Profit and Loss and Mr. Biden
“Sound bites may be good for political harangues but they are never enough for true understanding. Dissing profits is misleading if no distinction is made between consumer-driven competitive profits and crony-capitalist ones, or if losses are overlooked.” ~ Warren C. Gibson
READ MORE
Happy Birthday to Libertarian Firebrand Walter Block
“His positions can be very, very off-putting. He strips pretty much everything down to a simple question: ‘Is it voluntary?’ If the answer is ‘yes,’ then he argues that we have no right to interfere no matter how much we might disapprove.” ~ Art Carden
READ MORE
Modern Monetary Theory is Playing With Fire
“Stephanie Kelton’s book is well-written and serves as an accessible insight into the world of Modern Monetary Theory. There are parts of the book that are essential pieces of economic knowledge that define the modern state, some that are questionable premises, and some that are blatant political talking points.” ~ Ethan Yang
READ MORE
On “You Didn’t Build That”
“Unethical redistribution occurs to the extent that the taxes an individual pays are paid without his or her consent, for such ‘payment’ implies that the value of the benefits gotten from government by this taxpayer are less than the cost this taxpayer is forced to pay. Yet these complexities do nothing to justify the claim that provision by government of some goods and services creates among citizens indebtedness to the state.” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux
READ MORE
The Latest Investment Fad Is Unsustainable
“Just as Greens can destroy the environment, corporate social responsibility can wreck society while tricking ESG investors to feel good about themselves in the process.” ~ Robert E. Wright
READ MORE
The Epistemic Value of Putting One’s Money Where One’s Mouth Is
“Assertions such as that women as a group are underpaid – should be dismissed out of hand if (as is almost always the case) those who do the asserting refuse to risk their own time and resources on undertaking private-sector activities that would make these individuals rich as they simultaneously correct the alleged failures. If these individuals aren’t getting rich by acting with their own money on what they assert to be true, then they ain’t so smart after all.” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux
READ MORE
Is ‘Capitalism’ Modern?
“Capitalism in this account is not truly modern, inasmuch as something we can describe with that word has existed repeatedly in history. It has usually come to a bad end, because of the way private wealth and fear of losing it has interacted with predatory power, but in the modern world we have avoided that. Only so far however, which is why we must be constantly in campaign mode to keep the show on the road.” ~ Stephen Davies
READ MORE
On Externalities and Noise
“There is no world where trade-offs don’t apply, where we can have all the nice things we want without anybody, anywhere, getting upset. Externalities are everywhere, but if we want to live prosperous lives, some part of those lives will be impacted by others. Get over it.” ~ Joakim Book
READ MORE
What Greta Thunberg Forgets About Climate Change
“Perhaps Greta’s message for politicians to listen to the scientists and take real action has hit home. In one sense, they are already well on the way to following her advice. They read chapter 10 of IPCC’s AR5 report, where they learned that climate change is important – but that other socioeconomic developments matter much more.” ~ Joakim Book
READ MORE
Extend the Market, As Far as Possible
“Private enterprise and private governance pushed along by people seeking little more than their own advantages work remarkably well. If you want more evidence, look no further than the package on your doorstep.” ~ Art Carden
READ MORE
A Green Minimum Wage
“Farmers who want to retain good, experienced farm hands should be free to pay a dollar a week, day, hour, or minute to those same people, as they mutually agree. And when the world not only does not end but improves due to the policy, let’s extend it to other types of employers as well.” ~ Robert E. Wright
READ MORE
The Adverse Economic Consequences of Higher Tax Rates
“The political impact will be that “the rich” pay more. The economic impact will be less capital formation and entrepreneurship, and those are the changes that hurt the vast majority of us who aren’t rich.” ~ Daniel J. Mitchell
READ MORE
