20
Oct
2017
Potpourri
==> Episode 108 of Contra Krugman, where Krugman worries about replacing the whiz kids who’ve been running the Fed.
==> Alex Tabarrok talks about a vindication (?) of some of the points Phil Magness made in our critique of Piketty. (NOTE: I know Alex and he wasn’t insulting us.) I haven’t had time to read the paper though.
==> Jesus Huerta De Soto gives a provocative talk on God and liberty.
==> From me: Myths about the CPP repeal.
==> Joe Salerno on Mises’ writings on immigration. I had to skim it but he has stuff in here I had never seen from Mises before.
Mises seems to believe that the problems from immigration stem from antagonisms inevitable between peoples who speak different languages if one of them is to control the interventionist government. Given his personal history and his contemporary context it is understandable why he would focus on language.
I think this is incorrect. It’s close to correct, but I think the real issue is not language, but ideology. This ties in to my belief that only a democratic society is justified in restricting immigration. A people who vary in many characteristics but agree about what kind of government they ought to have ought to be able to coexist within the same state-for our purposes, the groups agreeing about a state which oppresses the other group is a disagreement about the kind of government they ought to have. As long as the kind of government and government policy a country has is determined by voting, self determination by individuals of their community, of their nation, implies a right to exclude people from their nation who don’t agree about what kind of government they ought to have.
Someone else with a dislike of Krugman…
http://www.alhambrapartners.com/2017/10/20/political-economics/
Personally, I think Yellen is about the best we can expect under the circumstances… she has raised rates gradually and that’s what needs to be done.