Bob Murphy

Author Archive

"End the Fed" Rallies Planned for 38 Cities on Saturday

I just learned of a coordinated protest outside of every Federal Reserve bank planned for this Saturday (i.e. tomorrow) November 22. I would like to point interested parties to a main website but I spent 5 minutes with Google and couldn’t find it, just proving that leftists are way better at organizing than libertarians. Anyway, […]

Sen. Jim Inhofe: Paulson Warned Worse Than Depression If We Didn’t Fork Over the Money

According to Republican Senator Jim Inhofe, Henry Paulson warned that things would turn worse than the Depression if he didn’t get his $700 billion to buy toxic assets, and then changed his tune as soon as he had the money. Here is an exchange (including the audio) between Inhofe and a radio interviewer: Pat Campbell: […]

The Housing Bubble: Greenspan or Asian Savers?

UPDATED BELOW In today’s Mises.org article, I take on Henderson and Hummel’s recent Cato piece that said it was a foreign savings glut, not Fed policy, that caused the housing bubble.* The conclusion: David Henderson and Jeffrey Rogers Hummel have tried to exonerate Greenspan from his alleged role in the housing bubble. However, to do […]

Two Questions on the Pirate Capture of the Saudi Oil Tanker

First question: After looking at the size of this thing, can someone explain how the heck some guys with automatic weapons in speedboats were able to capture it? Couldn’t the crew just lock the doors and say, “Go away, we know it’s not a candy gram!” ? Second question: When the news first broke, do […]

Is There A Simple Connection Between Monetary Aggregates and Prices?

I think we are in store for massive yr/yr price inflation (where 8% < massive < 100%) within the next 6 - 12 months. My reasons are qualitative: (1) Bernanke is terrified of deflation and has allowed the base to grow like crazy, (2) real output is going to tank, and (3) once the panic […]

Ron Paul Shows Ben Bernanke Has No Backup Plan (?!)

In the video below (HT2LRC), Ron Paul asks Fed Chairman Bernanke whether there are any plans to replace the “dead fiat dollar system” with one based on gold. Now I realize a lot of his fans may have seemed silly in their over-the-top enthusiasm during the primary; I understand why habitual smirkers were amused. But […]

Paul Krugman Makes Sure We Understand How Crazy He Is

It is really amazing to see how glib Paul Krugman can be about his insane recommendations. (HT2MR) I can’t take this apart right now; it surely deserves its own Mises.org article. For now, let us just read it and “enjoy”: It’s a curious thing that even now, when we are clearly in a liquidity trap, […]

Robert Nozick Is Overrated; or, Pete Boettke Needs to Get Out More

In a recent blog post, Pete Boettke tells us that Robert Nozick is the smartest man he’s ever met. In the comments, I mention that I have thought Nozick was overrated since the time I saw him give a talk at NYU, and he botched the “Edgeworth Box” (a diagram from economics). Some people were […]