USA Today notes in an article today that “States and local governments across the USA are preparing to cash in valuable public assets for one-time windfalls that could reap tens of billions of dollars.” Though there is talk in the article of “operations that private enterprise might operate better” one wonders if this is any sort of victory for
A fascinating report by Jeff Porten in TidBITS on the 16th Computers, Freedom, and Privacy Conference. An amusing bit comes with his description of a speech given by Stewart Baker, Assistant Secretary for Policy at the Department of Homeland Security: He opened his speech by asking how many audience members considered themselves to be
From a Fortune article on Cubicles: The great mistake : Another critical factor in the cubicle’s rapid ascent was Uncle Sam. During the 1960s, to stimulate business spending, the Treasury created new rules for depreciating assets. The changes specified clearer ranges for depreciation and established a shorter life for furniture and equipment, vs.
About 20 of us from the Austrian Scholars Conference caught V for Vendetta Friday night. It’s not everyday that you get to see a great libertarian, even anarchist, film on opening weekend with libertarians from around the country! Here is my review for the film page : V for Vendetta (2006) “People shouldn’t fear their governments. Governments
USA Today has broken the story that, with the cooperation of AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, the NSA has been collecting (nearly) all our phone call records since shortly after 9/11: “It’s the largest database ever assembled in the world,” said one person, who, like the others who agreed to talk about the NSA’s activities, declined to be identified
Mises has emphasized the central role of calculation in a developed economic order. This is not an allegorical term but quite literal. He means adding, subtracting and otherwise calculating with numbers... Numbers that are money prices arising from private property. But the theoretical relationship that Mises points out, the dependance of rational
USA Today’s front page headline today really isn’t that far from mine: “Cutting back at the pump: Gas use drops as prices rise”. But USA Today writer James Healey’s economic insight doesn’t stop there... It looks like the supply curve slopes up! Fuel conservation might be short-lived. For one thing, prices are likely to drop. EIA says,
You would think that given how important commerce and entrepreneurship have been in America, there would be many films celebrating the entrepreneur. After several years of working on the film page and receiving hundreds of recommendations for films I had come up with a grand total of one on entrepreneurship: the wonderful Tucker . Thanks to an
In contrast to the doomsday scenarios that predict we will soon run out of various natural resources, George Reisman has pointed out that the entire planet is a big ball of chemicals that, with the right technology, can be used to meet human wants. “...for all practical purposes, [natural resources] are infinite.” This ain’t just theory folks. An
John Brätland’s article on “sustainable development” in the QJAE recently came online . I would like to use this as an opportunity not only to highlight this important article but also to point out some of the major Austrian work on environmental issues. Brätland’s article deals with the economic theory of intergenerational sustainability, more
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.