Bob Murphy

Author Archive

I Finally Understand Matt Yglesias

Tyler Cowen brings to our attention this revealing passage from Yglesias: At the same time, I’ve come to be increasingly baffled by the high degree cynicism and immorality displayed in big-time politics. For example, Senators who genuinely do believe that carbon dioxide emissions are contributing to a global climate crisis seem to think nothing of […]

Assessing the State of the Golden State

Pacific Research Institute (PRI) has released part one of a new series called, California Prosperity Project. This particular study is, “Assessing the State of the Golden State.” In this one, we are just trying to get California citizens and policymakers to admit there is a problem.

Best Evidence Yet That Recession Hasn’t Bottomed Out

This is a two-part argument. First: U.S. Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke on Friday said prospects for a return to global economic growth looked good “in the near term,” the clearest signal yet the world’s most powerful central banker thinks a recovery is at hand. “After contracting sharply over the past year, economic activity appears […]

The FBI Looking to Hire More Bloggers?

Jesse Johnson passed along this story–and he actually did it days ago, when it was fresh!–about the FBI hiring “right-wing” bloggers. I called them up, but they explained that I am serving their false-flag purposes just fine, for free. They assure me that several agents read my blog religiously. All joking aside, here is the […]

Is Amazon Making Some Kind of Purchasing Power Joke?

So I want to read up on the German hyperinflation, what with that old adage about history repeating itself. I asked (who else?) David Gordon for a book recommendation, and he suggested Adam Fergusson’s When Money Dies. But when I look it up on Amazon, there is one copy, priced at $761.29. Am I somehow […]

Stiglitz Knows Dollar Crash Is Coming, Too

As CNBC reports: A new global reserve system is needed after the global financial crisis exposed the U.S. dollar-based system as flawed and risky, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz said on Friday. The “dollar now is yielding almost zero return,” Stiglitz said in a speech at the United Nations regional headquarters in Bangkok. “The current […]

This Recession’s Got Legs

More “unexpected” bad news from CNBC… Jobless claims show “surprise” gains, and mortgage delinquencies aren’t confined to subprime borrowers: Late payments on U.S. mortgages increased to a record in the second quarter, with almost one in eight homeowners delinquent or in the foreclosure process, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Thursday. A sharp drop in subprime […]

Dress Rehearsal for 2010? Nixon Defends Dollar From the Evil Speculators

This has been floating around the internet (e.g. LRC), but I just watched it this evening. Rarely have I seen such a video clip packed so densely with economic fallacies and simple lies. But for our purposes, note the emphasis on protecting American workers and the dollar from international speculators. I think we will be […]