I don't know if anyone has actually said, "We are all social engineers now," but someone might as well have. (The variation "We are all Keynesians now" was declared a long time ago, even by Milton Friedman, although see this.) When I say "all," of course, I don't mean...
Economics
Economic Nationalism and Corporatism Go Hand in Hand
by John Weeks | Sep 17, 2024 | Economics, Featured Articles
Former President Donald Trump could return to power in 2025. We can expect a second Trump administration to give us more of the same: economic nationalism. This is concerning because economic nationalism degrades our economy, impoverishes our citizens, and promotes...
Politicians Can’t Think In the Long-Term
by Owen Ashworth | Sep 11, 2024 | Economics, Featured Articles
I’m a fan of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). For those unaware, this is the most dominant mixed martial arts (MMA) organization in the world. They put on fantastic pay-per-views at least once a month where fighters put every part of their being out there to...
TGIF: What Government Has Wrought
by Sheldon Richman | Sep 6, 2024 | Economics, Featured Articles, Justice, Libertarianism, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
Imagine two candidates for president, and ask yourself who is more likely to win. Candidate A observes that people are facing generally rising prices. Their total at the supermarket checkout is higher than last year. Filling up the car at the gas station takes a...
TGIF: Doing Good at a Profit
by Sheldon Richman | Aug 30, 2024 | Economics, Featured Articles, Justice, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
[P]eople started to believe that the bourgeoisie and its economic activities of trade and innovation were virtuous, or at least tolerable. In every successful lurch into modern riches from Holland in 1650 to the United States in 1900 to China in 2000, one sees a...
TGIF: Back to Barbarism
by Sheldon Richman | Aug 23, 2024 | Economics, Featured Articles, Justice, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
Has Kamala Harris inadvertently done free-market advocates a favor? Let's not get too hopeful, but maybe. How so? By pandering to voters and marketing herself as a consumer watchdog who will stamp out (undefined) supermarket "price gouging." This could create teaching...
TGIF: Gaslighting
by Sheldon Richman | Aug 16, 2024 | Economics, Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, History, Justice, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
I wonder who's gaslighting us now. Here are some of the major perpetrators: The pundits and pseudo-economists of all tribes who try to convince us that the government can spend, borrow, and create money almost without limit or harm. What happens when interest on the...
Geoeconomics, Geopolitics, and Montesquieu
by Wendy McElroy | Aug 15, 2024 | Economics, Featured Articles, Foreign Policy
How nations approach foreign policy, including war, shifts dramatically with time. A shift in American foreign policy seems to be speeding up or, perhaps, the change is merely reaching the logical conclusion of policies developed in the post-World War II decades....