Bob Murphy

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Potpourri Por Favor

* A bunch of Ron Paul fans have been griping about this WSJ article on the Fed, and I assumed they were just being touchy. But seriously just read the first three paragraphs. That might as well have titled it, “Give me a B! Give me an E! Give me an N!…” In case you […]

Mo’ Potpourri

* Hayek [sorry!!] Henry Hazlitt reviews Rothbard’s Man, Economy, and State. * Ben Bernanke’s ghost writer(s) have an op ed in the Wall Street Journal today. (HT2EPJ) Pinky, are you thinking what I’m thinking? * Bob Roddis has a Rothbard speech (in three parts) at his blog. * We are now officially in Bizarro World. […]

Potpourri

* Mario Rizzo laments the failure of macroeconomics. An interesting excerpt: As a member of NYU’s Ph.D. admissions committee for the past fifteen years, I have even seen applicants who apologize for taking “too many” philosophy courses in college. I have seen others remind us that although they have been interested in history and literature, […]

The Best Five-Minute-And-Seven-Second Argument Against Giving the Fed More Power

This is hilarious. (HT2LRC) The internet is awesome. I’m impressed that someone took the time to make this video without putting in an ad or something at the end. That’s just how much people can’t stand Bernanke; his public repudiation is its own reward.

Potpourri

* This guy emailed me to say that my Mish article went awry at the crucial point: When the creditor lends out money so that borrowers can spend more, the creditor is content to carry lower cash balances, because he’s now holding a claim on future income. I had considered this at the time I […]

"Honey, Scott Sumner’s Coming Over; Hide the China!"

Yesterday I sent Scott Sumner a goofy email, to the effect that he needed to blog more because he didn’t realize how much angst it caused me when he skipped a day. He warned me that I wouldn’t like his latest post. This is true: I used to think that people deserved what they earned, […]

My Solution to the Mind-Body Problem, and the Reconciliation of God’s Sovereignty With Free Will

Say what you will about Free Advice, but we tackle deep issues on this blog. No chatter about Joe the Plumber here (except when it’s important). In a previous post, I listed some of the major problems with materialism, which is the view that the only “real” things are atoms and energy, and everything else […]

Is "Identity Theft" Really Theft?

I am 95% persuaded by Stephan Kinsella’s classic article “Against Intellectual Property” [.pdf]. However, I think if we take Kinsella’s views seriously, it means that “identity theft” isn’t really theft. Let’s say someone fills out a credit card application claiming to be Robert Murphy, and has my date of birth, my address, my (anti)Social (in)Security […]