Tag Archives: 6b) Mises.org

Rick Rozoff recently sent me a message that helps us understand a basic feature of socialized medicine. It is closely associated with death. Socialists complain that the free market makes medical care “too expensive” for the poor and middle class. Because of this, they propose to provide “free” medical care for everybody. Of course, it isn’t free. It’s either paid for by taxes or inflation, which is itself a cruel tax.But once the “free” care is...

Those unfamiliar with American electoral politics may be puzzled by America’s presidential elections. Recently, it seems as though most elections result in two largely unpopular candidates winning their party’s nomination, but no viable third option emerges. While the United States does allow candidates to run as independents or under third-party banners, these candidates rarely make an impact at the national level.The reasons for this are largely found in the...

For more than thirty years, lecturing at Mises University has been the highlight of my academic year. Students arrive filled with excitement about this experience—a weeklong intellectual feast that for many of them will be life changing. What a delight for an economics professor like me to have the opportunity to teach free market, Austrian economics to intelligent, motivated, and wonderful young people with a genuine passion for learning. Opening night at Mises...

In case you haven’t read it lately—or perhaps you’ve never read it—the mission statement of the Mises Institute states that the Institute “exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian school of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.”For those who find this mission statement to too non-specific, I recommend consulting the decades’ worth of commentary and research...

President Biden recently raised taxes on American consumers and businesses and may have hastened the end of the dollar’s world reserve currency status. President Biden did this by increasing tariffs on Chinese imports.Specifically, President Biden raised tariffs on products including Chinese-produced steel and aluminum and many components imported from China for use in manufacturing electric vehicle batteries. Tariffs on Chinese-made semiconductors are rising from 25...

Central banks’ monetary policies are the most perverse government intervention. Their consequences are dire, last for a very long time, and people don’t perceive them as problems or don’t comprehend the damage they are doing. Monetary policy (monetary expansion and artificially low interest rates) has five main consequences that harm overall living standards.Price InflationThis is the most obvious consequence, and yet, it is very misunderstood by voters. If the money...

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed a bill on May 17 that removes all income taxes on capital gains from the sale of gold and silver, enabling the state to take an important step forward in reinforcing sound money principles.With this move, Alabama joins a growing number of states prioritizing the protection of citizens against the deleterious effects of inflation, currency debasement, and mounting federal debt.Enactment of Senate Bill 297 makes Alabama the 13th state...

In order to make the data “talk,” economists utilize a range of statistical methods that vary from highly complex models to a simple display of historical data. It is generally believed that one can organize historical data through quantitative methods into a useful body of information, which in turn can serve as the basis for assessing the economy.Now, it has been observed that declines in the unemployment rate are associated with a general rise in the prices of...

Late in his presidency Donald Trump renominated Dr. Judy Shelton to serve a fourteen-year term on the Fed’s seven-member Board of Governors, but given her written advocacy of the gold standard and her flip-flop during confirmation hearings, she failed to win the post.Had she been elected, she would be sitting among members whose job is to keep the public confused and looking the other way while counterfeiting the monopolistic monetary unit known as the Federal...

U.S. Representative Alex Mooney (R-WV) has re-introduced sound money legislation to remove all federal income taxation from gold and silver coins and bullion.The Monetary Metals Tax Neutrality Act (H.R. 8279) backed by the Sound Money Defense League, Money Metals Exchange, and free-market activists – would clarify that the sale or exchange of precious metals bullion and coins are not to be included in capital gains, losses, or any other type of federal income...