As an avid viewer of the Suze Orman show, I’ve noticed one interesting thing: Suze Orman doesn’t like tax-refunds. The reason for this isn’t that she dislikes the idea of people getting their own money back. Rather, she dislikes the idea of people giving the government a series of free (0% interest) loans, averaging 6 months. When a viewer called
On April 5, 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the confiscation of gold from US citizens , in one of the most heinous acts of mass-robbery imaginable. Below is the text of Roosevelt’s order. Forbidding the Hoarding of Gold Coin, Gold Bullion and Gold Certificates By virtue of the authority vested in me by Section 5(b) of the Act of October 6,
Well, you can praise someone one minute, and have to harshly criticize them the next. On the Suze Orman show, Suze advised a highly indebted guest to declare bankruptcy on approximately $70K of credit-card debt. Telling him about the legal benefits of declaring bankruptcy, she went a step further and asked him to tell at least 10 of his friend’s
Two interesting articles caught my attention: What I Like About Scrooge by Steven E. Landsburg and In Defense of Markets and Misers . Landsburg’s basic argument is that the reason’s philanthropists and politics have such a good reputation is that the benefits of such are concentrated, while the costs are disbursed, despite the costs exceeding the
After reading Michael Crichton’s latest book, State of Fear , I bought a copy of it as a Christmas present for a family member. This isn’t the “normal” Michael Crichton book. For one thing, unlike many of his books, there isn’t an over-aggressive company engaging in reckless behaviour. Rather, the target of scorn is rightfully the environmentalist
These notes are from the lecture Trade Barriers, Outsourcing, and Economic Development , given at the Mises University. Any errors are mine, feel free to point them out so that I can correct them. This lecture was given by Prof. DiLorenzo. Introduction Outsourcing is a big issue, although less than 1% of the job-force is outsourced. Tarriffs
These notes are from the lecture The Case Against All Antitrust Legislation , given at the Mises University. Any errors are mine, feel free to point them out so that I can correct them. This lecture was given by Prof. DiLorenzo. History Railroads coming together in 1800s. Centralized meat packing in Chicago. Shipped dressed beef long
The CRN has an interesting section on the Top 25 IT Executives of 2004 . Some names won’t be surprising: Steve Balmer (CEO of Microsoft) and Michael Dell (Chairman of Dell). However, one name may be somewhat surprising, especially to those not well acquainted with the field: Linus Torvalds (fellow of the Open Source Development Labs) comes in as
I asked the following question on a discussion list: In one of Tom Palmer’s flames of Stephan Kinsella, Palmer accused Hoppe of being an “embarassment to Austrian economists” because he believed that in the unhampered free market, all unemployment would be voluntary (Hoppe’s statement here ). Kinsella cited a passage from Mises showing that this
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.