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Who’s Being Dogmatic?

My op ed in the San Diego Union-Tribune generated some hate mail. The best was this: Mr. Murphy, in your article published in the San Diego Union Sunday Oct. 25,2009 the first conclusion you come to is that the Obama economic stimulus was a failure and you use the predictions of the administration to support […]

Is the Recession Really Ending?

My answer is “no” in the San Diego Union-Tribune. I’ve gotten some hate mail on this one. My favorite so far was a guy telling me to read up on the Great Depression so I’d see the beneficial effects of government intervention. An excerpt: The government and media analysts should stop talking as if the […]

Elijah Speaks Truth to Power

Last week I noted that Solomon’s son tried to exact higher taxes from the Israelites, leading them to revolt and split the kingdom in two. From there it was all downhill. The two Books of Kings just chronicle successor after successor who was even worse than the last guy. And I don’t mean they cheat […]

The Problem With Pigou

From an email I wrote to a group of colleagues who were arguing over whether it was really true that fossil fuel use only had negative externalities. (One of the guys was arguing that cheap energy confers benefits on society, just as surely as an opera house.) Sorry I’m late replying to this; swamped with […]

Corporatists 237, Bob Murphy 3

Wow I’m sorry that I missed this, loyal readers. I really need to stop outsourcing my financial news gathering to places like CNBC. It was only after watching a video interview with “special master for executive compensation” (that’s actually his title, which is hardly less worrisome than “pay czar”) Ken Feinberg that I realized his […]

Most Days, It’s Embarrassing To Be an Economist

Silas Barta has a good takedown of this goofy blog post from an economics professor, Daniel Hamermesh, and his attempt to impart the lessons of economics to his students: Each year in my 500-student principles class I gather a group of eight students and tell them that I will auction a $20 bill to the […]

A Scary Jim Manzi Post on the Economy

I hate to see what he writes on Halloween: WHISTLING PAST THE GRAVEYARD Some good news from Wall Street: The improvement in sentiment in Wall Street may be traced almost directly to the encouraging reports which the financial community is receiving from the leading industries of the country, according to investment trust executives. They say […]

I’m Glad The Conservatives Are There to Protect the Legacy of the Founders

A few months ago, Glenn Beck confidently stated that Thomas Paine was an atheist. No, he was a Deist. It’s true that in The Age of Reason Paine was very harsh on the Christian God, but Paine was so offended because he thought the Christian worldview mocked the grandeur of the true Creator of the […]