You’d think banks had all the political friends they need. After all, court cases have been going their way since 1811 when Master of the Rolls Sir William Grant ruled in Carr v. Carr that the term “debts” mentioned in a will included a cash balance in a bank deposit account. Grant ruled that since the money had been paid generally into the bank
In the Tulipmania crash the common Witte Croonen bulb, that rose in price twenty-six times in January 1637, fell to one-twentieth of its peak price a week later From 1717 to 1720, shares of John Law’s Mississippi Company were bid up by frenzied Frenchmen from 500 livres to a high of 10,100 livres, before Law was run out of France and the shares
President Obama thinks he knows how to soothe everyone’s pain at the pump. The White House will unveil a $52 million proposal Tuesday at the White House, where he will be joined by Attorney General Eric Holder. According to the Associated Press, the proposal said it aims to detect and deter illegal manipulation by energy speculators, the type of
In a wonderful piece for the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page, hedge fund CIO Mark Spitznagel explains how the 1% receive the money first and benefit from the Federal Reserve’s policies. The Fed, having gone on an unprecedented credit expansion spree, has benefited the recipients who were first in line at the trough: banks (imagine borrowing
In the modern world, a country’s natural resources have very little to do whether goods are on the nation’s shelves for people to buy. Singapore isn’t rich in resources, neither is Hong Kong, but both have vibrant market economies and shoppers can find whatever their collective heart’s desire on the shelves of stores in these two cities. On the
A year ago the Treasury Department bragged about an analysis that claimed the government’s massive bank bailout in response to the 2008 financial crisis (TARP) would actually end up turning a $24 million profit. At the time, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said that while the government’s overriding objective was to “break the back of the
There is word of more capital destruction in South America. It’s hard to keep up with the Chavz es , but down Argentina way, President Cristina Kirchner announced that her government is seizing a majority stake in oil company YPF SA, owned by Repsol YPF of Spain, the largest oil company in the world. The New York Times reports from Rio De Janeiro,
Today’s New York Times is a treasure trove of stories of government standing in the way of commerce. Anyone visiting the Big Apple knows hotel lodging costs an arm and a leg. Some enterprising property owners in the city and outer boroughs have stepped in to fill consumer demand and make some money in the process. And with the aid of internet
The Bernanke Fed’s Jelly Donut force-feeding of the economy isn’t making a dent in the unemployment rate, but it’s inspiring a scream at the art auction. Carol Vogel reports for The New York Times , It took 12 nail-biting minutes and five eager bidders for Edvard Munch’s famed 1895 pastel of “The Scream” to sell for $119.9 million, becoming the
Not to worry 99 percenters, Ben Bernanke’s Fed policy of just-north-of-zero interest rates is starting to gain traction. Sure, unemployment is still elevated, and the number of people on food stamps still enormous, but the news is out that the collateral loan obligation (CLO) market is starting to come alive. Rest assured that more money rushing
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.