Intermediate

In the aftermath of Hamas's taking hostages in its conflict with Israel, the question arises: Who pays the ransom? State-financed payments lead to the worst outcomes and create moral hazards.

A Cato Institute associate has declared the development of the covid-19 vaccines to be a free-market “triumph.” The only thing that has triumphed in this sorry episode has been the rapid growth of coercive government power.

Governments regularly suppress freedom—yet few complain. One wonders if Stockholm syndrome is at work.

Nobel Prize winner Angus Deaton claims that the free market cannot provide adequate medical care. Of course, he goes on to describe government failure but calls it a free market.

One way to combat intellectual atrophy is to learn from Ibram Kendi’s mistakes and do the opposite.

After an earlier article by Zachary Yost on a call by military “experts” to reinstate the military draft, the authors of the original paper are trying to back off on their original recommendation. But there is no doubt as to what they want the government to do.

The Federal Reserve claims to know the “neutral” rate of interest, as though these things can be known administratively. Either interest rates are set by the market or done by fiat; it cannot be both simultaneously.

Forget the New York Times and other publications that cheerlead for the current regime. Austrian economics spells out the consequences for reckless monetary policies, and those consequences are unavoidable.

Inflation in Turkey today is officially running close to 70 percent, but the Turkish economy seems to be booming. Inflationary booms, however, cannot be sustained.

President Biden claims that spending money to send weapons and ammunition around the world is good for the US economy.