Those who think ethics is bogus, and there are literally thousands of them in universities and colleges across the globe, seem unwilling to apply moral ambiguity where it actually does apply. For example, why are capitalist institutions so often subjected to blanket moral condemnation?
The fact that supply and demand curves can give us a rough picture of market behavior is an effect of human action, writes Gene Callahan, and certainly not the cause of it. No one acts with the goal of bringing supply and demand into balance. The model-builders are likely to forget this.
In the midst of a recession, and with the credibility of central banking itself being called into question, what is a central banker to do? Why, blame executive pay, of course, and impugn the morality of anyone who might believe that Fed governors are a greater threat to economic stability than shareholders that make wage decisions.
It is one of the most common tragedies of human history: a region populated by relatively defenseless farmers is set upon by a gang of well-armed bandits, who force the farmers off their land and divide the land and spoils among themselves. In 1893, the tragedy had come to Zimbabwe, and the gang of well-armed bandits were British settlers led by mining magnate Cecil Rhodes.
The decision by Amtrak, the nation’s socialist passenger rail system, to pull all 18 of its Acela high-speed locomotives out of service highlights once again the truism that socialism and capital do not mix very well. What is being touted in the news media as simply a maintenance issue is actually another example of the fact that, under socialism, it is impossible for individuals to engage in necessary economic calculation. As Ludwig von Mises noted more than eight decades ago, socialism is not only impossible in a practical sense, it is also impossible in theory.
Some influential Wall Street economists are alarmed that cost cutting by many companies in order to secure profits is a major threat to the economy. They say that if everyone tries to cut costs and save more, demand for goods and services from fired workers will fall, which in turn will hurt corporate revenues and, thus, profits. This, in turn, sets in motion new firings, and this again eats into revenues and makes profits disappear.
