Mises Wire

One of the prevailing myths today is the belief that AI can help to “automate” the economy. That is impossible, given that only humans can determine the value of something.

Buc-ee’s—the roadside travel phenomenon—seems to cater to the extremes in our society. Either customers love shopping at the place or it is yet another symbol of capitalist oppression.

Economics is far more than what people see as “the economy.” It is the central organizing factor for civilized society.

AI has created enormous demand for new data centers, and many communities do not want them nearby. The Rothbardian answer is not blanket permission or blanket prohibition, but a property-rights framework and the return of market forces that government policy has largely displaced.

Can government policy replicate a market economy and improve the outcomes? That is the subject of the book, Moonshots and the New Industrial Policy. Lipton Matthews takes a deep dive into these questions.

Washington is pursuing industrial policy again, this time being an attempt to form a minerals consortium with other countries to secure minerals vital to US manufacturing. No doubt, this initiative will end up on the ash heap of bad policy.

The US fiat monetary regime not only has given us inflation and boom-and-bust cycles, but it also is the main contributor to the out-of-control government spending and debt accumulation.

The standard line among most economists is that deflation is as bad or even worse than inflation. In reality, the economy needs deflation now more than ever.

We know that Q-Day is coming upon us when AI moves to another level and humans must make the adjustments. State-sponsored solutions will fail, and the only way forward is the free market.

Last week’s CPI report, and this week’s PPI report both showed price inflation surging to multi-year highs, and not just on oil prices.