Mises Wire

Starting today, the Royal Bank of Scotland will become the first bank in the U.K. to impose a negative interest rate on depositors.

The dollar's last tie to gold was severed 45 years ago. Gold had always been an inconvenience for governments looking for more debt and spending.

In free-market circles, most government intervention is dismissed as "socialist," with the result that the term has lost its true meaning.

With central banks falling into step in a seemingly inexorable race toward negative interest rates, this could point to bigger problems on the horizon.

Government schemes are powerless in gauging where comparative advantage lies, whether we are talking about trade or sports.

If you are looking for a short introduction to socialism that rewards rereading, Thomas DiLorenzo's The Problem With Socialism is it.

Central bankers have become enablers to debt-addicted governments.

When new money is made, it helps those who get the new money first (usually the wealthy) — at the expense of those who get it later (the poor).

Under a system of tariffs, subsidies, and restrictions, we get companies like Coke and Pepsi producing collectivist drinks for the masses.

It is a time of fiscal hedonism, engineered and encouraged by governments and their central banks, and sold to us as banal public policy and tinkering.