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The Power of Faith

Several years ago–when I was still an atheist–I wrote an article called “Believing Is Seeing.” My point was that even something as apparently “objective” as sensory perceptions can differ, based on the mindset of the person interpreting them. For example, in college I had a t-shirt business with my friend, and one of our first […]

Bruce Bartlett Rips Bush, then Turns Turret Towards Ron Paul

Peter Klein notifies us of this Bruce Bartlett column taking libertarians to task for their narrow focus on economic issues. (I note with irony that Bartlett’s two books listed in his bio are Reaganomics: Supply-Side Economics in Action and Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy. I haven’t read either […]

Zeitgeist Addendum

Recently my cousin contacted me out of the blue (I hadn’t spoken with him in several years) and said that he had stumbled upon Austrian economics and was now voraciously consuming all kinds of material. We discussed the apathy of the average American–maybe I’ll start writing columns about AAA–and how frustrating/depressing/infuriating it was that so […]

President Obama: "Bob Murphy is a trusted advisor."

Well, he didn’t actually say that, but it must be what he’s thinking. My argument is bulletproof: (1) On May 27, EPJ wondered, “What can Geithner say to get China to continue to buy U.S. securities aggressively? Nothing.” (2) In the comments, I used my extensive training in game theory and Walt Disney to explain […]

Schadenfreude in Advertising

On the way from the Dallas-Forth Worth airport to the hotel, I saw a billboard saying: DID YOUR BANK TAKE A BAILOUT?We didn’t. I couldn’t make out the full name of the bank, because some trees blocked the bottom of the billboard. But I think it started with “Washington.” I was tempted to do a […]

What Will It Take to End the Recession?

Mario Rizzo has (as usual) an interesting post over at ThinkMarkets on the possible end of the present recession. I personally am withholding judgment on whether the “recession is over,” as many analysts seem to think. But even if, years from now, the NBER finally decides that yep, the recession lasted from Dec 2007 to […]

USPS Forever Stamps as Inflation Hedge?

I’m going to be at the Mises Circle in Dallas (or is it Fort Worth?) this weekend, so blogging may be sparse. In the meantime, can somebody convince me why I shouldn’t buy $1000 worth of “Forever” stamps from the Post Office? Absolute worst scenario, Krugman is right–and yes, that would be the worst scenario […]

The Connection Between Government Debt and Price Inflation

Back when I was a college professor, I would always drill home to my students that government budget deficits didn’t cause (price) inflation per se. For example, if the country were on a gold standard with 100% reserves in the banking system, then the total quantity of money wouldn’t have anything to do with how […]