Bob Murphy

Author Archive

Euro vs. the Dollar

I am one of the contributors to a new financial newsletter out of Ireland. My topic this month was to predict the relative fortunes of the dollar vs. euro. I said I thought that by 3Q the dollar would fall at least to $1.50 / euro and probably more. I’m going to ask the editor […]

"Well do you have a better idea??"

I just answered some questions for a Slovakian business weekly. (I’ll post it here if/when it’s online.) One of the questions was what I would recommend to the governments of the world, since (as would be clear in my earlier answers) I didn’t think “stimulus” spending programs were a good idea. My answer: Governments should […]

President Obama’s First Speech

Just heard it while getting lunch. I had to turn to the NPR feed because Rush kept making comments and it was annoying me. Obama certainly is a wonderful speaker, and if you are going to be stuck listening to somebody for 4 years, it could be worse. I loved his themes on foreign relations, […]

Another Push for "Master Resource"

I mentioned this new website when it first launched, but for those interested in energy issues, “Master Resource” is definitely worth checking out. Now that people are back from vacations etc., there are a bunch of new posts going up. In particular, check out Chip Knappenberger, who is a co-author with Pat Michaels. I loved […]

Does God Want You to Slaughter Your Enemies?

For this week’s post involving the finer things, I want to discuss this news story (HT2LRC): All civilians living in Gaza are collectively guilty for Kassam attacks on Sderot, former Sephardi chief rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu has written in a letter to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Eliyahu ruled that there was absolutely no moral prohibition against […]

Potpourri

* NASA scientist James Hansen has declared that Obama has four years in which to save the planet (from manmade climate change). I don’t see what the rush is. As Dr. Hans Zarkhov (formerly at NASA) can attest, the last time the fate of the planet was at stake, the hero waited until there were […]

Becker Cribs From Murphy?

Von Pepe suggests so, pointing out this passage: [W]ith unemployment at 7% to 8% of the labor force, it is impossible to target effective spending programs that primarily utilize unemployed workers, or underemployed capital. Spending on infrastructure, and especially on health, energy, and education, will mainly attract employed persons from other activities to the activities […]