Doughty, courageous little Rhode Island was the last state left. It is generally assumed that—even by the most staunchly Antifederalist historians—Rhode Island could not conceivably have gone it alone as a separate nation. But such views are the consequence of a mystique of political frontiers, in which it is assumed that a mere change in political frontiers and boundaries necessarily has a profound effect in the lives of the people or the validity of a territory or...
Read More »Modern Monetary Theory
Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 21 July 2021. [embedded content] You Might Also Like SNB Sight Deposits: Inflation Fear Decreasing, SNB Selling Euros 2021-08-04 Sight Deposits have fallen: The change is -0.2 bn. compared to last week, this means the SNB is selling euros and dollars. Government Land Ownership and Management 2021-08-03...
Read More »Government Land Ownership and Management
Download the slides from this lecture at Mises.org/MU21_PPT_20. Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on July 21, 2021. [embedded content] You Might Also Like SNB Sight Deposits: Inflation Fear Decreasing, SNB Selling Euros 2021-08-04 Sight Deposits have fallen: The change is -0.2 bn. compared to last week, this means the SNB is selling euros and dollars....
Read More »Biden’s Rescue Act Targets Americans’ Freedoms
Since the 1800s, surly Americans have derided politicians for spending tax dollars “like drunken sailors.” Until recently, that was considered a grave character fault. But Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act shows that inebriated spending is now the path to national salvation. It was a common saying in America in the 1930s that “we cannot squander our way to prosperity.” But that was before the latest “best and brightest” crop took the helm of the federal...
Read More »Secession and the Production of Defense
[unable to retrieve full-text content][unable to retrieve full-text content][Chapter 11 of The Myth of National Defense: Essays on the Theory and History of Security Production, edited by Hans-Hermann Hoppe (Auburn, Ala.: Mises Institute, 2003), pp. 369–413.] Few people object to the private production of shoes or rock concerts.
Read More »Economy, Society, and History
In June 2004, Professor Hoppe visited the Mises Institute in Auburn to deliver an ambitious series of lectures titled Economy, Society, and History. Over ten lectures, one each morning and afternoon for a week, Dr. Hoppe presented nothing short of a sweeping historical narrative and vision for a society rooted in markets and property. Delivered only from notes, to an audience of academics and intellectuals, the lectures showed astonishing depth and breadth.Even the...
Read More »European Unification as the New Frontier of Collectivism: The Case for Competitive Federalism and Polycentric Law
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Frankfurt, Bremen, Hamburg, Luebeck are large and brilliant, and their impact on the prosperity of Germany is incalculable. Yet, would they remain what they are if they were to lose their independence and be incorporated?”— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe1
Read More »Forced Vaccinations in France Bring Both Repression and Protest
[unable to retrieve full-text content]In a speech to the nation just ahead of Bastille Day on July 14 celebrating the French Revolution, President Emmanuel Macron delivered a paradoxical blow to the Republic’s famous slogan: Liberté, égalité, fraternité. He announced a series of measures to speed up the pace of covid-19 vaccinations which undermine individual liberties and threaten a strong political and economic backlash.
Read More »Portrait of an Evil Man: Karl Marx
In the “German Democratic Republic” they tell the story about a weary old man who tries to gain entrance into the Red Paradise. A Communist Archangel holds him up at the gate and severely cross-questions him: “Where were you born?” “In an ancient bishopric.” “What was your citizenship?” “Prussian.” “Who was your father?” “A wealthy lawyer.” “What was your faith?” “I converted to Christianity.” “Not very good. Married? Who was your wife?” “The daughter of an...
Read More »Fiat Money Economies Are Built on Lies
Now and then, it pays to take a step back to get a broader perspective on things, to look beyond the daily financial news, to see through the short-term ups and downs in the market to find out what is really at the heart of the matter. If we do that, we will not miss the fact that we are living in the age of fiat currencies, a world in which basically everything bears their fingerprints: the economic and financial system, politics—even people’s cultural norms,...
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