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The Homo Economicus Myth
The Homo Economicus Myth Among the larger albatrosses burdening the economics profession is the idea of Homo economicus. To this day, most economics undergraduates hear about it in the context of neoclassical economics. Homo economicus, we are told, is the ideal economic man who always seeks to maximize profits and minimize costs. He only acts “rationally,” and rationalism is […]
The Fed Is a Purely Political Institution, and It’s Definitely Not a Bank.
The Fed Is a Purely Political Institution, and It’s Definitely Not a Bank. Those who know Wall Street lore sometimes recall that Fed chairman William Miller—Paul Volcker’s immediate predecessor—joked that most Americans believed the Federal Reserve was either an Indian reservation, a wildlife preserve, or a brand of whiskey. The Fed, of course, is none of […]
No Surprise: Wall Street Wants to Raise the Target Inflation Rate above 2 Percent
No Surprise: Wall Street Wants to Raise the Target Inflation Rate above 2 Percent Price inflation in the United States remains stubbornly high, with October’s print at 7.7 percent. The Fed’s preferred measure, so-called core inflation is only two-tenths of a percent below 40-year highs, at 6.3 percent. Yet, it was just last year that […]
The Fed Is Winging It: A 75 Basis-Point Hike “Seemed Like the Right Thing”
The Fed Is Winging It: A 75 Basis-Point Hike “Seemed Like the Right Thing” The Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) today announced an increase of 75 basis points to the target federal funds rate, raising the rate to 1.75% from 1%. June’s meeting today was the third meeting this year at which the FOMC has […]
Ending Fiat Money Won’t Destroy the State
Ending Fiat Money Won’t Destroy the State A certain meme has become popular among advocates of both gold and cryptocurrencies. This is the “Fix the money, fix the world” meme. This slogan is based on the idea that by switching to some commodity money—be it crypto or metal—and abandoning fiat currency, the world will improve […]
The Fed’s Inflation Is behind the Supply Chain Mess
The Fed’s Inflation Is behind the Supply Chain Mess It seems supporters of the Biden administration finally settled on a narrative they like for explaining away supply chain shortages. Here’s the administration’s talking point: the US economy is rolling along so well that Americans are demanding huge amounts of goods. That’s overwhelming the supply chain and […]
The COVID-19 “Lockdowns” Are What Twenty-First-Century Mob Rule Looks Like
The COVID-19 “Lockdowns” Are What Twenty-First-Century Mob Rule Looks Like As of April 6, forty-one states have statewide “stay-at-home” decrees in place. These orders vary widely from place to place. In some states, there are long lists of exempted industries including marijuana dispensaries, liquor stores, hardware stores, and of course, grocery stores. In some states with these […]
How the US Wages War to Prop up the Dollar
How the US Wages War to Prop up the Dollar At Counterpunch, Michael Hudson has penned an important article that outlines the important connections between US foreign policy, oil, and the US dollar. In short, US foreign policy is geared very much toward controlling oil resources as part of a larger strategy to prop up the US dollar. […]
How to Avoid Civil War: Decentralization, Nullification, Secession
How to Avoid Civil War: Decentralization, Nullification, Secession It’s becoming more and more apparent that the United States will not be going back to “business as usual” after Donald Trump leaves office, and it is easy to imagine that the anti-Trump parties will use their return to power as an opportunity to settle scores against […]
Electoral College: Why We Must Decentralize Democracy
Electoral College: Why We Must Decentralize Democracy Although it was long assumed that the electoral college favored Democrats — and this assumption continued right up to election night 2016 — Democrats in the United States have now decided the electoral college is a bad thing. Thus, we continue to see legislative efforts to do away with the […]
The Creepy Line: A New Documentary on the Immense Power of Tech Giants
The Creepy Line: A New Documentary on the Immense Power of Tech Giants The Creepy Line, a new documentary by director M.A. Taylor, is now streaming at Amazon Prime. It takes a disturbing look at how Google and Facebook influence their users’ view of the world, and how the companies have pioneered new ways of […]
No, Voting Doesn’t Mean You “Support the System”
No, Voting Doesn’t Mean You “Support the System” Listen to Ryan McMaken’s commentary on the Radio Rothbard podcast. I admit it. I voted In my home state of Colorado, all voting is by mailed paper ballots. That means, if you’re a registered voter, the county clerk sends you a ballot every election. And then — […]
No Matter How You Vote, Politicians Don’t Represent You
No Matter How You Vote, Politicians Don’t Represent You One of the most foundational assumptions behind modern democracy is that the elected officials somehow represent the interests of those who elected them. Advocates for the political status quo flog this position repeatedly, claiming that taxation and the regulatory state are all morally legitimate because the […]
Why Bad Economics Makes Such Good Politics
Why Bad Economics Makes Such Good Politics As the election nears, politicians will more and more frantically point out what wonderful favors they’ve done for the voters — or what favors they will do for the voters, if elected. Of course, they never mean all the voters. They mean groups or individuals within the voting […]
The Fed’s Easy-Money Policies Aren’t Helping Income Growth
The Fed’s Easy-Money Policies Aren’t Helping Income Growth Back in August, Bloomberg interviewed Karen Petrou about her research on quantitative easing and the Fed’s policies since the 2008 financial crisis. What she has discovered has not been encouraging for people who aren’t already high-income, and in recent research presented to the New York Fed, she […]
