Contrary to Keynesian dreams, there are several undeniable realities of a recessionary environment, writes Lew Rockwell. Wages tend to fall. Businesses tend to be liquidated. Resources are withdrawn from investment and put into savings. Consumers spend less. Stock prices fall. All of these tendencies may seem regrettable but they are necessary to bring all sectors back into realistic balance with each other.
The litany is familiar to anyone who knows of the history of the Great Depression: miscalculation, overtaxation, keeping wages and benefits high, prevent the liquidation, boost consumer demand, run up public debt. Fritz Machlup said that this is the path to impoverishment, notes Sean Corrigan.
Rothbard makes sense of these complex events in American banking history--power struggles, recessions, foreign relations--wielding the principles of monetary theory and Austrian business cycle theory, which he explains very well, on the run. Joseph Stromberg reviews A History of Money and Banking in the United States.
Grover Cleveland fought to restore honesty and impartiality to government, particularly by eliminating government favors. He tried, though unsuccessfully, to eliminate protective tariffs.
Washington loves the analogy—-and reality—-of war. Adam Young considers one of the most famous uses of that term, the War on Poverty. It was in reality, a State-sponsored war on the opportunities of the poor and on all Americans.
Following Lott's public flogging, many people were astonished by the Senator's willingness to jettison all political principle for the sake of saving his status as Majority Leader. Why would a conservative Republican suddenly find himself embracing the full panoply of the left-wing racial agenda and criticize himself so mercilessly?
Tom DiLorenzo is well able to look out for himself, but one comment in Ken Masugi's review of his book on Lincoln merits our attention.
Murray Rothbard had a remarkable ability to throw unexpected light on historical controversies. Again and again in his work, he pointed out factors that earlier authors had overlooked.
Paul Gottfried has seen an aspect of multiculturalism and political correctness that previous critics of these doctrines have failed adequately to stress.
