The Song That Is Irresistible: How the State Leads People to Their Own Destruction
[Robert Higgs's Schlarbaum Award Acceptance Speech, delivered on October 12, 2007, at the Mises Institute's 25th Anniversary Celebration.] Margaret Atwood's poem "Siren Song" begins: This is the one song everyonewould like to learn: the songthat is irresistible:the song that forces mento leap
In Search of Utopia
Utopia is described as a society void of pain and poverty. It was sought well before Sir Thomas More coined the word in 1516 from the Greek words ou and topos. Since their combination translates as "to place," More understood
China’s Monetary Tradition and the Origins of Money
[This is Joseph Salerno's preface to the new Chinese version of Money: Sound and Unsound published by the Shangai People's Publishing House.] In the Introduction to this book, first published in English in 2010, I wrote: “The idea of sound money was
Scam Baiters Take an Active and Entertaining Role in Fighting Cybercrime
US government agencies like the FBI remain incapable of bringing foreign online scammers to justice. Fortunately, in their place, internet “vigilantes” have answered the call to action. Original Article: "Scam Baiters Take an Active and Entertaining Role in Fighting Cybercrime'" This Audio
Covid on rise, is the Vaccination process right?
No doubt 2020 was quite a hectic and astonishing year for all of us, a lot happened but 2021 seems quite promising. Just 2 months into the year and we have a vaccine ready for dosage. India’s drug regulators have
Covid on rise, is the Vaccination process right?
No doubt 2020 was quite a hectic and astonishing year for all of us, a lot happened but 2021 seems quite promising. Just 2 months into the year and we have a vaccine ready for dosage. India’s drug regulators have
MMT Is Fake Economics
In this era of monetary fiction, one tends to read all types of undocumented and misguided views on monetary policy. However, if there is one that really is infuriating is the MMT (modern monetary theory) science fiction. One of its main principles
Moral Courage and the Austrian School
When economic crises hit, most pundits and intellectuals never see it coming. That is because they have never learned the lesson that Bastiat sought to teach, namely that we need to look beneath the surface, to the unseen dimensions of
Ron Paul and our Big, Fat Fed
Regular readers of Alt-M don't need to be told that yours truly is no fan of the Fed's gigantic credit footprint. Even before the recent crisis, he lamented both the extent to which the Fed had switched from regulating this
Commercial Real Estate: Too Much Debt, Not Enough Assets
It’s hard to crack the headlines of the financial pages, what with GameStop, bitcoin, Tesla, and squeezes of one sort or another. There is a squeeze in commercial real estate that won’t shock anyone, or shouldn’t. That squeeze is tenants