Bob Murphy

Author Archive

Your Presidential Choice: Two Names for More of the Same

Dick Clark ruffles some feathers at Suffolk University Law School in this editorial. I know my student newspapers didn’t have articles this cool…except maybe for the ones I wrote.

Those Who Fail to Understand Past Booms Are Doomed to Repeat Busts

If you understand Austrian business cycle theory–which says that recessions are the necessary consequence of malinvestments made during a government-induced boom–then this comment by a “strategist” is hilarious: “I’m not talking about 50 basis points … we really have to take rates down to effectively zero,” Nightingale said, pointing out that U.S. rates “got down […]

Schiff vs. Siegel

This is great. Siegel actually implies that the gold standard caused the Great Depression. The debate starts at 2:20. (HT2LRC.) Siegel lays down the gauntlet and says he will be vindicated in six months. Let’s wait and see!

Is the Current Mess a Sign of "Market Failure"? Stealing from Myself

I realize this is lazy, but oh well. I just wrote a fairly comprehensive email to some colleagues, complaining about the ease with which people are throwing around the term “market failure” to describe our current mess. Besides the fact that (in my opinion) there were all sorts of government policies that caused/exacerbated the situation, […]

That’s Not My King

Warning to agnostic / atheist readers: This post will involve the J-word, but you’ll see why. I am not going out of my way to make you feel uncomfortable. Over at the Austrian Economists blog, Pete Leeson directs readers to a cool survey in the Freakonomics column, asking four experts (one of whom is Leeson) […]

"Credit Cards May Be Next Trouble Spot in Crisis"

So warns CNBC. Jeez, I could have told them that ever since my first semester in grad school! On a more serious note, I actually advise in this article that paying down your credit card debts might be the wrong play in the present environment. NOTE, I am NOT saying, “Go charge a bunch of […]

Lew Rockwell Has Short Interview With Bob Murphy

These LRC podcasts are pretty convenient; you don’t need to download anything. And note how much better a radio voice I have when I’m not calling in! (Of course, LR’s voice is better.)

Official Yr/Yr CPI Inflation: 4.9%

Well, the headlines are all telling us that there was no rise in prices from August to September. Maybe, but here I explain why I’m skeptical. What this CNBC story doesn’t say is that from September 07 to September 08, even the government’s official CPI (for all urban consumers) rose 4.9%.* So keep that in […]