We're being told to blame the current market volatility and emerging crisis on oil prices, China, and a "strong dollar." To find the real causes, though, we must look at central banks and at past mistakes and malinvestments.
More credit expansion to keep the current easy-money induced boom going is only delaying the inevitable.
Thanks to easy credit, automobiles have become very complex and luxurious, and brimming with safety features. The cost of producing these cars, however, won't keep prices from falling once the bubble bursts.
Lego has finally managed to attract girls to their products with the Lego Friends line. In response, feminists have denounced the line for being too "girly." But Lego is just responding to market demand and what Mises called consumer sovereignty.
For some people, there's nothing that can’t be improved by a big dose of government regulation. Now, even the virtual economies of video games are being targeted as the next frontier in labor laws, price controls, and more.
For some economists, the fact that entrepreneurs make cinnamon rolls instead of selling only celery sticks is a “market failure.” These economists have appointed themselves the arbiters of what is “best” for people, and therefore, what should be sold in the marketplace.
The Swedish welfare state long ago created a rigid and dysfunctional labor market. But now, the influx of immigrants is highlighting just how poorly the Swedish labor market works.
Many people mistakenly think of Austrian economics as nothing more than a radical defense of free markets, though it's really a framework for studying human action and its social implications.
