Since the Second World War, the deep-seated enmity between France and Germany, whose governments waged war against each other thrice in less than a century, has been exhausted. Restrained from resuming their fratricidal tendencies by the bonds of the corporatist European Coal and Steel Community, eventually superseded by the European Union (EU),
About 23 years ago, reluctant Republican legislators acquiesced to increasing the statutory ceiling of the federal debt (then $1 trillion) at the behest of President Ronald Reagan, who assured congressmen that the measure would be a one-time event. The pledge has of course been broken repeatedly; America’s sovereign debt stood at $6.9 trillion as
For a government as vast and powerful as America’s, $60 billion is hardly a substantial amount of money, considering it boasts a large populace and economy to plunder; such a sum is a mere three-fifths of what the U.S. Army alone requested for fiscal year 2005. In the case of the Philippines, an erstwhile vassal of America, $60bn is an exorbitant
It is a sign of the times when the Chinese government, which was just granted market economy status by debt-laden Argentina, takes America to task over its gaping budget and trade deficits. When interviewed by the Financial Times , published Nov. 22, Li Ruogu, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, admonished Washington not to blame
As the American economy reels from the consequences of the Federal Reserve’s monetary manipulations, a burgeoning sovereign debt, an interventionist foreign policy, as well as a bevy of other no less onerous government-orchestrated distortions in the marketplace, it is fascinating to note the scorn with which the country’s legislators, trade
Amid much acrimony, Britain’s Prime Minister, Tony Blair, secured an affirmative verdict last month in the House of Commons on his plans to reform the provision of undergraduate university education in England (Scotland and Wales are exempt). The higher education bill, which still faces committee scrutiny and further votes in both the House of
Argentina’s descent from economic prominence throughout most of the 1990s to purgatory by the end of the decade is a miserable tale instilling heartache and frustration in all parties involved. More importantly, this tragedy underscores the inherent hazards of state participation in capital markets. On March 8, Argentina’s government averted
Many of my fellow Austrians have shown the outsourcing of the production of goods and services in the marketplace to be beneficial to society at large.The same cannot be said, however, for subcontracting foreign policy. Indeed, the American government’s propensity to outsource certain aspects of its military activities to regional governments or
In Greek mythology, the adhesive adjoining feathers to the wooden frame of Icarus’s wings melted away when the young man flew too close to the sun, causing him to plummet from the sky. It seems Argentina is poised to suffer the same fate, differing from Daedalus’s headstrong son in that the government’s penchant for economic interventionism will
Reckless bank lending and credit for dubious projects flag a future Chinese economic crisis (FinTimes$, letter by me): “During October 2003 the annualised increase in China’s broad money supply topped 21 per cent and domestic financial institutional lending climbed by a yearly rate of 71 per cent. Consistent with a burgeoning boom and bust
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.