U.S. Economy

This article originally ran on Tuesday, February 17, 2009. It was near the low of the last stock-market cycle.

What once was believed to be a city of destiny (paradise on earth) is being destroyed by government looting.

The US healthcare system is a complex leviathan of interdependent cartels rather than a free market.

Recorded at Mises University 2011.

Transfer spending is the Godzilla that threatens to consume New York, Tokyo, Berlin, and nearly every other city on the planet.

No, the bill can't be paid and won't be paid. That much should be obvious. But denying the obvious is a mental trait built into the structure of the system. The economic crisis of 2008 was really just the realization that the consumer-debt load at the time was unsustainable.

If Congress passed legislation that systematically reduced the debt ceiling over time, the economy could be rebuilt on a solid foundation.

A credit default is not unprecedented. One occurred as early as 1777 and another as late as 1979.

The high duties which the war caused to be imposed, at first regarded as temporary, were retained, increased, and systematized.