Bob Murphy

Author Archive

Cliven Bundy’s Bodyguard vs. Smug CNN Guy

This CNN guy doesn’t know what to do.

Challenging Landsburg on HFT

You guys thought I was nuts reading my analysis of the Bundy standoff? Well now I’m publicly accusing Steve Landsburg of a basic math mistake. But I have a lot of life insurance, remember. An excerpt of the part where we’re still chums: Reading guys like Paul Krugman rail against the socially useless financial sector, […]

Al Pacino Agrees 100% With My Cliven Bundy Analysis

A lot of people flippantly say that Gigli is the worst movie ever made, but that is clearly refuted by Al Pacino’s cameo. Substitute “intimidate” for “extort” and “agency” for “prosecutor,” and you have my response to what’s been going on in Nevada. WARNING: This is Al Pacino, so there’s f-bombs galore.

Rothbardian Thoughts on Campaign Finance

As usual, I am not satisfied with even the libertarian commentary on the Supreme Court ruling that came out earlier this month. So I am making some points that may be elementary but nonetheless should be stressed. An excerpt: (2) The reason politicians are interested in “campaign finance reform” is that it gives them even […]

Yes, You Need to Choose Your Words Carefully When You’re Fighting Against an Evil Empire

As usual, people are misconstruing my remarks (while they get mad at me for not making sure others don’t misconstrue Cliven Bundy’s remarks). “I mean gosh Murphy, are you saying that it’s OK to shoot Cliven Bundy if he uses the wrong word?!” No, I’m not saying that. But if you believe (as many of […]

Two Quick Questions on Piketty

Help me out here. I haven’t read the book yet, but I gather a really important insight is that we currently live in a world where r > g, meaning the real return on capital exceeds the real growth rate of the economy. Everyone takes this to imply that the 1% (or the 0.01%, if […]

Old White Rich (?) Guys Complain About Privilege

Krugman links to his panel discussion at CUNY on Piketty’s book. Here’s the screenshot: Piketty himself is only 42. (But it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s in the 1% himself this year or next, depending on the structure of his book contract.) Anyway it just jumped out at me to make this observation. Carry on.

Lessons From Waco

Regarding the Bundy Ranch standoff, I think everybody should review what happened at Waco. For this purpose, the summary at Wikipedia is good enough: The Waco siege (also known as the Waco Massacre) was a siege of a compound belonging to the religious group Branch Davidians by American federal and Texas state law enforcement and […]