Global Economy

Recorded at the Mises Circle in Colorado Springs, Colorado; 18 September 2010. Sponsored by Pikes Peak Economics Club.

In the last week there have been many interesting developments involving gold. The price of the yellow metal set a new record, breaking through the $1,300 barrier. A German firm is preparing to install gold-vending machines in the United States. There's more.

One does not need to be a Brookings Institute scholar— specializing in "oil dependence, electric vehicles, and climate change" — to see why no one will willingly purchase an all-electric car, much less the one million that President Obama wants on the nation's highways in five years.

F.A. Hayek, in a forgotten article from 1941, observes the tragedy that "men of science and engineers" may "frequently be found leading a movement which in effect merely serves to support the unholy alliance between the monopolistic organizations of capital and labor."

Richard Cantillon saw the essence of the business-cycle problem long ago. When the government's national bank inflates the money supply by increasing the supply of banknotes, he writes, it reduces the rate of interest and can increase the price of stocks. This is a corrupt process.

Thomas Mun set forth what would become the standard mercantilist line.

Thomas Mun set forth what would become the standard mercantilist line. He pointed out that there was nothing particularly evil about the East India Company trade. The company imported valuable drugs, spices, dyes, and cloth from the Indies, and it re-exported most of these products to other countries.

We may either incorporate ourselves into market civilization, the system by which we may serve ourselves as ends by serving other people as means, or return to the idyllic and isolated "noble" savagery that long characterized our human past.

"Politicians have a vested interest in preventing the alleviation of poverty. If Americans are fully employed and earning continually increasing wages, who needs the thousands of welfare bureaucrats in Washington?"

Tourist Joe can complain about rising prices in the event of a papal death, but he should recognize their role in minimizing problems resulting from scarcity.