The words of Lewis Carroll are often cited in reference to the culture wars and the redefinition of words whose meaning used to be regarded as plain.“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that’s all.”This is the fate that befell...
Read More »Disappointing News
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Read More »Simon Guenzl vs. Dave Smith on Open Borders
Tu ne cede malis, sed contra audentior ito Website powered by Mises Institute donors Mises Institute is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions are tax-deductible to the full extent the law allows. Tax ID# 52-1263436 [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter
Read More »Why Politicians and Bureaucrats Choose Politics over Sound Economics
We are taught from a very young age; “Government works for you”, or “the Government is the embodiment of the populous.” We accept these slogans blindly and carry on day to day. However, reality does not match up with these catch phrases. This is painfully clear when looking at the incentives that face these officeholders. After examining just a few, it’s clear we ought to adopt slogans that align with reality like, “the Government works for themselves.”The Big...
Read More »The Non-Austrian Theory of the Nonbusiness Cycle
The Prophets of Doomby Neema ParviniImprint Academic, 2023; 227 pp.It was to be expected that Neema Parvini would give us an excellent book, and he has not disappointed us. Parvini is an outstanding Shakespeare critic and has written an important book on property rights, The Defenders of Liberty. In The Prophets of Doom, he discusses with marvelous concision a number of thinkers who have rejected the notion of universal historical progress, advocating instead a...
Read More »Savor the Taste of Independence, Grow Your Own!
Growing your own tomatoes can be rewarding far beyond the sweet taste of your crop.The traditional extra benefits keep bringing many of us back season after season. If you’re a gardener, you know the great feeling of acting directly on nature to produce the food you eat. Raising tomatoes gets you outside and sweating, and usually provides a sense of accomplishment. It encourages discipline and planning and demands a bit of knowledge and a ton of patience.And when you...
Read More »Milei Tries to Tackle Rent Control in Argentina
The major cities of the world have been facing housing problems for years. With the increase of immigrants and of people experiencing homelessness, the discussion about housing regulation has intensified.The West, once a bastion of ideas of freedom and free markets, continues to harbor central planners whose delusions of omnipotence are paid for by the misfortune of ordinary people as the regulation attempts of these planners fail because such rental laws were not...
Read More »The Population Explosion Disaster that Never Happened
I do not hear much talk about world population these days, the way I did growing up in the 1960s and ’70s. People were supposedly starving, dying, with tens of millions more sure to die. The problem back then was that there were just too many, well, people.Population numbers coming out of China and India were unthinkable, and projections indicated many more people were going to be born into this dire situation. There were over twenty thousand people in my hometown...
Read More »On 100-Percent Reserves, Milei, and Argentina
Unsurprisingly, Javier Milei´s monetary reform plans are discussed intensively in libertarian circles. For the first time, a real libertarian reform of the monetary and financial system is in sight. One of the main issues of contentions is Milei´s plan to introduce a 100% reserve banking system. Such a move would be truly revolutionary. The Argentinian banking system would be sound and stable. Harmful credit expansion would be ruled out. Unfortunately, but perhaps...
Read More »Unmasking Democracy: A Moral Virtue or a Flawed Tool?
This year, more than sixty countries will hold or have already held elections; a quarter of the population will participate in democracy. Most people in the free world would consider that a victory for liberalism (“liberalism” in the traditional meaning of the word, not the corrupted definition used in the United States). Democracy is often staged as the epitome of freedom and prosperity, a noble system where the voices of the people not only reign supreme, but a...
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