Tag Archives: 6b) Mises.org

The wordsmiths at the Federal Reserve wisely omitted the line about a “sound and resilient” banking system in its statement on January 31. That same day shares of New York Community Bank plunged when the bank announced a loss of thirty-six cents per share when analysts expected earnings of twenty-seven cents a share for the fourth quarter. Internal or external auditors occasionally comb through individual loans in a bank’s portfolio and make judgments as to whether...

No one was surprised last November when the Pentagon failed its sixth audit, serving up a sorry record of zero and six. The accomplishment received little mainstream media coverage. Scott Ritter excoriated his former employer (and mine) over the fraud, pointing out that the money wasted and the scope of the United States military activity is so massive, it is nearly incomprehensible to most Americans. Ritter points out that audits are done by accountants, and while...

In a 1922 essay about Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address in his book Prejudices: Third Series H.L. Mencken asked, “Am I the first American to note the fundamental nonsensicality of the Gettysburg Address”? One example of the nonsense of Lincoln’s rhetoric as explained by Mencken is as follows: “Think of the argument in it. Put it into the cold words of everyday. The doctrine is simply this: that the Union soldiers who died at Gettysburg sacrificed their lives to the cause...

Bob goes solo to give a point-by-point rebuttal to James Lindsay's recent essay arguing that "national divorce means national suicide." Bob argues that James employs inconsistent claims and ignores the tremendous economic boon to an independent Texas. James Lindsay's Article "National Divorce is National Suicide": Mises.org/HAP434a Bob's Book "Common Sense: The Case for an Independent Texas": Mises.org/HAP434b AntiWar.com Article on Gaza: Mises.org/HAP434c Scott...

May 16–18, 2024:  Join Dr. Joseph T. Salerno, Dr. Thomas J. DiLorenzo, Dr. Jörg Guido Hülsmann, Dr. Joseph T. Salerno, Dr. Mark Thornton, and more for a conference in honor of the 75th anniversary of Human Action at our campus in Auburn. Space is limited. Register here.  There are many good reasons why those who aspire to learn and practice sound economics should read Human Action. However, the reader should approach the book with care and humility. For a book as...

Taxes are not a contractual obligation between the state and the individuals it governs. By definition, taxes are noncontractual debts in which the state is the creditor, and the payment of these debts is demanded through coercion and violence. While there may be taxes linked to the performance of certain economic activities (e.g., the sale of products), all forms of this economic policy share the characteristic of being indifferent to the consent of those...

To the Chinese reader: It is safe to say that economics suffers at least as many fallacies and misunderstandings as any other field of study. Had physics suffered the same level of issues, we would not have seen much—if any—of the progress that we have made over the past centuries. Yet, economics—the queen of the social sciences—keeps being misrepresented, if not abused, and we suffer the consequences. Those consequences are primarily in the form of the “unseen,” or...

With the Houthis in Yemen firing on commercial ships in the Red Sea, the US is contemplating yet another Middle East conflict. As we see again, aggression leads to more aggression. Original Article: The Escalating Tensions in the Red Sea Are a Bad Omen [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter

All of us have experienced government road closures and the traffic and safety nightmares they create. Private roads may be the answer to solving the problem. Original Article: Privatizing Roads Solves the Problem of Road Closures [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter

The Rothbard Graduate Seminar (RGS) provides an opportunity to learn about Austrian economics at a high level. Original Article: Reflections on the Rothbard Graduate Seminar [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter