EDITORIAL Showing 651 - 700 of 1951
What Is Supply-Side Economics?
February 05, 2014
Supply-side economics is an innovation in macroeconomic theory and policy. It rose to prominence in congressional policy discussions in the late 1970s in response to worsening Phillips curve trade-offs between inflation and unemployment. The postwar Keynesian d ...
Presidential Hubris in the State of the Union Address
February 04, 2014
President Obama's State of the Union address on the night of January 28, 2014 was all about "micro-management." It was micro-management at one level since he realizes that a divided Congress will not pass any "grand" legislation that he might try to submit. Thu ...
The Continuing Al-Qaeda Threat
February 03, 2014
Appearing last week before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified that he could not say the threat from al-Qaeda is any less today than it was ten years ago. It was a shocking admission. Does he mean that th ...
Be Leery of Investing in Failing Green Solutions
February 01, 2014
Is the Green marketplace foundering? It would not be surprising. This happened in the 1970s when the first wave of solar panels and wind turbines were securitized and the "alternative energy" industry was in large part created. Recalling the 1970s, we've been c ...
jury
Doubts About Jury Nullification
January 30, 2014
Jury nullification means a juror can nullify a law if he believes the law or its application is unjust. He can do so by refusing to convict a defendant despite instructions to do so from a judge. In short, the juror sits in judgment on the defendant and the law ...
The Right to Private Property
January 29, 2014
America's most prominent modern liberal legal theorist was Professor Ronald Dworkin, professor of Jurisprudence at University College London and the New York University School of Law until his death in 2013. His books, Taking Rights Seriously, Law's Empire and ...
How Economists and Policymakers Murdered Our Economy
January 29, 2014
The economy has been debilitated by the offshoring of middle class jobs for the benefit of corporate profits and by the Federal Reserve's policy of Quantitative Easing in order to support a few oversized banks that the government protects from market discipline ...
The State of the Union Address Obama Should Deliver
January 28, 2014
On the evening of January 28th, President Obama will deliver his State of the Union Address. No doubt he will present an agenda of increased political paternalism, with a focus on policies to "remedy" supposed economic inequality through government spending and ...
We Win the New York Times Prize
January 27, 2014
The New York Times, whistling past the financial graveyard, paused over the weekend to smear the Mises Institute, Ron Paul, our other scholars, hardcore libertarianism, and me. Why? Because our ideas and our youth movement are gaining real traction. It is in ef ...
Every Week Should Be School Choice Week
January 27, 2014
National School Choice week takes place from January 26 to February 1, and during this week education freedom activists around the country will be participating in events highlighting the need for parental control of education. I wholeheartedly endorse National ...
Cameron Will Regret His Latest Pro-EU Speech … And a Note on Stocks
January 25, 2014
Britain's political and industrial elites have bound Britain to the EU – though not the euro, thank goodness – via exaggeration, denial and outright untruths. Cameron is continuing this horrible tradition – as we can see from his latest speech at Davos (s ...
The Competitive Provision of Security
January 23, 2014
The discussion of how the free market would provide security from aggression by criminals or an invading group has deep and venerable roots. The Belgian-born classical liberal, Gustave de Molinari (1819-1912), respected the free market so deeply that colleagues ...
You've Come a Long Way, Baby!
January 22, 2014
In 1973 I edited The Libertarian Alternative*, published by the obscure but up and coming firm Nelson Hall. The book contained a wide selection of essays from the likes of Murray Rothbard, Nathaniel Branden, John Hospers, et al. Back then I didn't keep track of ...
LBJ's Great Society as Hubris of the Social Engineer
January 21, 2014
Fifty years separate us, now, from 1964 and the beginning of two of the most momentous events of Lyndon Johnson's presidency: The declaring of war on America's supposed domestic ills in the form of the "Great Society" programs, and the aggressive military inter ...
American Fascism
January 20, 2014
We know about the transformation of the American police, with their paramilitary equipment, their SWAT team raids, and incentive to terrorize people over drug offenses rather than pursue crimes against person and property. We know about the National Security Ag ...
Warfare, Welfare and Wonder Woman — How Congress Spends Your Money
January 20, 2014
Supporters of warfare, welfare and Wonder Woman cheered last week as Congress passed a one trillion dollar "omnibus" appropriation bill. This legislation funds the operations of government for the remainder of the fiscal year. Wonder Woman fans can cheer that b ...
Good Timing! Financial Times Affirms the Canadian Real-Estate Bust
January 18, 2014
Looks like we interviewed Seth Daniels at just the right time. Since his comments on Austrian economics and the coming Canadian real estate bust, several other articles have come out making similar and even more emphatic points. Below, I'll present some of them ...
