Monopoly and Competition

Politics operates according to principles that would horrify us if we observed them in our private lives, and would get us arrested if we lived by them. The state can steal and call it taxation, kill and call it war.

Ludwig von Mises reminds us that thanks to the rise of markets and capitalism, human beings gained more access to more abundance than ever before. And it is the consumers, not the producers, who have power over the market process.

Thomas Piketty is wrong. Markets do not concentrate wealth. They work to diffuse wealth and limit the power of any single enterprise. Meanwhile, many lose their fortunes as quickly as they gain them.

Watkins paints a very strong case against trolls, while pointing out some of their supposed benefits.

UPDATE: The fact that marijuana legalization ballot measure (Issue #3) failed in Ohio is not an indication that legalization is not supported by the people. It was because they rejected government monopoly of pot growing as shown in the victory in the passage of Issue #2 which bans such monopolies. Its a great libertarian victory overall.

Nevada has ruled that online fantasy sports are subject to gambling license laws in the state. The reason for the ruling is painfully clear: to suppress competition with the big casinos in the state.

It was a big week for Bernie Sanders's brand of socialism, and millions of Americans already agree with him. Thanks to unquestioning acceptance of wild claims about the success of socialism in Europe, many Americans are now wishing for some European-style socialism themselves.

Privatizing garbage collection isn't exactly a tough nut to crack from the perspective of entrepreneurs and economic theory. But that doesn't stop government from mandating a government monopoly on trash collection in many places.

There's no Platonic laboratory where "pure" science happens independent of human ideas, motivations, and institutions.

Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 24 July 2015.