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The Lamps Are Going Out
Reprinted from Taki’s Magazine Last night the streetlights in my pleasant little English market town were switched off at midnight. In fact they’ve been switching them off at midnight for two months,...
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Eating Right
Reprinted from the Freeman Food has always been political. Throughout history, armies have razed crops and demographics have shifted in response to hunger. Political correctness now drives the civics...
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Government Spending and Regime Uncertainty
Reprinted from The Independent Institute In 1997, my article “Regime Uncertainty” appeared in The Independent Review. In the article, I sought to explain and elaborate on an idea that I believed, and...
View ArticleMy letter to the NY Times re: Why the Fed is perplexed about interest rates
Re: Fed Appears to Hesitate on Raising Interest Rates Dear Sirs: Austrian School economists are not at all perplexed about what to do with interest rates, because our understanding of economics and...
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The Government Bundle: Would You Like War with Your Health Care?
A recent business innovation that has seen wide market acceptance is the bundling of goods and services. For example, telecommunications providers such as Bell and Rogers often bundle their phone and...
View ArticleThe Greek deal won’t solve anything
Since the Greek deal contains absolutely zero pro-market reforms, it won’t fix anything. Raising taxes, cutting down on tax evasion and smuggling, even if successful in raising tax revenue, simply...
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The Austrian Solution to Greece
Arnold Kling asks economists to fill in the blank: “Greece will achieve economic success when ____” There is an answer from the Austrian perspective, but first I want to highlight some thoughts from...
View ArticleThe futility of bank regulation in a repressed monetary regime
Re: The Futility of Bank Regulation Under a Monetary Regime of Financial Repression, by Jeffrey P. Snider I have admired the writing of Mr. Snider for some time now. His latest missive is long and...
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Water Rights and Chinatown
Does a warning mean anything if nobody listens? With the precarious case of Lake Mead, doomsayers never seem to break the surface. For years, reports of the lake’s declining levels have popped up in...
View ArticleMy letter to the NY Times re: Japan’s Solar Mandates Lack Free Market...
Re: Japan’s Growth in Solar Power Falters as Utilities Balk Dear Sirs: One of the prime reasons for the failure of Japan’s solar power initiatives is the government’s ignorance of the coordinating...
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Who Owns the Water?
Reprinted from LewRockwell.com Dear Mr. Read: Congratulations on publishing the stimulating and challenging article on “Ownership and Control of Water” in the November issue of Ideas On Liberty. It is...
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Net Neutrality: Triumph of the Ruling Class
Reprinted from Liberty.me A triumph of “free expression and democratic principles”? How stupid do they think we are? It’s been painful to watch the gradual tightening of government control in the name...
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Why We Should Use the Word “Taxpayer”
Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig has been on a tear lately. Her near-constant attacking of libertarians has brought her “vertically-integrated digital media company” a good deal of traffic. For this I say:...
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How and How Not to Desocialize
Reprinted from Mises.org Introduction It is generally acknowledged that bureaucrats are obstructing the process, but confusion abounds among free-market proponents themselves. Matters are scarcely...
View ArticleMy letter to the NY Times re: New Pay Day Loan regs will hurt the working poor
Re: Agency wants to rein in payday loans Dear Sirs: Often payday lenders are the last tool of the working poor to forestall having utilities cut off, having a car repossessed (which can lead to losing...
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Oil Boom and Government Glut
Reprinted from the Freeman It’s a sweet thing when Uncle Sam becomes a mega-buyer of your product. While the price of oil continues to plunge to record lows, drivers are celebrating, and oil executives...
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Statistics: Achilles’ Heel of Government
This essay was published in Essays on Liberty, VIII (Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Foundation for Economic Education, 1961), pp.255–261, and in The Freeman, June 1961, pp. 40–44.) It was republished in The...
View ArticleMy recent interview on Power Trading Radio
Banking Expert: Germany Should Leave the European Union April 3rd, 2015 Patrick Barron is a consultant to the banking industry. He teaches Austrian school economics at the University of Iowa and Bank...
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The Battle Against Political Extremism
It is becoming more common for the mainstream media to warn Canadians about the threats posed by domestic extremists. This was emphasized by Vic Toews, the Canadian Minister of Public Safety, in his...
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The Silk Road Back to Leviathan?
Reprinted from the Freeman “The Silk Road might have started as a libertarian experiment,” writes Henry Farrell in Aeon magazine, “but it was doomed to end as a fiefdom run by pirate kings.” Ross...
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