Subcommittee Hearing on the Fed and Oil Prices
Ah, Desolation Jones posts the video faster than the Congressional staffers get it to me. Yet another example of the private sector’s efficiency…
If any of you are going to pop a bag of corn and watch this whole thing, can you pleeeease do a Murphy compilation? I am assuming it’s not that much of a pain for somebody (unlike me) who knows how the intertubes work.
Murphy Written Testimony to Congress on the Fed and Oil Prices
This is what I formally submitted to the great deliberative body, but the actual subcommittee hearing was surprisingly boisterous. I really hope they make the video available. Incredibly, Dennis Kucinich out of nowhere asked me what I thought should be done with the Fed, so I thought it would be fine to answer frankly. (I had to tell somebody in the cab ride to the airport; I gave the scoop to Wenzel. He is the Lois Lane to my…never mind.)
Some funny things from the day:
==> The hearing was scheduled for 1:30pm. We got there and the staffers apologetically explained, “Yeah, they just started a series of votes. We hope to start by 2:30.” (We actually started around 3.) I would have thought they would know ahead of time when voting would occur. Clearly we need more funding to upgrade their Microsoft Outlook.
==> Right off the bat I started joking around with Dean Baker (the only witness who was there to hold up the Kucinich perspective versus Republican Jim Jordan). We had a bunch of time to kill obviously. After about 15 minutes, I said to the young Institute for Energy Research woman who was babysitting me, “So Dr. Baker and I debated on NPR a year ago.” (I said it in a tongue-in-cheek “I’m…kind of a big deal” way.) With complete sincerity, Dean Baker goes, “We did?”
Policing for Profit
I use that video of highway robbery in Tennessee to endorse the Rothbardian view of government. An excerpt:
Although his views are understandably perceived as radical, in essence all Murray Rothbard stated was that politicians and other government officials should be subject to the same legal and moral rules as everybody else. If it’s a crime for, say, Bill Gates to take my money at gunpoint while giving me the latest version of Windows, then why is it acceptable for Barack Obama to take my money at gunpoint while giving me the latest Predator drone attack in Pakistan?
The other “radical” aspect of Rothbardian thought is that he opposed monopolies in police and judicial services. Everybody knows that in normal settings, a monopoly (enforced through the threat of violence) restricts output, reduces quality, and raises prices for the customer. Most people would see the danger and folly of giving a monopoly to, say, a particular car company, or to a single manufacturer of men’s suits. Yet people think it’s perfectly normal to give a monopoly to the group that has all the guns and can decide to throw people in cages for life.
In the Pit of Despair
The resourceful von Pepe sends this link. I’m not making any promises, but it’s possible it will have streaming coverage of the testimony of me, Dean Baker, and all my friends. (It starts today–Wednesday–at 1:30pm Eastern time.) The topic is the Federal Reserve and gasoline prices.
Bob Murphy, the Best Ideologue Money Can Buy
Details here. But I warn you, I’m no Keynesian scholar. (HT2 Bob Roddis)
Night of Clarity 2011
This is footage from the after-dinner speakers’ panel at last year’s event. Fun, frivolity, and fu fu drinks. (Well two of the three.)
Sign up now for this year’s event, with the theme of Andrew Jackson’s slaying of the Second Bank of the United States.
Problems With the Cost Theory of Value
I list some of them here. Now you can sleep at night.
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