Mises Wire

Jonathan Newman joins Bob Murphy to explore what economics really is, why it matters, and how the revamped Mises Academy is helping teach it the right way.

Although government officials and true believers in “green energy” are denying it, the collapse of the electric grid in Spain and Portugal proves that reliance on renewables for electric production is doomed to failure. Whether people listen is another story.

Although politicians, pundits, and the media claim that a trade deficit is harmful to a country, the reality is much different. In a free economy, individuals interact with each other in mutually-beneficial exchanges. As Murray Rothbard noted, free exchanges do not produce winners and losers.

Have Americans forgotten how to be free? When warfare erupted between American colonists and the British government, the colonists believed that they had God-given rights that protected them against state power. Would that Americans today believed the same thing.

We eliminate the main problem that plagued "limited government": we are relying on the government — a monopoly agency — to police itself.

Murray Rothbard believed that the right to engage in voluntary exchange has long been understood as a natural right, not just a good, practical idea. Tariffs and other trade barriers violate that right.

When intellectuals and political elites call for equality, they usually mean creating social conditions that are make believe at best and harmful at worst. Their latest hustle is “equity,” which means the state should guarantee equal outcomes for everyone.

If a politician claims that he cares about the national debt, but then won't make big cuts to current federal spending, he's either a liar or a fool. 

In this edition of Friday Philosophy, Dr. David Gordon reviews Arnold Schelsky‘s The Hype Cycle and finds some worthy insights into things that modern culture has hyped, such as climate change.

As egg prices rise, the usual progressive suspects claim it is due to monopoly power by egg producers, calling for government intervention. However, the real reason is government intervention itself.