Today’s mainstream economics maintains that inflation — defined as an ongoing rise of the economy’s price level over time — is “a prerequisite for a growing and thriving world.” [1] A great number of arguments in support of the “inflationist view” have been put forward. For instance, inflation would be needed to allow real wages and employment
“The notion that inflation is everywhere and always a monetary phenomenon is no longer a controversial proposition.” – Alan Greenspan, January 3, 2004 Caroline Baum recently noted that the Fed just doesn’t get the credit it deserves for the effect it has on overall economic conditions at any point in time. [1] And, as I often do (because Ms.
“Government cannot make man richer, but it can make him poorer.” – Ludwig von Mises Personal character and money are linked. No, we are not implying that a person of great wealth is necessarily an individual with high character. All one needs to do is look at the moral sewer known as Wall Street in order to comprehend how a whole host of elites
The recent flow of funds data released by the Fed shows that a level of private debt continues to soar. For instance, home mortgages as a percentage of disposable income rose to 97.9% in Q2 from 97% in the quarter before. The non-financial debt-to-nominal-GDP ratio stood at a record 2.1 in Q2 the same figure as in the previous quarter. Some
Poor Alan Greenspan — ex Ruler of Rates. Once he stood before masses of moneymen who dare not cough lest they miss a word, an inflection even. Did he begin his presentation with “Ahem”, “Ummm”, “Uhhh”? Depending, men rushed to open windows high above Gotham to either throw themselves out or holler instructions to waiting minions who executed
Nostalgia for a lost but better world is what one feels when following the growing state-pension scandal. The San Diego, California, case is the most famous, but the details are the same in every state: whistle blowers, broken promises, mismanagement, graft, and corruption, followed by toppled politicos, lawsuits, a clamor to raise cash, and
New wage data indicate what you might have suspected. Average wages are not keeping up with the cost of living. This has given rise to claims that we live in the first sustained period of economic growth that has failed to offer a similarly sustained increase in real wages. Indeed, wages have declined in real terms by 2 percent in the last three
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.