The alleged “liquidity crisis” The repercussions of the turmoil in the US subprime mortgage market are increasingly being felt around the world. What was initially thought to be a problem confined to a US credit market segment has increasingly transformed itself into an erosion of investor confidence in credit quality in general and, in some
Since the end of April 2001, the US dollar price of a troy ounce of gold has risen from US$264 to US$747 as of October 1, 2007 (Fig. 1) (November 1 spot is $783); in that period, gold has even “outperformed” the US stock market. To put it in less pleasant terms: the exchange value of the US dollar vis-à-vis gold — the world’s ultimate, freely
Symptoms of the Credit Crisis The turmoil in the US subprime mortgage market has developed into an international credit crisis. It is eroding investor confidence in credit and credit-related products and, most important, raising concerns about the solidity of the banking sector, as evidenced by banks’ elevated funding terms and diminished stock
As the tea from the shattered chests of the famed Boston “Tea Party” began to darken the waters of Boston Harbor that night in 1773, a virus infiltrated the moral bloodstream of the embryonic nation that became America. To this day, Americans’ views of such matters remain so poisoned that even voices that otherwise support peace and freedom
The Republican Party has enjoyed undeserved credit among some libertarians for appearing to oppose that program of interference in voluntary transactions known as the Minimum Wage. Now , it appears that a forty-percent increase over the next two years might be OK after all. Has the curmudgeonly Republican Party finally developed a concern for the
I am perennially embarrassed to admit that I enjoy watching Fox TV’s 24 . It unintentionally reveals both subtle and overt problems for lovers of liberty. Its major theme is an ongoing struggle between terrorists with evil machinations and federal agents (also, presumably, with evil machinations). Now, terrorists are apparently difficult to catch
Like many intellectuals at the turn of the 19th century, Oscar Wilde was both interested in the problems of society and a proponent of socialism. Though Wilde was more concerned with criticizing Victorian society via his satirical works than puzzling over the problems of social organization, he did briefly examine social philosophy in his
In this modern, post-–Bretton Woods world of “monetary order” and coordinated central-bank inflation, many who are otherwise sympathetic to the arguments against central banks believe that the elimination of central banking is an unattainable, utopian dream. For a real-world example of how a system of market-chosen monetary policy would work in
Like clockwork, and as projected by the few good economists who understand the trade cycle, the liquidation phase of the current cycle began — once again, due to a central-bank-induced credit crisis. And yet again the credit crisis began in year 7 of the cycle, after close to 6 years of economic expansion, that is, the artificially pushed money
In his famous book A Theory of Justice , John Rawls develops two principles that must be adopted as the framework for a just society. He claims that behind a veil of ignorance all members would choose such principles as the framework of their society. I will explore whether a society that excludes coercion as its framework would satisfy those
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.