Mises Wire

We’ve just released the first two video lectures in Jonathan Newman’s new online course based on Dr. Murphy’s Lessons For the Young Economist, on our recently refurbished Mises Academy platform.

Americans like to believe that the US is a wealthy, indestructible country, but as government debt piles up and inflation ravages the economy, perhaps they need to start worrying. Our present path is unsustainable.

The New York Times recently ran a detailed report on US involvement in the Ukraine-Russia war and—surprise!—the Biden administration regularly lied to American voters about the extent of the US military presence.

While monetary authorities and the government claim that they are “fighting inflation,” the truth is that inflation is an important tool for political and economic elites who are centralizing political life.

President Trump has declared today “Liberation Day,” because many of his tariffs come into force. His team is taking a gamble that either the law of supply and demand does not apply to trade or that the American public will be uncharacteristically fine with higher prices.

What happens to businesses when liabilities exceed assets? They go bankrupt, with the spectacular failure of FTX being front-and-center. However, the Federal Reserve is in the same position but unlike FTX, the Fed can create fictitious assets and pretend that nothing is happening.

With people calling for an audit of the US gold stores at Fort Knox, perhaps we should remember how that gold got there in the first place. Franklin Roosevelt‘s theft of gold from the American people is a crime that still needs to be rectified.

While many people have declared the US Constitution to be “crystal clear” on issues of governance, the truth is that much of what the Constitution says is disputed. The first step toward more consensus is understanding that the Constitution is interpreted by fallible people.

Is Britain poorer than Mississippi? Taking into account welfare benefits and taxes, the answer appears to be yes, and it's yes for many other European countries as well.

The Trump administration continues its assault on the First Amendment and the rights of dissenters. The latest casualty is a Turkish graduate student at Tufts University who was arrested by US authorities because she wrote an op-ed in the student newspaper critical of Israel.