When political secession starts to become more of a realistic policy goal—and less of a theoretical ideal for the future—that is precisely when we can expect opposition to become the most dismayed and panicky. For now, critics are careful to make it appear that they regard the idea with mere […]

Although advocates for covid-19 lockdowns continue to insist that they save lives, actual experience keeps suggesting otherwise. On a national level, just eyeballing the data makes this clear. Countries that have implemented harsh lockdowns shouldn’t expect to have comparatively lower numbers of […]

Though numerous studies prove the contrary, it is still widely assumed that capitalism perpetuates racism. Celebrities and academics incessantly broadcast the message that capitalism engenders racism. For example, recently on Twitter, superstar athlete Andre Iguodala informed his followers that […]

Will Trump pardon these two genuine heroes? He might yet surprise me, but I doubt it because we can see from the people he has already pardoned that his values are warped and perverted. Original Article: "Snowden and Assange: There Is Still Time for Trump to Do the Right Thing" This Audio Mises […]

Students have been denied in-person schooling. At the same time, millions of women—many of whom have children—have been thrown out of work. Suddenly, homeschooling became a much more viable and necessary option. Original Article: "Why the Covid Shutdowns of Public Schools Are Driving So Many to […]

“Trauma-informed justice” has percolated in academia and activism for decades. It is now knocking on the door of local police departments to demand changes that could upend the basics of how people relate to law enforcement. The approach converts the police into social workers or therapists […]

Paraphrasing the late Murray Rothbard, the "two party" system in America during the twentieth century worked something like this: Democrats engineered the Great Leaps Forward, and Republicans consolidated the gains. Wilson, Roosevelt, and Johnson were the transformative presidents; Eisenhower, […]

In recent years, especially as media pundits and politicians talk up the idea of "divided" the American population is along ideological lines, talk of secession has become more frequent and more urgent. For several years now, a quarter of Americans polled have claimed to support the idea of […]

During the Trump administration, I pointed to a problem with the American presidential system: it provides presidents with essentially unchecked power when it comes to launching a nuclear holocaust. Presidents can initiate nuclear war whenever they like. They need not be acting in a defensive […]

A common conception is that the central bank is a key factor in the determination of interest rates. In this way of thinking, the key role of the central bank is to make sure that the so-called economy is placed on a trajectory of stable economic growth and stable inflation. If for whatever reason […]

Foreign policy apparatchiks are adept at gaslighting the public into believing they’re bringing troops back home when in reality they’re either shifting troops around or just biding their time until a new round of "boots on the ground." Original Article: "Beware the Troop-Withdrawal Bait and […]

Federalism, which Felix Morley called “the distinctively American contribution to political art,” arose from our founders’ desire to limit government’s ability to harm its citizens. The Constitution restricted nondelegated powers to states and individuals in their private arrangements, […]

It is trivial to say that any cardinal number can be added to another to answer the question of “how many” or “how much” of something there is. The trick lies in teasing some relevance out of the resultant sum. The relevant tradeoff in constructing any aggregate is between the advantage of […]

With the mainstream media still obsessing about the January 6 “violent coup attempt” at the US Capitol Building, the incoming Biden administration looks to be chock full of actual purveyors of violent coups. Don’t look to the mainstream media to report on this, however. Some of the same […]

Many observers of international affairs assume that larger, more populous states are necessarily more powerful. But the reality is wealth and economic development are the most critical factors in securing true military power. Original Article: "When It Comes to National Defense, Bigger Isn't Always […]

The Washington Post is outraged that Donald Trump has sullied one of Washington’s most hallowed honors—Presidential Medals of Freedom. After the White House announced plans to bestow the medals on two Republican members of Congress and a football coach, the Post thundered that “Trump just […]

Both spouses have become abusive, verbally and physically. Exchanging blows left and right, both literally and metaphorically speaking. There’s no common ground to be found, and even if there were, at this point neither side is interested in entertaining it. And yet a narrative continues to be […]

Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights Our goal at Economics For Business is to help entrepreneurs and their businesses succeed. Per Bylund and Hunter Hastings discuss the true implications of the current furor over the anti-market behavior of some of the Big Tech companies of Silicon Valley. They […]

Mises's firm anti-inflation view—and his recommendation for a return to sound money (that is, free market money)—rested on his awareness of the disastrous consequences of an inflationary policy. Original Article: "Inflation Breeds Even More Inflation" This Audio Mises Wire is generously […]

To offer a semblance of solidarity with the working class, wealthy leftists have substituted identity politics for class conflict, and attempted to recast economic problems as problems of racism or bigotry. Original Article: "Understanding Inequality Requires Much More Than Calling Everything […]

Bland Fanatics: Liberals, Race, and Empireby Pankaj MishraFarrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020218 pages Pankaj Mishra dislikes the free market, and he blames it for the imperial conquests of the nineteenth century and after. But much of his book can be read as an extended commentary on some remarks by […]

Listen to the Audio Mises Wire version of this article. One becomes a hardened cynic when following US foreign policy. Such pessimism is justified: looking at nearly two decades' worth of nation building abroad and a seemingly shatterproof consensus on foreign policy interventionism in DC $6 […]

Listen to the Audio Mises Wire version of this article. In the debate over whether or not China will soon rise to challenge the United States as the world’s hegemon, it is often assumed that states with large aggregate economies are necessarily more militarily powerful ones. This stems from […]

Manent insists that if political leaders don’t lead society, we will have a society that isn’t led by political leaders. So what? Original Article: "A World without Political Leaders?​​" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.  

