Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Western sanctions program can best be compared to an interrogator who first amputates a victim’s arm and then, brandishing the severed appendage, threatens to begin slitting its wrist and tearing out...
Economics
Powell Promises More Rate Hikes
by Ryan McMaken | Nov 3, 2022 | Economics, Featured Articles
The Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) raised the target federal funds rate 75 basis points on Wednesday, marking the fourth 75-basis-point hike in a row since June. The federal funds rate is now the highest it's been since December of 2007 when...
Biden, Our Boneheaded Chip Czar
by Jim Bovard | Nov 2, 2022 | Economics, Featured Articles
Jubilation erupted in Washington this summer as politicians lurched towards commandeering a key swath of the American economy. Congress passed Biden-backed legislation known as the Chip Act to spend $52 billion subsidizing semiconductor production. A Washington Post...
‘Strong as Hell’ Economy is a Mirage of Math
by Tom Luongo | Oct 26, 2022 | Economics, Featured Articles
“President” Joe Biden described the U.S. economy as, “Strong as hell,” in a recent sound bite. No one except his most ardent supporters, a vanishingly small number in reality, believes that. He and they point to statistics, “internals” in Biden-speaks, that point to...
A $31 Trillion National Debt Should Matter To You
by Michael Maharrey | Oct 26, 2022 | Economics, Featured Articles
On Oct. 3, 2022, the U.S. national debt eclipsed $31 trillion for the first time in history. When you factor in unfunded liabilities in Medicare and Social Security, the debt skyrockets to well over $100 trillion. As the Anti-Federalist writer Brutus warned: “I can...
TGIF: Are Bosses like Rulers?
by Sheldon Richman | Oct 21, 2022 | Economics, Featured Articles, Libertarianism, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
What does the libertarian philosophy have to say about business management as an institution? Is it analogous to the state or something entirely different? Since we libertarians generally dislike seeing people being bossed around, whether by the state or anyone else,...
Public Policy Created Europe’s Energy Crisis
by Daniel Lacalle | Oct 18, 2022 | Economics, Featured Articles
An energy policy that bans investment in some technologies based on ideological views and ignores security of supply is doomed to a strepitous failure. The energy crisis in the European Union was not created by market failures or lack of alternatives. It was created...
Federal Privacy Rules Will Give You Less Privacy
by Norman Singleton | Oct 17, 2022 | Economics, Featured Articles
History shows that putting the federal government in charge of protecting privacy is like a blood bank hiring Dracula as a nightwatchman. But that’s what the Biden administration wants to do with the Internet. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is currently in the...