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Murphy Twin Spin

At LRC I have a revised version of my critique of Landsburg’s case against the existence of God. At Mises.org I have an article explaining why Haiti is not in anarchy: If many Americans thought it was “just the right thing to do” to send guys with big guns to Haiti in order to make […]

Economic Wisdom, Old School

In preparing an economics curriculum for junior high / high school students, I was reminded of just how amazing Bastiat’s “The Petition of the Candlemakers” and Leonard Read’s “I, Pencil” are. If you have never read them and are interested in free market economics, I highly recommend that you print them out and sit by […]

Hayek/Keynes Rap Video

[UPDATE #2 below.] [UPDATE below.] I think my job requires me to blog this, much as I had to teach the multiplier theory to my macro students. What interested me most about this video is that the hotel receptionist apparently skipped work in order to get in the limo with Keynes. Now that’s a smooth […]

Doug French on the Japanese Lesson

One of the crazier aspects of our financial and economic discourse is that the Great Depression is cited as the result of laissez-faire, when in fact Hoover and then FDR intervened more heavily in a recession than any prior presidents in US history. By the same token, we are told that the U.S. government needs […]

Murphy Interview

Josiah Schmidt interviewed me on various economic issues. The platform is the political campaign of Gary Johnson, but I am not endorsing him. (I’m not condemning him either.) An excerpt: Josiah Schmidt: Who is your biggest inspiration in writing your books and articles? Robert Murphy: It’s a tie between Mises and his (unofficial) student Murray […]

Not a Good Argument For Bernanke

James Hamilton is gung-ho in favor of Bernanke’s reconfirmation, and says this (HT2MR): I sometimes hear Bernanke’s critics speak as if there is some kind of shallowness to his world view, as if he is somehow incapable of seeing what is obvious to those with common sense. If you want a bumper-sticker-size summary of what […]

The Policeman Is Not Your Friend, Guy-in-Nothing-But-Swim-Trunks-Takes-3-to-the-Chest edition

As I have said before, I only pass along the most outrageous stories about excessive police force. This one qualifies (HT2LRC): Heilman was shot in the chest by Le Sueur County Sheriff’s investigator Todd Waldron on Monday at Valley View Apartments after the Heilman car committed an alleged traffic violation and Heilman allegedly resisted arrest. […]

Tom Woods on Bank "Fee" Etc.

This is such a difficult issue on which to comment. On the one hand, you don’t want to say, “Free market, ra ra!” because that’s obviously not what’s going on here. On the other hand, the new “fee” and regulations obviously won’t shore up the financial sector. Here’s Tom Woods’ attempt to walk this fine […]