The American public school system fell apart this year. The overwhelming majority of American parents found themselves remote schooling from home. No consensus exists on whether or not schools should reopen, or whether they should reopen only after everyone attending gets vaccinated. Because […]

Ron Paul used the fall in purchasing power since the founding of the Fed to argue that the central bank had hurt regular Americans. Fed economist David Andolfatto disagrees, but Bob pushes back. Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: The YouTube version of this interview David […]

"These days most people tend to equate freedom with the possession of inalienable individual rights, rights that demarcate a private sphere no government may infringe on. But has this always been the case?" Original Article: "What Does "Freedom" Mean? There Are Many Different Answers." This Audio […]

Rothbard: "At the outset of every step forward on the road to a more plentiful existence is saving….Without saving and capital accumulation there could not be any striving toward nonmaterial ends." Original Article: "The Upside of Lockdowns: More Saving​" This Audio Mises Wire is generously […]

Listen to the Audio Mises Wire version of this article. I. Warning against Fiduciary Media Early in the 20th century, Ludwig von Mises warned against the consequences of granting the government control over the money supply. Such a regime inevitably creates money through bank credit that is not […]

One Billion Americans: The Case for Thinking Biggerby Matthew YglesiasPortfolio Penguin, 2020xx + 267 pages Matthew Yglesias, a cofounder of Vox and frequent writer for it, has some useful insights in this book. But he perfectly exemplifies a type of mind that is capable of doing great damage. I […]

While it is popular and accurate to blame our societal elites for being inept, the truth is that these leaders, both political and cultural, are reflections of us. Original Article: "Politics Won't Fix the American Decline" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. […]

Just as central planners cannot know how individuals will value a product or service, so too are central planners unable to calculate or plan for the endless array of risk assessments made by potential victims of covid-19. Original Article: "Covid-19 and the Socialist Calculation Problem" This […]

The task at hand is the study of the problems of the determination of prices and interest rates. This task requires a sharp distinction between money-certificates and fiduciary media. Original Article: "There Is Money and Then There Are Money Substitutes​" This Audio Mises Wire is generously […]

Listen to the Audio Mises Wire version of this article. To offer a semblance of solidarity with the working class, wealthy leftists have substituted identity politics for class conflict, and attempted to recast economic problems as problems of racism or bigotry. So, instead of assailing the […]

[Editor's Note: In 2011, Lew Rockwell penned this thorough explanation of what fascism really is and what must be done to combat it. Fascism, unlike what the dominant media narrative asserts, has virtually nothing to do with people expressing politically incorrect opinions, or people refusing to […]

Guido Hülsmann's The Ethics of Money Production is a masterclass both on the fundamentals of money and the disastrous moral consequences of monetary "policy." Inflation is not only an economic problem which impoverishes us materially, but a deeply corrosive force in society for individuals. There […]

Democrats and anti-Trump GOP leaders are calling the Capitol riot a "coup" and "treason." This is in part because if Washington politicians can portray the riot as a grave threat, they can use the riot as an excuse to greatly expand federal power. Additional Reading "There Is No Such Thing as […]

Listen to the Audio Mises Wire version of this article. The French political philosopher Pierre Manent has a view of politics that my readers are likely to reject, and rightly so. He has written a great deal about the French classical liberals, especially Tocqueville, but his heart lies more in […]

The taxpayer is backstopping more credit risk than ever. The Post reported that nearly 30 percent of the loans Fannie Mae guaranteed were to borrowers whose house payment exceeded half of their monthly income, up from 14 percent in 2016.  Original Article: "Low Rates and Limited Liability Mean Hot […]

We will never water down our message to satisfy censors or maintain a particular platform; instead we will work around them. Original Article: "Surviving Tech Purges: What We're Doing at the Mises Institute" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael […]

Thanks to politics, confirmation bias, and bad monetary economics, central banks have a lousy record when it comes to economic forecasts. Original Article: "Why Mainstream Economic Forecasts Are So Often Wrong" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael […]

The United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, and every country in Europe have fertility rates below replacement level (2.1 births per woman). And where there is smoke, the state has lit a fire. This is not an accident, and much of what’s behind these demographic trends […]

There are few works in the history of economics that may be truly considered “revolutionary” and “pathbreaking,” in their starting premises, logic, and implications. But one that is in this category is Carl Menger’s Grundsätze der Volkswirtschaftsliche, his Principles of Economics in its […]

Listen to the Audio Mises Wire version of this article. Something good is coming out of the covid lockdowns. Economist David Rosenberg released a special report via the eponymous Rosenberg Research, concluding “the pre-COVID-19 ‘norm’ of a 7% personal savings rate will morph into a […]

What can be done now? President Trump should not urge us all to “come together.” Instead, he should support secession. Original Article: "The Truth about January 6, and Where We Should Go from Here​​" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael […]

If California voters and politicians do not understand the current crisis, we will see the continuous march to perdition as California politicians refuse to acknowledge that they are killing the geese laying the golden eggs. Original Article: "California Is Worse Than You Think​" This Audio Mises […]

We're told more government spending will get the economy back on track. But increasing government spending weaken the process of wealth creation.  Original Article: "Fiscal Stimulus vs. Economic Growth" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael […]

Listen to the Audio Mises Wire version of this article. By any measure, 2020 was not a very good year for human freedom. By now everyone is very familiar with the assaults on liberty stemming from measures ostensibly in the name of stopping the spread of covid and the way in which such measures […]

“Treason” is quickly becoming a favorite word among Washington politicos and their media allies. One need not look hard to find countless examples. For example, a late-night talk show host called the January 6 Capitol riot the “treason finale” of the Trump era. A Washington Post columnist […]

Listen to the Audio Mises Wire version of this article. The Mises Institute was born of the "build your own platform" ethos. In the early 1980s few outlets existed for anyone interested in the Austrian school of economics or robust libertarian scholarship. Few universities taught Hayek, much […]