Uber, Lyft, and similar rideshare companies represent a direct threat to state-controlled taxi cartels and their ( increasingly unsellable ) medallions. Now a class action lawsuit against Uber has been cleared for a federal court jury in California, alleging that its drivers should be classified as employees rather than independent contractors. If
Vineer Bhansali at PIMCO argues that negative-yielding bonds act more like insurance policies than financial assets: Indeed, negative-yielding bond markets tend to behave more like insurance policies than as investment assets. This is because, with a negative zero-coupon bond, a fixed income investor, like an insurance policy buyer, pays up front
Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders recently raised the ire of both progressives and libertarians with his remarks concerning immigration: “Open borders? No, that’s a Koch brothers proposal,” Sanders said. “That’s a right-wing proposal, which says essentially there is no United States.” “It would make everybody in America poorer — you’re
The recent hacking of the hugely popular website Ashley Madison raises uncomfortable questions about privacy and security in our digital lives. For those unfamiliar with AshleyMadison.com, it functions as a dating site specifically aimed at those seeking to “cheat” on their spouse or partner. Needless to say, the promise of discretion is a key
The New England Patriots’ astonishing come-from-behind Super Bowl victory last night captured the attention of even this decidedly casual fan. The shell-shocked look on Atlanta Falcons coach Dan Quinn at the post-game interview said it all: he couldn’t believe what had happened. But it did happen. Of course it wasn’t that New England beat the
When Professor Hans-Hermann Hoppe made his famous argument against democracy back in 2001, the notion that voting was a lousy way to organize society was still radical even among many libertarians. Virtually everyone raised in a western country over the past century grew up hearing “democracy” used as a synonym for wonderful, good, just, and
[Jeff Deist recently gave a talk entitled Libertarian, Heal Thyself at a Mises Institute event in San Diego. The following is an excerpt from his remarks- Ed.] I’m sure many people in this room remember the late Harry Browne, who was an investment advisor and a great libertarian. In fact he was the Libertarian Party’s nominee for president in 1996
Say what you will about President Harry Truman, but at least he didn’t leave the White House a suspiciously rich man. He also actually went home , to Independence Missouri, and moved into a modest house he didn’t own. It was the same house belonging to his wife’s family where he had lived with Bess (and his mother-in-law!) decades earlier. Flat
The attack on a Christmas market in Berlin earlier this week, apparently carried out by a Pakistani immigrant , is just the latest in a series of violent and disturbing terrorist incidents in Germany. The event raises uncomfortable questions about immigration, culture clashes, Islam, and identity: what does it mean to be German, rather than
Writing in The New York Times Magazine about last week’s stillborn RyanCare bill, Robert Draper recalls an alleged conversation he had with White House strategist Stephen Bannon earlier this year. Bannon, lamenting the ability of both congressional Democrats and Republicans to get things done , contrasts identity-obsessed progressives with
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.
