Mises Search

Ironies abound in the story of how China is considering a “U.S. style annual tax” based on home values. The driving motivation: raise revenue for local government and dampen the growing real estate bubble arising from speculative demand. Yes, taxes do that. But property taxes didn’t prevent the U.S. bubble, and the dependence of local government

I am very happy that Stephan Kinsella is finally teaching a class on intellectual property , which is surely one of the most important issues of our time. We need desperately to spread education about this topic, which is a difficult one. It is not one of the “armchair” issues that you can solve without much thought or serious study. Let me try to

Weird Al was nice enough to ask Lady Gaga if he could so this, but the fame-drunk starlet said no, and hence the song will be kept off his next album. No, this isn’t an IP problem as such – satire is legal, thank goodness, for whatever reason – but it illustrates the absurdities that the culture of IP has instilled in artists. The very notion that

I’m pleased that we have run Frank Shostak’s piece this morning on inflation data, and it’s pretty alarming but it strikes me that the piece still understates the threat and the reality. This morning at the store, a fruit drink I usually buy just went from $2.50 to $3.20 in something like two weeks. The apples I bought seem to have jumped 25%. The

Congress passed a 90% tax on bonuses given by bailed-out companies, and thus does Congress underscore the important principle: when government steals money and decides to hand it out again, the recipient holds a politically conditioned loan that can be taken back at any time. It means that if you are subsidized, you are nationalized in principle.

Three economists for the Minneapolis Fed have written a paper called “ Myths about the Financial Crisis of 2008 .” The myths they refute: 1) Bank lending to nonfinancial corporations and individuals has declined sharply, 2) Interbank lending is essentially nonexistent, 3) Commercial paper issuance by nonfnancial corporations has declined sharply

In the movie Matrix, when a deja vu happens, it is supposed to indicate a change in the Matrix. Well, that is certainly the case when reading through this bill that the House is soon to be voting on. It seems like the New Deal all over again: extreme measures, vast resources stolen by the Federal government from the private sector in the name of

From the press coverage after the election, I would never have known the Christine O’Donnell seems to generally sensible on economic issues. In this interview from July , she explains the need to reduce regulations and lower taxes. She also understands why: business needs to accumulate private capital in order to hire and expand. From the

I just received an exciting notice that one of my favorite books, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde , is being released October 27, and the pre-orders are going well. But wait: according to copyright theory, this isn’t suppose to happen. There are many editions out there already. The book is long ago in public domain. And this is hardly

Some random new material: The Constitution of the United States has been interpreted differently by nationalist theorists and compact theorists. The Fighting Communist Organizations is the term used to describe various terrorist groups that began operations in the 1960s. Instituto Ludwig von Mises Brasil is the Brazilian partner of the Mises