The Hows and Whys of Gold Price Manipulation
January 18, 2014
The deregulation of the financial system during the Clinton and George W. Bush regimes had the predictable result: financial concentration and reckless behavior. A handful of banks grew so large that financial authorities declared them "too big to fail." Remove ...
Bow to the Powerful Meme, You Predatory Men!
January 16, 2014
I have spent the week sumo wrestling with a meme; that is, with a cultural assumption that grows almost by osmosis. The meme: Men are the perpetrators of domestic violence; women are the victims. The truth: Men and women commit DV at about the same rate. The re ...
Policy Sans Ethics
January 15, 2014
Yet another ancient political debate concerns whether public policy needs to be based on certain norms, or ethical principles.?Classical and a few modern political philosophers – e.g., Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Spinoza, John Locke, et al. – argue ...
Stature of Chairman Mao
China's Great Inflation Helped Bring the Communists to Power
January 14, 2014
Inflations have undermined the cultural and economic fabric of society, bringing about social chaos and revolution. Inflation is the enemy of social order and economic stability. Inflation can destroy accumulated wealth, ruin the entire well being of broad sect ...
Congress Defers to President On NSA Reform
January 13, 2014
Congress's decline from the Founders' vision as "first among equals" in government to an echo chamber of the unitary executive has been a slow but steady process. In the process we have seen a steady stream of unconstitutional wars and civil liberties abuses at ...
No Jobs For Americans
January 13, 2014
The alleged recovery took a direct hit from Friday's payroll jobs report. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the economy created 74,000 net new jobs in December. Wholesale and retail trade accounted for 70,700 of these jobs or 95.5%. It is likely that ...
What CNN, the Ultimate Disposable Network, Shows Us About Promotions
January 11, 2014
Variety commented just yesterday on "CNN Eyes Primetime Shake-Up." The article points out that change is necessary, though it would occur gradually. But it will occur. In fact, an end-of-year memo from CNN president Jeff Zucker reemphasized what CNN would becom ...
Sign of the Times: Misdirected Apology!
January 11, 2014
When governor Chris Christie of New Jersey discovered, on January 8th or thereabouts, that members of his staff conducted a vendetta against some of his political rivals by ordering the closing of some lanes of the George Washington Bridge and thus producing a ...
Where America Took an Historical Wrong Turn
January 09, 2014
America should never have replaced the Articles of Confederation with the United States Constitution. Although it is revered as the source and seat of freedom, the Constitution ensured freedom's eventual demise. The power it centralized in a federal government ...
What's A Just Society?
January 08, 2014
This is by no means a novel question. Certainly it goes back as far as Socrates and those we call the pre-Socratics, political thinkers in ancient Greece and other early organized societies. The question arises because human beings have an interest in getting t ...
Shanghai's History a Tale of Successful Capitalism
January 07, 2014
China's impressive modernization since the death of Mao Zedong in 1976 and the end to the destructive madness of the Cultural Revolution has been epitomized by the dramatic growth of the industrial and port city of Shanghai, with its majestic skyline of impress ...
Iraq: The 'Liberation' Neocons Would Rather Forget
January 06, 2014
Remember Fallujah? Shortly after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the US military fired on unarmed protestors, killing as many as 20 and wounding dozens. In retaliation, local Iraqis attacked a convoy of US military contractors, killing four. The US then launched a f ...
The Bearish/Bullish Conundrum
January 04, 2014
The Drudge Report yesterday carried two bearish articles about stocks. I'll comment on both of them – generally anyway – because they bear directly on the Wall Street Party now taking place – and on which we've commented extensively. One is linked to an a ...
The Case of the Missing Recovery
January 04, 2014
Have you seen the economic recovery? I haven't, either. But it is bound to be around here somewhere, because the National Bureau of Economic Research spotted it in June 2009, four and one-half years ago. It is a shy and reclusive recovery, like the "New Economy ...
America, Outsourcing A Declaration of War?
January 02, 2014
A draft version of the Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act of 2013 was introduced in the United States Senate on December 19. Section 2 (5) reads, "if the Government of Israel is compelled to take military action in legitimate self-defense against Iran's nuclear weapo ...
Happy New Year!
January 01, 2014
Greetings and warmest regards from all of us at The Daily Bell! We've had quite a year. The newest incarnation of The Daily Bell has been well received on all fronts, but we're not done yet... Stay tuned for more changes and significant additional editorial exp ...
