The escalation of tension in Ukraine has reminded us of something many investors seemed to have forgotten: geopolitical risk. Sanctions and the inevitable drop in trade have proven to generate a significant negative impact on the different economies involved. We know...
Economics
Inflation: An Ontological Reality of Modern Economic Life
by Vibhu Vikramaditya | Feb 21, 2022 | Economics, Featured Articles
The United States of America and economies around the world are suffering from levels of inflation unprecedented in the twenty-first century. While the origins of COVID-19 are debatable, the causes of inflation are not. They lie in undisputed human actions; actions...
TGIF: More Voices, Please
by Sheldon Richman | Feb 11, 2022 | Economics, Featured Articles, Justice, Libertarianism, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
If the social media and other high-tech companies, whether under pressure from the state or not, were to lead people to believe that, starting today, only accurate information will get through their gatekeepers, would the public, especially the most gullible, really...
Jimmy Carter, the Great Deregulator
by Norman Singleton | Feb 11, 2022 | Economics, Featured Articles
One way President Biden can “Build Back Better” is following the example of one of the greatest deregulators to sit in the Oval Office: Jimmy Carter. Whilst most think of Carter as a standard New Deal-Great Society liberal, deregulation was a major part of Carter’s...
Socialized Medicine Ain’t Freedom
by Sheldon Richman | Feb 7, 2022 | Blog, Economics, Justice, Libertarianism
The emergence of a pro-Enlightenment, pro-reason, anti-woke left, with its eloquent declarations in favor of freedom, is welcome indeed. But this political force still has some way to go. It is disappointing to hear the same people who effectively and properly debunk...
TGIF: Disagreement without Conflict
by Sheldon Richman | Feb 4, 2022 | Economics, Featured Articles, Justice, Libertarianism, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
I'll admit it: I'm a natural-rights guy. I think you can get to individual rights, including the right to property, from within the ancient Greek eudaimonist (virtue ethics) and Spinozist tradition. But here's a separate point: rights-talk may not be the best way to...
Our Monetary System Is Between a Rock and a Hard Place
by Andre Marques | Feb 3, 2022 | Economics, Featured Articles
Last November, the Federal Reserve System announced tapering (a gradual reduction of the central bank’s monthly asset purchases to the point of ending the asset purchase program, which means that the Fed would stop increasing its balance sheet). In December, it...
The Dangers of a Jerome Powell Second Term
by Ron Paul | Jan 28, 2022 | Economics, Featured Articles
The U.S. Senate will soon vote on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s nomination to a second term. One of the senators opposing Powell is Elizabeth Warren. I don’t often agree with Senator Warren, but I do agree with her assessment that Powell is “dangerous.”...