After months of calling for trade wars, more military spending, and a more aggressive drug war, the Trump administration has now followed up his administration’s expanding use of drone strikes in several countries with an escalation of military force in Syria.
It’s difficult to see where all this will lead, but it is sure to lead in part to more government debt, more spending, and more demands for increased government power, increased taxes, and increased inflation of the money supply.
Tomorrow, join the Mises Institute and the Ron Paul Institute for a joint symposium on War & Peace in the Age of Trump, in Lake Jackson, Texas. Dr. Paul will be joined by David Stockman, Phil Giraldi, Lew Rockwell, Hunt Tooley, Jeff Deist, and Daniel McAdams. The symposium can be viewed online at youtube.com/misesmedia.
On this edition of Mises Weekends, Caitlin Long and Jeff discuss how blockchain technology could vastly reduce the role of middlemen in all kinds of everyday transactions, obviating the need for a lot of regulation in the process. Who needs lawyers and endless contract negotiations when the element of distrust between parties can be mitigated? Will the blockchain eliminate the need for “trust agent” intermediaries in real estate and M&A transactions? What will true peer-to-peer exchange mean for banks and stock exchanges? And will we even recognize the financial services industry in 20 or 30 years?
And in case you missed them, here are this weeks Mises Wire articles, covering a wide array of topics including trade, war spending, and the Fed.
Can Ecuador Learn Something from Peru? by Edgar Ortiz
Why Special Interests Sacrifice the Future for Short-Term Gain by Gary Galles
Ryan McMaken on the Power Hour
Auditing the Fed Is Now More Importance than Ever by Jonathan Newman
The Fed’s Emerging Balance Sheet Plan by C.Jay Engel
3 Lessons Learned from Wisconsin’s War on Foreign Butter by Ryan McMaken
The Syrian People Should Decide For Themselves by Ron Paul
Why We Don’t Need Macroeconomic Data in a Free Economy by Frank Shostak
The Supposed Failure of Economics by Per Bylund
California Senate Votes to Nullify Federal Immigration Law by Ryan McMaken
Richmond Fed’s Lacker, Source of Medley Leak, Announces Immediate Resignation by C.Jay Engel
April 1917: Woodrow Wilson Calls for War by T. Hunt Tooley
The Nonproblem of the Trade Deficit by Ryan McMaken
Trump Continues to Ignore Monetary Policy — And It Will Cost Him by Brendan Brown
Fannie and Freddie’s New Bubble by Doug French
The March-April Issue of The Austrian Is Now Online
Trump’s Goldman Guys Are Dangerous by Tho Bishop
Audit the Pentagon by Ryan McMaken
A Conversation with Joe Salerno: Mises on Nationalism and Immigration
Trump’s Economics by John Tamny
The Next Step in Europe’s Negative-Interest-Rate Experiment by Thosten Polleit
Should We Trust the Government’s Claims About Syria? by James Bovard
If You Don’t Like Immigration, You Should Love Free Trade by Ryan McMaken
FOMC Minutes: Continued Talk of Balance Sheet Strategy by C.Jay Engel
The Myth of the Constitution by Butler Shaffer
Two Common Objections to Unilateral Free Trade by Patrick Barron
War is the Continuation of Trumpism by Other Means by Matthew McCaffrey
A Libertarian Student’s Plea by Ralph Raico
Nudges for Thee, But Not for Me by Peter G. Klein
