Topic: Economic Education

Your Trauma and Mine: A Retrospective on 2020

– December 25, 2020

“The many layers of trauma we’ve all experienced this year are awesome to contemplate. But if you are reading this, you are like me, a survivor. We are wounded but in other ways stronger than before, more dedicated to truth, more committed to the ideals of freedom, less naive and ready to go forth in battle not to let civilization be dismantled. Rather we must defend it with everything we have to offer.” ~ Jeffrey Tucker

Currency, Economic Education, Monetary Policy

Digital Currencies and US Dollar Dominance

– December 24, 2020

“Is this the end for the US Dollar as the world’s reserve currency? As Churchill might have said, ‘…This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.’” ~ Colin Lloyd

Economic Education, Regulation

Hope and Freedom in Georgia

– December 23, 2020

“In Georgia you see actual happiness: smiles on faces, quick steps, and light conversations about something other than the virus. The look and feel of the place, with bustling commercial districts and holiday joy everywhere, absolutely startled me. Just being around this scene for a few days lifted my own spirits immeasurably.” ~ Jeffrey Tucker

Crisis, Economic Education, Government

The Year Populism Was Right and the Experts Weren’t

– December 22, 2020

“Deep down 2020 has taught us that officials don’t have a clue, that they don’t control what they pretend to control, and that their measures aren’t targeted to or calibrated for stopping the spread of a virus.” ~ Joakim Book

Authoritarianism, Crisis, Economic Education

All I Want for Christmas Is Some Sanity

– December 21, 2020

“Asking Santa for full rationality this Christmas would be to request too much, like Eartha Kitt does in ‘Santa Baby’ when she begs the jolly old elf for a sable, a platinum mine, checks, and a bunch of other luxuries. I would be thrilled with just some sanity in humanity’s stockings.” ~ Robert E. Wright

Capitalism, Economic Education, Regulation

Better Fetters

– December 20, 2020

“Unlike the fetters that are imposed on us by government, those inherent in the voluntary arrangements of capitalism are bulwarks against the aggression of others, whose primary practitioner is government. In other words, effectively defined and enforced property rights create a capitalism that is more effectively fettered and far more productive for all of us than government-imposed fetters that restrict and violate them.” ~ Gary M. Galles

Crisis, Economic Education, Science

Yes, Follow the Science – in Every Field

– December 20, 2020

“If science had been followed in 2020 – in all fields – we’d be much healthier and wealthier than we now are. But control freaks have used Covid-19 to justify still more government controls, still more statism. In every field they’ve cited chaos as an (alleged) reason to ‘reimagine’ (i.e., sabotage) capitalism – a system they hated already, pre-virus – to promote despotism, a system they preferred already.” ~ Richard M. Salsman

Economic Education, Media, Monetary Policy

Pornhub: Victim of Visa and Mastercard Censorship or Money Laundering Risk?

– December 19, 2020

“Pornhub’s deplatforming is so controversial, in part, because it appears to be arbitrary. It was the New York Times that ultimately served as the fuse, not Visa or Mastercard internal checks.” ~ J.P. Koning

Economic Education, Financial Markets, Regulation

The Nanny State Comes for Robinhood

– December 18, 2020

“Massachusetts’ regulatory intentions for Robinhood not only demonstrate a high level of disregard for the decision-making abilities of its citizens, but also a failure to understand the entity it seeks to regulate. The ongoing attempts to place onerous regulations on innovative companies like Robinhood in the name of the public interest are not only misinformed but they will likely leave us worse off.” ~ Ethan Yang

Economic Education, Free Markets, Policy

The Return of the Trickle-Down Ruse

– December 16, 2020

“‘Trickle-down economics’ is neither an economic theory, policy, or outcome; better economic thought, not platitudes, are needed.” ~ Peter C. Earle

Crisis, Economic Education, Policy

Did State Reopenings (and Closings) Have Little Effect on Spending?

– December 16, 2020

“Vaccines alone cannot thaw frozen state economies unless and until they in some way encourage governors to reopen. If any lockdown-prone governors do reconsider their orders, there is a distinguished team of Ivy League economists who stand ready to advise that reopening closed economies could make little “immediate” difference. That would be terrible advice.” ~ Alan Reynolds

Crisis, Economic Education, Government

The State Negative Externality Problem

– December 16, 2020

“A smart, strong, John Marshall-type chief justice, as opposed to a weasley Taney-like one, would have used the Texas case to clarify the problem of state negative externalities vis-a-vis presidential elections. How many state and federal laws and constitutions can be violated before somebody has the authority to do something about it, and what, precisely, can be done?” ~ Robert E. Wright