Philipp Bagus presents us with a stunning article to end the year. In “Will There Be QE3, QE4, QE5…?“ he brilliantly shreds the myths and fallacies around the humbug which is “Quantitative Easing.” Of particular importance are his comments on language and
Archive for December, 2010
Tocquevillean Resolution
Besides retrospectives and predictions, another common practice during this season is the making of New Year’s resolutions. Those of us with a classical liberal view of things ought naturally commit to persisting in the struggle to reduce the influence of government in
The Regina Manifesto
The Regina Manifesto was the programme of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and was adopted at the first national convention of the CCF held in Regina, Saskatchewan in 1933. The primary goal of the “Regina Manifesto” was to eradicate the system
Comments are off for this post
About Forecasting
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is going to 16,000. China will undergo a democratic revolution. The Euro will finally collapse. Stephen Harper’s Conservatives will finally win a majority government. Yes, it’s that time of year when predictions abound. In today’s
Socialism - Part 1
PART I Â Â LIBERALISM AND SOCIALISM Chapter 1 - Ownership 1 The Nature of Ownership Regarded as a sociological category ownership appears as the power to use economic goods. An owner is he who disposes of an economic good. Thus the
On the Right to Medical Insurance
Many claim that health care is a human right and that only an unjust society such as our own would fail to provide adequate coverage in this regard. The problem with this claim is that it is but a variant
Comments are off for this post
Frank Chardorov on War and the State
It is a well known fact that during a war the State acquires powers which it does not relinquish when hostilities are over.
Commodity Prices Signaling Inflation
One of the knocks against the Austrian critique of recent monetary policy is that inflation has not erupted as predicted. Paul Krugman just made this point in another fine example of the derisive rhetorical style that he has honed since becoming a
Telling Health Care Stats
Following up on Predrag Rajsic’s article today, “Time as a Price”, here are a number of illuminating charts generated from the StatsCan website: Source: Statistics Canada, CANSIM table 105-3002. Source: Statistics Canada, CANSIM table 105-3003 In other words, wait times
Time as a Price
Canadian emergency rooms are infamous for their long wait times.[ref]The long wait times, in fact, prevail in most of the Canadian healthcare services, not only emergency rooms.[/ref] A recent study has shown that in most of them the average wait
Portugal Succeeds in Decriminalizing Drugs
Ten years ago, Portugal was faced with a drug addiction epidemic. Instead of beefing up anti-drug laws , and giving the police more resources to enforce the existing prohibitionist regime, it decriminalized the possession and use of drugs for personal
Comments are off for this post
It’s snowing because it’s warming?
Faced with an article like this, one can’t help wondering whether, to use Karl Popper’s language, one is ultimately dealing with an unfalsifiable thesis: Judah Cohen, “Bundle Up, It’s Global Warming”, New York Times, Dec. 26/2010 George Bragues teaches Business
In Hoc Anno Domini
On Christmas Eve, newspapers typically devote an editorial to the significance of the holiday ahead. No editorial does this more profoundly than “In Hoc Anno Domini“, which has appeared in The Wall Street Journal every year since 1949. Written by
Comments are off for this post
How Economics Saved Christmas
On a lighter note, that superb “Austrian” economist and writer Art Carden posted the following charming take on the Dr Seuss classic to his Forbes blog. MDH How Economics Saved Christmas By ART CARDEN Dec. 9 2010 - 9:11 am ~
Fabricated Myths about War
The following was posted by Malou Innocent to the CATO @ Liberty blog site December 22, 2010. All Canadian’s would do well to reflect on this given the country has been deeply enmeshed in (and paid an unimaginable price for) a morbid
Economic Calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth - ch. 2
2.The Nature of Economic Calculation Every man who, in the course of economic life, takes a choice between the satisfaction of one need as against another, eo ipso makes a judgment of value. Such judgments of value at once include
Christmas, Charity and the Welfare State
People often ponder the meaning of Christmas. It’s not clear what the great mystery exactly is. Christmas commemorates the birth of Jesus. True enough, more traditionalist Christians differ with so-called “progressives” about the divinity of Jesus. Whether or not, therefore,
The IMF has its say on Canada
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is out with its annual report on Canada’s economy. No one with even the slightest familiarity with IMF reports would identify that organization as Austrian in its orientation. Even so, the analysis provided by the
Time to get Canada’s Fiscal House in Order
Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and Prime Minister Stephen Harper recently made separate statements about their concerns with Canadians’ rising debt levels. Risk taking by Canadians has increased to the point where we are now
Comments are off for this post
Wendy McElroy: Ominous Copyright Ruling Stands
The following was originally posted by Wendy McElroy on The Freeman blog site at: http://www.thefreemanonline.org/headline/copyright-ruling/ In my view, Wendy (a Canadian) is this country’s greatest living libertarian treasure. She has written on the absurdity of “intellectual property” since at least 1980
