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The Government Has Paralyzed the Credit Markets

The government (including the Federal Reserve) has paralyzed the credit markets. It has attacked the markets in many ways, but one particularly insidious move was the inject a massive amount of new reserves, and then pay interest to keep them bottled up. This is one of the most perverse outcomes of the Fed’s combination of […]

Two Kinds of People

There is one group of people in America who truly care about social injustice, but they don’t consider the violation of property rights to be high on the list. That’s why they approve government programs that involve redistribution. On the other hand, there are Americans who take property rights seriously; they get tingles when they […]

Why Discounting Matters in the Climate Change Policy Debate

Someone who is working on these matters emailed me in regard to this article. Here is a self-explanatory portion of my response. I’m trying to show the problems of “treating our grandchildren as just as entitled to happiness as we are.” In other words, I’m trying to show why you need to use market interest […]

Three Strikes Against "Three Strikes"

As Oprah-esque as it sounds to say this, I think there were really just a handful of teachers who really influenced the way I now view the world. And one of them was Gary Wolfram, in his Public Choice class at Hillsdale College. I am still amazed at Wolfram’s abilities. If my memory serves, he […]

Science or Not? CRU Admits It No Longer Has Original Temperature Records

This is a great example of where suspicion of the other side’s motives can really juice up a conflict. The global warming debate is chock full of this tendency. Check out this story, which is based on true facts (as I understand them): The world’s source for global temperature record admits it’s lost or destroyed […]

Pentagon Seeks Authority to Post 379,000 Troops in U.S.

Reader cypress brings this alarming story to our attention. I am not familiar with the website so I can’t vouch for the claims, but here’s what it says: The Pentagon has approached Congress to grant the Secretary of Defense the authority to post almost 400,000 military personnel throughout the United States in times of emergency […]

On the Other Hand: A Sample of Brad DeLong

Every once in a while it occurs to me that it’s possible my worldview has a serious flaw in it, and that the people who really drive me through the roof might actually be right. Fortunately, such moments soon pass and I can get back to blogging. But just to make sure you guys realize […]

Yet Another Reason They Will Legalize Marijuana, Soon

Lately I have been giving economic arguments that suggest the government will soon have to legalize marijuana. I’ve come up with an independent argument. The authorities over the next few years will need to legalize marijuana in order to clean out the prisons. They will need to make room for people like you.