
The Economist on “the trouble with paper money” (courtesy David Schatz) “IS THE problem with the dollar only that it is falling? It has certainly been doing that. This month, it fell to $1.29 against the euro. This is its lowest-ever rate against the euro, and represents a decline of 19% since the beginning of 2003.
Google Glory
“Behind the Rise of Google Lies the Rise in Internet Credibility”
By Verlyn Klinkenborg in the New York Times.
“...a surprising number of [1990s] predictions about how we would use the Web are being fulfilled.”
Senators’ Stocks Beat the Market
Here is an article from the Financial Times website, reporting on a forthcoming article in the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis . It finds that Senators’ portfolios outperformed the market over time, which suggests they trade on inside information--very timely, given the whole Martha fiasco.
Government Can’t Create Entrepreneurs
Google news alerts can drop you an email whenever the word Mises appears in any news story or commentary online. You will be alerted to the periodic hyphentic use of “pro-mises” but for the most part, it is very reliable, generating links to stories one might otherwise see, e.g.: “Pauper or Sovereign“ from Rediff of India. This piece cites Mises and Hayek against the goverment-run Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship.
The Real Churchill
With his lack of principles and scruples, Churchill was involved in one way or another in nearly every disaster that befell the 20th century, writes Adam Young. He helped destroy laissez-faire liberalism, he played a role in the Crash of 1929, he helped start WWI, and by bringing in America to help, prolonged the war and created the conditions for the rise of Nazism, prolonged WWII, laid the groundwork for Soviet domination, helped involve America in a cold war with Russia, and pioneered in the development of total war and undermining western civilized standards.
