Bob Murphy

Author Archive

Reagan Recovery Blows Obama’s Out of the Water

Writing this reminded me of when I was a junior high right-winger who loved National Review. Anyway, the Obama apologists have been out in force lately, absurdly arguing that the recovery under him was better than under Reagan. Riiiiight. Purists, fear not; I included my caveats in both the beginning and ending of the article.

Blog Issues

Hey everybody, I know the blog was down for some time today. This happens often enough that I’m seriously looking into switching hosts.

Potpourri

==> I know, I know, I have a grudge when it comes to Krugman. When he says things that will mislead 98% of his readers on what the published literature says, I feel the need to blog about it. Call me crazy. In this case, I contrast Krugman’s remarks about the irrelevance of tax cuts […]

Secession Solves Social Strife

My latest LibertyChat, amplifying a remark Tom Woods made in a recent podcast. My conclusion: Last thing: Whenever someone brings up secession as a strategy for modern American politics, some wiseguy will say, “Didn’t the Civil War show that doesn’t work?” This is such a monstrous quip that it’s hard to know how to respond. […]

Acton and Market Monetarism

==> For those in the Grand Rapids area, on November 4 I’ll be speaking at the Acton Institute on the importance of sound money. ==> Speaking of which, how about those Market Monetarists? In this Mises CA post I pit Nick Rowe against Scott Sumner.

City of Houston Subpoenas Pastors’ Sermons

I saw several people denouncing this on social media, and I assumed they were exaggerating. But no, the city of Houston has been subpoenaing local pastors for written copies of their sermons. As the Houston Chronicle explains: Houston’s embattled equal rights ordinance took another legal turn this week when it surfaced that city attorneys, in […]

Would Milton Friedman Have Supported a Carbon Tax?

My sources say no. And one of them is Milton Friedman from 1999. (Thanks to Keshav–I think?–for digging that one up.)

Potpourri

==> My column at FEE talking about outsourcing in the context of the “Million Jobs Project.” ==> No joke, I submitted this to the blog of unnecessary quotation marks. ==> Glenn Greenwald explains why endless war is now literally US doctrine. ==> A Kontradiction or a contradiction? Krugman vs. Krugman on carbon taxes. ==> Don […]