Some days it seems that free-market theory has triumphed in every way but in politics. Other days, like today in the New York Times, it seems like the same old fallacies just keep popping up. In particular, today’s edition carries a piece making the case for a higher minimum wage , while horribly caricaturing and misrepresenting the case against
Perhaps it is James Grant’s own sense of timing, or perhaps the NYT’s editors just know whom to call when stocks are down and inflation is rising, but in any case, it warms every Austrian heart to see the the business cycle theory so nicely applied within the framework of an op-ed . (Grant is interviewed by the Austrian Economics Newsletter here
Paul Kasriel : “Government spending is on the rise for as far as the eye can see. The U.S. indebtedness to the rest of the world is high and will be rising as far as the eye can see. U.S. policymakers will attempt to lessen the impact of this indebtedness on the standard of living of Americans by running Fed Governor Bernanke’s greenback printing
Has a higher corporate tax rate than the US (40%), according to a survey by KPMG International. Communist China and Vietnam check in at 33% and 28%, respectively. Venezuela, under Castro admirer Hugo Chavez , has a 34% rate. Granted, many factors besides this rate should be considered in evaluating the burden of government in any country, but
Every time one crosses the border between Kuwait and Iraq, one crosses 2 trenches that stretch as far as the eye can see, about 20 feet across and 20 feet deep. Here I am standing on the Iraqi side. The camera is facing South toward the border town of Safwan. The location is US Army Main Supply Route Tampa that runs parallel to and north of the
There may be all sorts of subtle issues at work here that are impossible to understand at a distance, but this NYT story suggests that the stock market collapse is the reason that Sonia Gandhi has decided not to claim the position of prime minister of India. “Today’s development came after the country’s stock market recorded a huge single-day fall
Oh, the hypocrisies of the socialist left, which argues that the free market is not self-sustaining even while it blasts any big business that has accepted help from government. The latest attack on Wal-Mart is an example. In an item sure to get lots of play in the press, a group called Good Jobs First (predictably “progressive”) says that
This is a fascinating editorial apology from the New York Times , an attempt by the paper to deal with its own complicity in the Iraq WMD hoax. It names specific stories that the editors later discovered to be one-sided or just downright wrong, and regrets that these stories were used by the administration as evidence to bolster its claims
A Chicago School, “free-market” economist hails the proposed gas tax : Research by students at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business shows that federal taxes on gasoline would have to increase by a bit less than 50 cents per gallon to cut gasoline consumption by the same percentage claimed to be achieved under the CAFE program.
How did hundreds of millions of dollars in new bills find their way to the Iraqi central bank during a period of extreme economic sanctions? This probing NYT story provides no final answers but following the trail proves fascinating
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.
