The Myth of the War Shock

The looming war with Iraq raises concern among US economists that this could trigger a recession. The possible war, it is said, generates uncertainty, which in turn paralyses business and consumer expenditure. Frank Shostak puts the theory of the “exogenous shock” into perspective; there is a basis for recession with or without war.

Union Unrest Strikes a Chord

The specter of union unrest recently haunted Manhattan, where local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians squared off against management, resulting in a four-day shutdown of Broadway musicals. The confrontation concerned this industry that union leaders described as an “important economic engine for the city of New York.”1 .

The Return of Stagflation

Many people believe that the world economy is undergoing pressures of a deflationary nature. It is true that a recessionary environment dominates industrialised countries (at least in America, Europe and Japan). However, this is coupled with price increases in several important market sectors in both wholesale and retail sectors. The real risk lies more in stagflation than deflation.

Shall We Go to War?

In deciding whether to wage war against yet another regime that has fallen into disfavor with DC, the United States must make some hard choices. Will we follow the traditions of George Washington or those of Woodrow Wilson? As Americans grapple with the hard choices involved in a possible war against Iraq, a larger set of principles is implied in this decision. 

Can America avoid a repeat of the failed interventions of the last century, the most conspicuous of which was the Vietnam tragedy of the 1960s and 1970s? 

Why Fear Hedge Funds?

If hedge funds can be regulated or inhibited from selling short, asks Christopher Mayer, what is next? Ban mutual funds that invest in tobacco companies or other sin stocks? Ban investors from betting against a rise in the dollar? Prohibit investors from owning gold? (That’s already been done before.)

War and the Economy

It is natural that liberty and peace go together, writes Lew Rockwell. Liberty makes it possible for people from different religious traditions and cultural backgrounds to find common ground. Commerce is the great mechanism that permits cooperation amidst radical diversity. It is also the basis for the working out of the brotherhood of man. Trade is the key to peace. It allows us to think and act both locally and globally.

Housing Bubble: Myth or Reality?

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said last Thursday, during questioning by the Senate’s special committee on aging, that he does not believe that a housing price bubble exists on a national level in the United States. “Is Greenspan right?” asks Frank Shostak. To provide an answer to this question one needs to establish—or define—exactly what a bubble is.

Another Greenspan Social-Security Reform?

Almost exactly ten years ago, a National Commission on Social Security Reform headed by Greenspan proposed a package of benefit cuts and tax increases, which Congress enacted with little change, and which turned out to be one of the most oppressive—and underhanded—things Congress ever did to younger Americans over Social Security. It also failed to solve Social Security’s long-term problems.

Why Gold?

No other currency, national or international, can conceivably take the place of the American dollar. They all suffer seriously from the same ideological malady: they are the creation of political concern and authority. Whatever we may think of gold, it always looms in the background, beckoning to be used as money, as it has been since the dawn of civilization.

Subway Tax in the Rancid Apple

What can one say about this system with its huge problems, whose defenders now say it should be granted a 33% fare (tax) increase? The fare, after a series of perfunctory public hearings that most people will not attend because they are too busy trying to earn a living to pay New York’s huge tax bill, will be hiked from $1.50 to $2.
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