Tag Archives: 6b) Mises.org

Markets closed 2023 with the strongest rally for equities, bonds, gold, and cryptocurrencies in years. The level of complacency was obvious, registering an “extreme greed” level in the Greed and Fear Index. 2023 was also an unbelievably bad year for commodities, particularly oil and natural gas, something that very few would have predicted in the middle of two wars with relevant geopolitical impact and significant OPEC+ supply cuts. It was also a poor year for...

Back when I was a construction lender, I thought the perfect construction loan would pay off after one day, just long enough to collect the loan fee. After all, time is your enemy in construction lending. Any of a myriad of unknowns can keep construction from being completed: the market may evaporate for what is being built, interest rates may rise to make a loan uneconomic, construction costs could increase to require a loan modification or more borrower equity...

Economic giant Robert Solow died in December 2023. He was a Nobel laureate, and four of his PhD students went on to also receive the Nobel. He is known for the growth model named in his honor.  Garett Jones of GMU joins Bob to discuss the work of Solow, focusing on the possible tension between the Solow model's conclusions about capital accumulation vis-à-vis the Austrian School. Join Tom DiLorenzo, Joe Salerno, and Patrick Newman in Tampa on February 17:...

The response to the covid-19 outbreak is better understood as a tool of the national security state rather than as a public health measure. Original Article: When Medical Authorities Went Totalitarian: Understanding Covid Policies and Protocols [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter

As both progressives and conservatives turn authoritarian, libertarian populism inspired by Murray Rothbard provides an alternative to the statist nonsense that dominates political discourse. Original Article: The Problems with Post-Trump Populism [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter

While the creator of modern portfolio theory was awarded a Nobel Prize, that doesn't mean the theory isn’t flawed. In fact, it explains very little about investments. Original Article: Modern Portfolio Theory Is Mistaken: Diversification Is Not Investment [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter

The nineteenth-century English philosopher Thomas Hill Green was one of the key figures in the transition from classical liberalism to “modern” liberalism, in which the state, no longer a mere “night watchman,” if it ever was that, takes on a much more active role. The state in Green’s view ought to aid people in realizing their “real selves,” and doing this often involves supplying them with various goods and services. For this reason, Green is regarded as one of...

Jamaica is a small island in the British West Indies, but despite its stature, this tiny nation has elicited the attention of global elites. In politics, Jamaica’s voting behavior at the United Nations is closely monitored by her neighbors in the Caribbean and the global community because she commands influence. Due to historical and cultural complexities, Jamaica is a magnet for academic research, and writing about the country has manifested into a cottage industry....

The phrase "great replacement" has been increasingly thrown around by both conservatives and progressives in recent years. Conservatives claim the "great replacement theory" explains deliberate efforts by regime operatives to replace non-Hispanic whites with various groups of Hispanics and non-whites. Progressives, on the other hand, claim it is all a racist conspiracy theory.  I won't bore you with the details of the present political debate, but the idea that one...

In response to the Israeli assault on Gaza, the Houthis (Ansarallah) of Yemen have retaliated by launching at least six drone attacks directed at Israel and attacking Western ships passing through the Red Sea. By the looks of it, their attacks have been quite successful thus far: Israel’s Eilat port alone has seen an 85 percent drop in shipping activity. To the United States, these actions of resistance and support of the Palestinian cause only present another...