Bob Murphy

Author Archive

"Why Does God Allow Bad Things to Happen?" Joseph’s Answer

I have always loved the Genesis story of Joseph (Gen. 37-50). The runt in the family, he was a bit of a braggart and so his older brothers decided to kill him. But for various reasons the plan changes at the last second, and they “only” sell him into slavery. (What’s funny is that when […]

We Have Always Been At War With Troubled Assets

A little 1984 reference for ya… So for a brief window on Sunday, it seemed the government was considering buying “toxic” assets from Citigroup to get them off of its books. (See the first update in this CNBC story. HT2 CalculatedRisk via MR.) You know, the original rationale for the $700 billion, and then the […]

Are Libertarians Superlative in More Ways Than Political Analysis?

In an MR thread discussing Paul Samuelson’s (rather hypocritical) condemnation of libertarians, someone calling himself goodnessOfFit declared: As someone who identifies with libertarians more than the other guys I will say this. For some reason it (along with Objectiveism and Austrian Economics) attracts some of the rudeist a**holes you will ever meet online or in […]

Elected Officials Bomb Test on American Heritage

From MR, via Mark Steckbeck who (if it’s the same guy) was my colleague at Hillsdale College, and note that the regular indentation refers to Tyler’s words, while the indents are his quotes from a news story: —–US elected officials scored abysmally on a test measuring their civic knowledge, with an average grade of just […]

Murphy to Write The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Great Depression & the New Deal

I am now working on a new book in the PIG series, this on one the Depression and New Deal. It should come out sometime in the spring. It puts me in a bit of a quandary. When the book is available and I link to it from this blog, should I call it the […]

Megan McArdle Has Buyer’s Regret With Obama

First let’s set the stage. In a recent post, Megan McArdle links to this story and quotes the following: Chicago economist Austan Goolsbee — once the chief economic adviser to candidate Barack Obama — may be less of a shoo-in to chair Obama’s White House Council of Economic Advisers than his admirers once imagined. The […]

Canadian Court Rules That Obese Have "Right" to Two Airline Tickets

Nope, it’s not from The Onion. And no, it doesn’t mean that obese people have the right to buy two adjacent seats if they want: OTTAWA (Reuters) – Obese people have the right to two seats for the price of one on flights within Canada, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on Thursday. The high […]

Rob Bradley on Reason.tv Promoting His New Book

Rob Bradley, founder of the Institute for Energy Research (and yes, the guy who hired me), talks with Reason.tv about his new book, Capitalism at Work. (HT2 Dan Simmons.) Great job, Rob, you’re awesome! Seriously, Rob provides a great response to all the people who think Enron = deregulated capitalism. Rob worked for Enron for […]