Was Jackson’s victory over the Second Bank of the United States a triumph for liberty, or did it merely expand federal authority under the guise of constraining it? His legacy is complicated, but there is much we can learn from it.
The media is trying to frame last week’s indictment of James Comey as a “norm-shattering” use of executive power for personal gain. In truth, it's just the latest chapter in a much older story: the struggle between elected and unelected officials.
In the West, the “tax states” we now live under are relatively modern institutions, and they developed from earlier non-state civil governments that were often not primarily funded by taxes.
By trying to protect dairy farmers and raise their incomes, the government created a massive cheese surplus, then gave it away, thus harming the farmers they were trying to support.
Created to assure that newly-freed slaves would receive equal legal protection, the Fourteenth Amendment has come to dominate federal jurisprudence.
According to mainstream economists, inflation aids economic growth while deflation impairs growth. Austrian economists, however, point out that in much of US history, economic growth was accompanied by deflation.
Rothbard wondered whether conservatives wished to conserve the status quo, adhere to the outlook of European rightists of the previous century, or perhaps merely favor gradual to sudden change.
Ludwig von Mises was born 144 years ago today. His economic masterpieces are as relevant and powerful today as when they were written. Mises still is the most eloquent voice against socialism.
One of the objections against anarcho-capitalism is that without government supervision, businesses will form cartels. However, free markets have their own ways of undermining these arrangements.
Individual voters have little reason to become informed. Politicians have strong incentives to pander rather than persuade. Partisans are rewarded for tribal loyalty rather than epistemic integrity.