2014 Will Bring More Social Collapse
January 01, 2014
2014 is upon us. For a person who graduated from Georgia Tech in 1961, a year in which the class ring showed the same date right side up or upside down, the 21st century was a science fiction concept associated with Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film, "2001: A Space O ...
Libertarian Civics Lesson #438
January 01, 2014
It is customary, sadly, for critics of a viewpoint to distort it, caricature it, besmirch it and the like – or at least to mention only aspects of it that could turn out to be untoward some human interests. So, of course, with libertarianism, which is the mos ...
11 Good Things for Liberty in 2013
January 01, 2014
As 2013 draws to a close, let's pause to recall some important developments for the cause of liberty – some of which you already know well, and others you'll be hearing about for the first time. Edward Snowden. After sitting on the Bush-era warrantless wireta ...
Don't Fear 'Deflation,' Unless Caused by Government
December 31, 2013
Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, and his designated successor, Janet Yellen, have defended the central bank's $4 trillion monetary expansion over the last five years as a necessity to fight recession and prevent deflation. The only problem is that booms ...
Government Policies Hurt Low-Wage Workers
December 30, 2013
Fast-food workers across the county have recently held a number of high profile protests to agitate for higher wages. These protests have been accompanied by efforts to increase the wages mandated by state and local minimum wage laws, as well as a renewed push ...
Tracking IMF Money Manipulation to Pakistan and Beyond
December 28, 2013
The Nation magazine recently posted a small articled entitled, "Pakistan gets second tranche of $553.5m from IMF." We are so used to these kinds of announcements that they hardly register anymore. But this is how the entrenched corruption of our day is carried ...
Manipulations Rule the Markets
December 27, 2013
The Federal Reserve's announcement on December 18 that beginning in January its monthly purchases of mortgage-backed financial instruments and US Treasury bonds would each be cut by $5 billion is puzzling, as is the financial press's account of the market's res ...
The Redistribution of Dreams
December 26, 2013
A friend is celebrating the season by visiting her children in the States. Like many millennials, her 20-something son is working brutal hours for minimum wage at an unfulfilling job. After visiting with him and his girlfriend, my friend emailed, "These kids ar ...
Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus
December 25, 2013
The following essay was published by The Daily Bell on December 25, 2009 and remains a favorite of ours. It's called, "Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus." The Federal Reserve and Congress are acting as our collective Santa Claus as we celebrate this Christm ...
Democrats Discover the Laffer Curve
December 25, 2013
USC economist Arthur Laffer identified, back in 1974, an interesting feature of oppressive public policies, applicable in numerous areas of concern to us. The principle acquired the name "the Laffer Curve" and its gist is that people will normally tolerate impo ...
Barack Obama and the Meaning of Socialism
December 24, 2013
Barack Obama is finishing his fifth year as president, and continues to try to move America further in the direction of increased government paternalism with the implementation of ObamaCare, a push for a higher minimum wage, more intrusive business regulation, ...
Progress Toward Peace in 2013, But Dark Clouds Remain
December 23, 2013
It is the time of year we feel a sense of joy and optimism. We are preparing for the holidays and looking to spend time with our families and friends. This year as we look back we see several developments that leave us feeling optimistic. A US attack on Syria w ...
Farce of Globalism: World Bank Becomes Top Cop?
December 21, 2013
The World Bank has a new mission. The Economic Times tells us that the World Bank has a new enemy to confront. It is not poverty but "corruption." Here's more: Corruption top foe in developing countries: World Bank ... World Bank chief Jim Yong Kim said Thursda ...
Washington Drives the World Toward War
December 20, 2013
Washington has had the US at war for 12 years: Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Libya, Pakistan, Yemen and almost Syria, which could still happen, with Iran waiting in the wings. These wars have been expensive in terms of money, prestige and deaths and injuries of b ...
I Pledge Allegiance to PHRMA
December 19, 2013
The US is attempting to give multinational corporations a status that has hitherto been reserved to sovereign nations. According to documents recently leaked from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, the Obama administration wants corporations to b ...
Demeaning the Declaration
December 18, 2013
Given the considerable power and success of the Declaration of Independence, its detractors – e.g., Professor Garry Wills, in his massive effort to belittle it in his book Inventing America (Houghton Mifflin, 1978, 2002) – are hard put to refute the philoso ...
South Africa and Ending Apartheid: The Free-Market Road Not Taken
December 17, 2013
The public eulogies marking the passing of Nelson Mandela at the age of 95 on December 5, 2013 have refocused attention on the long struggle in South Africa to bring about an end to racial discrimination and the Apartheid system. Mandela and His Marxist View of ...
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