Rothbard

Archive for Rothbard

The Fed and Conspiracies

One of the quickest ways to assess a person’s worldview is to ask, “How do you feel about conspiracy theories?” Murray Rothbard considered the very term to be loaded, used to discredit what were often sober and factual analyses of why certain government policies were actually implemented. In a recent post, Austrian economist Steve Horwitz […]

More on Drug Cartels and Private Law

I realized from the reaction of some people here that I did not assure readers I had fully understood Gene Callahan’s point, when he claimed that drug cartels today offer a real-world glimpse into what Rothbardian defense agencies would look like. So I wrote a follow-up post to be sure I acknowledged Gene’s exact point, […]

Potpourri

==> David R. Henderson reports on media bias in the Denver school shooting (one and two). ==> Some of these kids’ test answers are literally “laugh out loud” funny. Be sure you get what’s going on with the Chinese immigrant one. ==> A classic Rothbard essay on dealing with water shortages. Yes, he lays out […]

MIT’s Gruber on ObamaCare

[UPDATE below.] I am not being dramatic for purposes of blog excitement: It didn’t really hit me just how awful ObamaCare was going to be, until I read this interview with the chief intellectual architect behind it, MIT’s Jon Gruber. (HT2 MR) My understanding is that Gruber:ObamaCare::Krugman:ObamaStimulus. (If anyone thinks that’s a bad analogy, please […]

Thoughts on My Debate With David Friedman

After reviewing our debate (which I’m reposting below), I realized there were a few points where I misunderstood what Friedman was saying. It will not surprise you to hear that I think there were also several points where he misunderstood me. (For one obvious example, of course I know that modern physicists think the universe […]

Potpourri

==> My thoughts on Earth Day. ==> In the context of the standard debates, I would be classified as an “open borders” kind of guy, but I think that is a terrible label. Somebody should ask Bryan Caplan why they don’t call it “freedom of migration” or “no CheckPoint Charlies” or something. “Open borders” sounds […]

Potpourri

==> If you’re interested in the economics of climate change, I throw out some factoids in this blog post that may surprise you. ==> Somebody asked me to find this (I had cited it in my Rothbard study guide), so I thought I’d relay it to y’all: It’s a wonderful essay by Bohm-Bawerk that includes […]

Inside a Mob Family

I was listening to this Fresh Air interview with the son of mobster Frank Calabrese. The interview was from 2011 but Frank Sr. apparently just died on Christmas, so they re-broadcast it. It’s pretty good stuff; there are details about loan sharking and killing a guy who is wily, etc. The mob movies are always […]