There’s plenty of blame for the financial crisis being spread around. Those on the left say Wall Street wasn’t regulated enough, while those on the right claim government mandates required lenders to make bad loans. The argument is made that the Federal Reserve was too loose, while the other side says Bernanke wasn’t loose enough. Some blame
It’s often thought that the technology sector is the least regulated and therefore has been the most productive during the past couple of decades. Famously, Bill Gates had no interest in politics. “In the beginning, Microsoft tried to ignore the powerful political forces arrayed against it, hunkering down in Redmond, Washington, to focus on its
What everyone who pays attention already knows hit the front page the other day: Social Security will exhaust its reserves by 2033. That’s 3 years sooner than previously projected, and, most importantly, a scant 21 years away for those hoping to retrieve some of what they put in over the years. The Social Security Administration is kind enough to
When most people think of starting a business, or contemplate others doing so, the common belief is that a person should go into a business they have knowledge in — not just something they know about, but something they know lots about. But is expert knowledge of a particular industry really a prerequisite to opening a new business in that
The right instructor can change a student’s life. I know. It happened to me. Looking through the course catalog at UNLV years ago, I noticed the class “EC 742 — History of Economic Thought. Instructor: Rothbard.” I didn’t know who Murray Rothbard was. I hadn’t ever heard of Austrian economics. I didn’t know what a libertarian was. I was in my late
With the campaign carnival stopping in Nevada this week for Saturday’s Republican caucus, the Las Vegas Sun’s J. Patrick Coolican takes Ron Paul to task for Paul’s call to end the Fed and return to gold. Coolican writes , To start with, inflation is not a problem right now. The Fed has effectively controlled inflation since Paul Volcker, who was
Being a billionaire isn’t such an exclusive group anymore. Back in 1998, there were reportedly 230 billionaires worldwide. Now, according to Forbes magazine, the number has grown to 1,226. The United States still has the most with 425, but now 58 countries have billionaires. Russia and China have nearly 100 each. Nobody seems too excited about
Here in South Africa there is plenty of talk of nationalizing the nation’s mines, especially the country’s platinum mines. After all, SA is no longer the world leader in gold production, while the country still produces 80% of the world’s platinum. In fact platinum group metals (PGM) account for the bulk of SA’s mineral value. However, as Nazmeera
“They’re a damn nuisance, they are,” offered the man as we walked toward a group of tourists excitedly shooting pictures of two African Penguins standing silently in a drain pipe. A nuisance? We were among dozens of tourists from all over the world walking toward the Boulders in Simon’s Town to see–the Boulder Colony of African Penguins. The
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.