Reminiscent of a juvenile accepting a dare to do something stupid, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Senator Christopher Dodd, crowed to reporters the other day that committee members had done what many thought would be impossible: the committee agreed to legislation that would rescue homeowners facing foreclosure. Not to disappoint
As the president signs the trillion-dollar stimulus package into law, financial networks are abuzz with investment pundits speculating on what companies will benefit, and thus what stocks should be purchased. Such analysis makes an error of causality commonly found in equities research. It assumes a direct correlation between business activity and
Last week we were inundated with news stories about the verdict rendered in the case of two Enron executives, Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, who were found guilty on multiple charges, which included various counts of fraud and insider trading. No doubt there are many, particularly the thousands of Enron employees whose pensions and retirement
On a recent ski vacation in Utah, my daughter and I took a breather from the slopes one day to do some exploring. We decided to take our excursion to a place in American history, Promontory Summit, Utah. Promontory is not a place you just happen to run across. Located northwest of Salt Lake City and north of the Great Salt Lake, Promontory is
Reminiscent of a juvenile accepting a dare to do something stupid, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Senator Christopher Dodd, crowed to reporters the other day that committee members had done what many thought would be impossible: the committee agreed to legislation that would rescue homeowners facing foreclosure. Not to disappoint
After months of higher fuel and food prices, I would have expected the outcry to happen sooner than the past week. Usually screams of despair about the cost of living come from special-interest groups representing the aged or the poor. But the siren came this time from my 88-year-old father-in-law. When the topic of the economy surfaced during a
Headlines blare about the relentless selling pressure and historic declines in value that have hit stock exchanges around the globe. The free fall has financial pundits and politicians wailing about the trillions of dollars lost in the US markets. Ironically, these were the same people who warned us that failure to legislate a financial bailout
[An MP3 audio file of this article, read by Floy Lilley, is available for download .] As the president signs the trillion-dollar stimulus package into law, financial networks are abuzz with investment pundits speculating on what companies will benefit, and thus what stocks should be purchased. Such analysis makes an error of causality commonly
On June 3, 2011, 73-year-old Carey Dyess went on a shooting rampage in Yuma, Arizona. By the time the gunfire had stopped, 5 people lay dead, including the gunman. Almost exactly five months earlier, 23-year-old Jared Loughner had shot 6 people dead and wounded 13 more 240 miles east of Yuma in Tucson, Arizona. Among the wounded was Congresswoman
On a recent trip to Rome we spent an entire afternoon walking around the Roman Colosseum and the Roman Forum. As we trekked around the 2,000-year-old ruins that once were the epicenter of western civilization, my economic mind began to wonder. Among the rubble lining famous roads like the Via Nova laid the remains of grand government buildings,
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.