Spoken Mises

There is general agreement that Bush, and the Republican Party in general, is in favor of tax cuts. Let's consider the validity of this assumption. Do Bush's policies demonstrate that he's in favor of reducing taxes? He has engaged in tax shifting and in hiding the burdens of his expansions of the welfare and warfare state, and he has demonstrated that he's opposed to lowering our tax burdens. Deep into his second term, we have plenty of evidence to show that Bush should be blamed for increasing our tax burdens at a phenomenal pace. Mark Brandly looks at the numbers.

(Original Text)

Bush has NOT cut taxes (1.93 MB)

It is possible, writes P. Gardner Goldsmith, that Jefferson and Madison, Paine and Mason did not go far enough in dismantling the apparatus of the state in its generic sense, but their efforts were remarkable, and one can be satisfied that they made their arguments very clear, set them down in plain text, and tried to insure for us that government would not interfere to a large extent in our lives. It would be nice if both paleoconservatives and neoconservatives would honor their efforts, and expand the defense of individual liberty for future generations. Before they do, they need to understand the traps inherent in supporting even a limited government protecting our "natural rights."

(Original Text)

Beautiful Chaos (13.22 MB)

In a stunning contradiction of the principles enshrined in the Unites States Constitution, writes P. Gardner Goldsmith, the US Supreme Court on April 3 denied petitions of certiorari to two plaintiffs who have been held in legal limbo for five years at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. By doing so, the justices have added another burdensome car to the long train of abuses the federal government has sent barreling down the tracks at US citizens.

(Original Text)

Guantanamo: A Long Train of Congressional, Executive, and Now, Judicial Abuses (1.93 MB)

For a real-world example of how a system of market-chosen monetary policy would work in the absence of a central bank, one need not look to the past, writes David Saied. An example exists in present-day Central America, in the Republic of Panama, a country that has lived without a central bank since its independence, with a very successful and stable macroeconomic environment. There is no deposit insurance and no lender of last resort, so banks have to act in a responsible manner. Any bad loans will be paid by the stockholders; no one will bail these banks out if they get into trouble.

(Original Text)

Panama Has No Central Bank (1.41 MB)

What was wrong with the leftists' worldview in the 1990s and today? Essentially it is this: they see society as unworkable by itself. They believe it has fundamental flaws and deep-rooted conflicts that keep it in some sort of structural imbalance. All these conflicts and disequilibria cry out for government fixes, for leftists are certain that there is no social problem that a good dose of power can't solve. The problem is that the right shares that view, only with different applications.

(Original Text)

Our Kind of Central Planning (5.85 MB)

There was never any absolute necessity for the machine, writes Garet Garrett. Life could exist without it, only, of course on a much smaller tapestry. It is use that creates the necessity for the machine. The scientific use of physical and mechanical knowledge to increase both the agricultural and the industrial means of life has made it possible in our time to sustain on the earth a population that could not otherwise exist, that would otherwise have perished before it was born. This is a fact we keep forgetting. It is the fact that relates human life to science in a vital sense.

(Original Text)

Truth in a Piston (4.23 MB)

Jim Fedako is convinced that deregulation of healthcare would only improve the system. Break the healthcare guilds that exist all the way from medical education through licensing, reduce government interventions, and watch the healthcare system improve at Intel speed. Please do not advocate for a government-run healthcare system, or even its predecessor, universal coverage. Think Walter Reed or the Soviets before going that route.

(Original Text)

A Free Market in Childbirth (1.51 MB)

In contemporary policy discussions, writes Roger Garrison, the interest rate occupies center stage if only because the much-watched federal funds rate is the Federal Reserve's sole surviving policy target. (A quarter-century ago, the Fed lost the ability to target the money supply — or even to identify a distinctly relevant monetary magnitude.) By its very nature an extra-market institution, the Federal Reserve is expected to exert a countervailing force. It is to move against market forces that, presumably, would otherwise be disruptive. In accordance with the Keynesian vision, market interest rates fail to coordinate saving and investment decisions, leaving saving decisions dependent only on incomes and leaving investment decisions dominated by Keynes's "animal spirits."

(Original Text)

Natural and Neutral Rates of Interest in Theory and Policy Formulation (6.49 MB)

In their various speeches Fed policy makers have been emphasizing the importance of price stability for economic growth, writes Frank Shostak. The policy of price stability is therefore a policy of stabilizing an arbitrary price index, which supposedly represents the price level. The main tool that the Fed employs to influence the general price level is the manipulation of the federal funds interest rate — and hence the interest rate structure — which falsifies the key signal for capital allocation. This causes businesses to overinvest in tools and machinery and underinvest in the production of non-capital goods.

(Original Text)

Does Fed Transparency Fuel Growth? (1.84 MB)

(Original Text)

Libertarianism is a Revolutionary Movement (2.39 MB)