Mises Wire

Thanks to President Trump‘s brinkmanship, tariffs are in the headlines. However, while the public knows about tariffs, few people actually understand them, their history, and how they work.

Mises explicitly says in Omnipotent Government that Soviet Russia should be allowed to expand in Eastern Europe after World War II ends, in order to prevent the rebirth of a strong Germany. Obviously this was not a fascist position.

One cannot preserve a free society merely through legal reforms or economic deregulation. One must cultivate citizens capable of living freely.

According to Keynesian “economics,” central bank interest rate cuts will make the economy stronger—unless the economy is in a “liquidity trap.” The truth is that these kinds of monetary tricks actually weaken the economy.

The principle of Occam‘s Razor states that we should avoid superfluous activity. When it comes to our monetary system, however, the Federal Reserve System doesn't simplify things, but instead complicates the economy. That alone is reason for it to be abolished.

In February, the money-supply growth rate accelerated and continued near a two-year high. Meanwhile, the Fed is chickening out in its efforts to shrink the Fed‘s balance sheet.

People like to believe that national defense is outside of economic analysis, but the reality is that laws of economics are immutable and universal. A case in point is the development of the F-35 Lightning II fighter jet.

With many in the ruling classes violently reacting to DOGE, one figures that Elon Musk might be on the right path. He could learn much more about the dead hand of government if he were to read Ludwig von Mises.

From Paul Ehrlich to Bill Gates, prominent Americans have forecast doom through “overpopulation.” Although the Great Population Disaster has never occurred, that does not discourage the usual suspects from crying wolf.

Within a libertarian society, people are free to act as long as they follow a principle of non-aggression. But can a libertarian society adopt an idea of the common good? In his Friday Philosophy, David Gordon tackles that question.