All Posts

Archive for All Posts

Ironic Quote of the Month

On CNBC’s main page: “I’m convinced the markets are really out of control,” German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told the FT. “That is why we need really effective regulation, in the sense of creating a properly functioning market mechanism.” Tell me about it! The German government bans naked short-selling, and then the idiotic markets start […]

Another Move Towards Complete Lawlessness

This is really ominous: The Supreme Court ruled today that convicted sex offenders can be imprisoned even after their sentences expire if they are determined to be mentally ill and sexually dangerous. In a decision by Justice Stephen Breyer, the Court upheld a federal law that allows dangerous sex offenders to remain in prison if […]

Believing Is Seeing: Free Banking Controversy

[Three UPDATEs below…] Joe Salerno launched a provocative assault on the Austrian “free bankers” (an unfortunate term since of course people who disagree with them are not in favor of unfree banking). In reply, both Steve Horwitz and Larry White offered quotes from Mises which they thought proved that the issue was at best ambiguous, […]

Paul on the Brain

I am getting ready to turn in, here at the Campaign for Liberty event in Iowa. Ron Paul’s plane was delayed, and Tom Woods had to give an impromptu speech in front of several hundred people to fill the void. What was really tricky was that Tom didn’t even know how long he had to […]

The PIGS Must Go: Flood-Sale Prices!

It’s spring cleaning time and I want to get rid of my inventory. I had bulked up on copies of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism and The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Great Depression and the New Deal for the April 15 Tea Party deal. Now I’ve got a couple dozen lying around my […]

Rothbard Anecdote

I am tutoring Vaughn Kraft on various Austrian books, and he just sent me this email: Several libertarians in the 70’s wrote (Browne, Ringer, Tuccille, etc.) about Karl Hess’s wonderful disrespect for the state and his political jaunt through the whole political spectrum. So anyway, as Goldwater’s chief political speechwriter, Barry referred to Hess as […]

It’s On…

Clash of the econogeeks. Bryan Caplan and I apparently have another wager. UPDATE: Because I fear that my genius is (as usual) being misunderstood, let me do one last iteration on this and I promise I will drop it. In the comments of Bryan’s new post, one of his fans congratulated Bryan on setting me […]

D’oh!

I am writing something for a Tea Party-type audience, and had this intro to Hayek: One of the scourges of the 20th century was the arrogant belief by many intellectuals that they could overturn the inherited social order and remake society from scratch. In their view, if the existing customs and social practices couldn’t be […]