Mises Wire

The standard line is that the Federal Reserve System has two mandates, keep unemployment low and create price stability. Mark Thornton notes that the real agenda is found elsewhere.

Saturday's world-wide demonstrations calling for the release of Julian Assange might go unheeded by American political elites, but that does not diminish this simple truth: Assange is being punished for exposing lies and lawbreaking by the U.S. Government.

Progressives are fond of telling us that we are under a "social contract" with the government, in effect justifying whatever abuses authorities inflict. Putting up with massive inflation is the latest iteration of this so-called contract.

The US dollar is not the world's "reserve" currency because of responsibility on behalf of the monetary authorities. Instead, the dollar's "strength" wages from the USA's self-appointed role as the world's protector.

Proponents of socialism claim that it promotes ownership "by the people." Yet the people that actually control resources and production are not the same people who allegedly are the "rightful owners" in society

Virtue-signaling politicians in New Jersey have banned single-use plastic bags, claiming to "help the environment." They need to read Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson instead.

Sound economic reasoning highlights a major difference between social sciences and the natural sciences. We cannot rely on observation and measurement to gain understanding of social phenomena.

A winning political strategy, especially among Democrats, is to accuse their political opponents of racism, or at least "closet" racism. Yet simple economic analysis shows such accusations are illogical.

Language is at the front lines of the battle over institutions.

In this politicized age, being an American means little more than being subject to the federal government. Yet, as Rothbard noted, we are not "the government," but rather people who are part of like communities, which we should celebrate.