Mises Wire

Choosing between labor and leisure is not like choosing between apples and oranges. Many people like both kinds of fruit. But labor involves disutility, so a better choice is this: between apples and rotten oranges.

Modern monetary theory (MMT) conveniently facilitates dangerous policies and ideas that seemed unrealistic, like universal basic income and “helicopter money,” and that have been particularly propagated by government-sponsored economists for the past few years. 

Although shocks can disrupt the pace of economic activity, they have nothing to do with the phenomenon of recurrent boom-bust cycles. The cycle requires something more. A central bank, for instance.

Socialism is not the pioneer of a better and finer world, but the spoiler of what thousands of years of civilization have created. It does not build; it destroys.

Many left-wing pundits and politicians are claiming that the Centers for Disease Control budget was "gutted" in recent years. But the CDC's budget is now higher than it was in the final years of the Obama administration.

For starters, let's have California secede and limit Bernie-style socialism to the new republic. If my predictions ended up being wrong and the state became a paradise, then the rest of the country could quickly follow suit.

Recently disgruntled residents of rural counties in southwest Oregon have been organizing a petition to move Idaho’s border westward to form a “Greater Idaho” that could also potentially include parts of Northern California.

Medicare for All advocates claim they are increasing access to medical services. But the plan mostly just increases demand without increasing supply. The "solution" comes later with price caps, tax hikes, and shortages. 

Lower interest rates won't make an economy grow. What matters is real savings.

Protectionists think China is a geopolitical threat. I get that. But their (weak) arguments about China don't apply at all to the rest of the world.