If You Vote, You Have No Right to Complain
“Most citizens are not doing us any favor by voting. Asking everyone to vote is like asking everyone to litter.”—Jason Brennan, Against Democracy No, the title is not a typo: I mean the opposite of the quip many people use after
American Oligarchs? Elon, Twitter, and Unnatural Elites
Jeff and Bob discuss whether America has its own oligarchs instead of Hoppe's "natural elites." Hoppe's essay mises.org/Hoppe338 Jeff on the wrong elites: mises.org/WrongElites Bob on Piketty's bad inequality numbers: mises.org/Bob338
Lockdowns, Not the Pandemic, Created Havoc
Those responsible for locking down much of the US during covid blame the pandemic itself for the economic and social havoc that followed. Perhaps they should look at the lockdowns themselves. Original Article: "Lockdowns, Not the Pandemic, Created Havoc" This Audio Mises
The Fed Can’t Fix the Economy, but It Can Break It
The Federal Reserve states that it “conducts the nation’s monetary policy to promote maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates in the U.S. economy.” However, let’s look at how well the Fed has done that job since its
The State: It’s Oligarchs All the Way Down
Lenin called World War I a war among the capitalists of Europe. He was wrong. It was a war among oligarchs, statists who extract wealth from legitimate economic activity at the barrel of a gun. Original Article: "The State: It’s Oligarchs
Putnam on Objective Ethics in Economics
The philosopher Hilary Putnam was not a friend of the free market—far from it. At one time he supported the Progressive Labor Party, a Communist faction that admired Mao's red Chinese tyranny, and though he abandoned that extreme position, he
Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Is Just the Latest Expression of Pan-Slavic Authoritarianism
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has brought all sorts of debates and revelations into the limelight, ranging from the laundry list of interventions enacted by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), as well as Russia, along with demands for the West
The End of the Unipolar World and the Myth of “Rules-Based International Order”
In this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop mock the self-awareness of beltway foreign policy experts lamenting Putin's challenge to "rules-based international order." With countries like India and Brazil increasingly unwilling to follow the lead of America
Hazlitt, Hayek and How the Fed Made Itself into the World’s Biggest Savings & Loan
The Henry Hazlitt Memorial Lecture, March 18, 20221 Many thanks to the Mises Institute and to sponsor Yousif Almoayyed for this opportunity to be with you all today as we consider one of the truly remarkable developments in the history of
After More Than a Month of Fighting, Where Do Things Stand in the Russia-Ukraine War?
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine enters its second month, much is still in flux and our information is far from perfect, but three things stand out. First, Vladimir Putin appears close to securing many of the objectives he laid out before invading