The French economist, statesman, and author Frédéric Bastiat wrote in 1850 that “there is only one difference between a bad economist and a good one: the bad economist confines himself to the visible effect; the good economist takes into account both the effect that can be seen and those effects that must be foreseen.”
In Argentina, the libertarian presidential candidate Javier Milei made headlines when he came in first in the primary on August 13. His economic program calls for a strong reduction in government spending and the role of government in general and would, if implemented, greatly improve the conditions of economic life in Argentina.
Exports of raw cotton from the United States make up over one-third of the global market. After China, the world’s largest importer of cotton, entered the World Trade Organization in 2001, their share of global textile exports went from 15.3 percent to 32.4 percent in 2021. The US–China cotton trade should be flourishing and mutually beneficial, but two successive US administrations have enacted tariffs and sanctions.
If you’ve been interacting with run-of-the-mill right-wing voters, you won’t be hard-pressed to find the phrase, “the Democrats are the evil party, and the Republicans are stupid.” It shouldn’t be a surprise given what has happened during the years of the Trump administration and now with the Biden administration. Everything is against the aspirations of these right-wing voters, from Big Tech censorship to an endless horde of career politicians and bureaucrats constraining their attempts to vent their anger and message their dissatisfaction.
The Federal Reserve has officially reported a loss of $57 billion for the first six months of 2023. Quite a number! So the “Federal Reserve Banks Combined Quarterly Financial Report as of June 30, 2023” (CQFR)—a little-known document—is especially notable for its red ink.
When Silicon Valley Bank and other banks failed earlier this year, the debate over the sustainability of fractional reserve banking resurfaced. Under fractional reserve banking, banks keep only a fraction of customers’ deposits in reserve. The difference is bank credit, such as government debt, mortgages, business loans, and many other kinds of loans.
