Money supply growth slowed in October, falling to the lowest rate recorded since February of this year. Overall, money-supply growth remains well below the growth rates experienced from 2009 to 2016, and has fluctuated very little since March. In October, year-over-year growth in the money supply was at 3.7percent. That was down from September’s growth …

Amazon isn’t the first big corporation to manipulate policymakers by shopping around the idea of relocating its headquarter to the “right” city. The “right” city, of course, is the one that provides the company with enough tax breaks and other political favors so as to make the move worth it. Back in 2001, for example, …

A federal judge today ruled the White House must temporarily re-instate the press pass of CNN reporter Jim Acosta’s, who had been barred after an argument with Donald Trump in the press room. The judge ruled the White House had violated due process by banning Acosta. CNN, however, had requested a ruling saying that Acosta …

Canadian healthcare has become something of a byword for the “ideal” in healthcare among certain activists in the United States. Bernie Sanders, for example, has relentlessly pressed for a Canada-style healthcare system, and many left-of-center Americans advocate for the same. Not surprisingly, though, few details of how the Canadian “single-payer” system works are ever discussed …

We’re often told that submission to government edicts is “voluntary” because we have “representative” government. The evidence suggests, however, that politicians don’t represent their constituents. Nor could they, even if they wanted to. Original article: “No Matter How You Vote, Politicians Don’t Represent You”.

US states continue to expand Medicaid, and it’s happening even in so-called “red states.” CNBC, for instance, reports how voters in “red states” Utah, Nebraska and Idaho all approved ballot issues to expand Medicaid under new Obamacare provisions. Meanwhile, the voters in these states also handed control of state government to Republican governors and legislators. …

Voting “no” on a tax increase doesn’t mean you really consented to it. And, Lysander Spooner argued there’s not anything wrong with voting “defensively.” Original article: “No, Voting Doesn’t Mean You “Support the System”.

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 — at least in my case — it sits there on a table near my desk. One is supposed …

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 voters are “represented.” Even conservatives, who often claim to …

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 population who believe they benefit from laws, …

Candidates in this year’s elections are raising record amounts of money for their campaigns. Democrats are out-raising Republicans, but on both sides, the numbers are huge. According to Reuters: Senate candidates — who have six years to raise funds due to their longer terms — have raised more than $950 million, surpassing the $844 million …

Interest on the national debt is quickly becoming one of the largest expenses in the national budget. Based on projections from the OMB, it now appears that growth in interest payments on the national debt will be significantly outpacing any other spending category in coming years. The OMB’s projections show debt-payment outlays growing a startling …

This week, we feature a recent episode of Ryan McMaken’s Radio Rothbard podcast. We continue to hear about how capitalism and industrialization distract us from the important things in life. In reality, the historical record shows that it was industrialization and capitalism that propagated the conditions under which we can afford to treat each other …

In countries under heavy US influence or occupation, the US government has a habit of pushing political programs that would be too unpopular to implement in the United States.
In Japan, for example, the US occupation after World War II offered an opportunity for American bureaucrats to push abortion policies they couldn’t win support for in the United States.
As part of a larger agenda of pushing a Japan-style New Deal and other US-styled interventionist policies, the US occupiers were more than happy to help the new Japanese regime impose a eugenics-friendly program designed to combat alleged overpopulation. According to Holly Coutts:
The centralized government in Japan, coupled with a political culture infused with socialist

In countries under heavy US influence or occupation, the US government has a habit of pushing political programs that would be too unpopular to implement in the United States. In Japan, for example, the US occupation after World War II offered an opportunity for American bureaucrats to push abortion policies they couldn’t win support for …

The Washington Examiner thinks that Hillary Clinton is a radical. In his column today, Philip Wegmann correctly points out that Clinton is sending mixed signals when it comes to so-called civility in politics. specifically, Wegmann notes how earlier this this month, Clinton wrote: “You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy …

More than half of Americans receive more money in various types of government transfer payments (Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, Social Security) than they pay in federal taxes.

More than half of Americans receive more money in various types of government transfer payments (Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, Social Security) than they pay in federal taxes.1
According to a report released this year by the Congressional Budget Office, only the top two income quintiles in the United States pay more in taxes than they receive in government transfers.
Not surprisingly, the lowest income quintiles receive far more in transfers than they pay in taxes:
 
In the lowest quintile, households pay only $400 in taxes (as of 2014, the most recent data available) while receiving more than $16,000 in various types of tax-funded transfer payments.
The end result is households in the

Last week, researchers at the the University of Washington released a new study predicting that US life expectancy would fall further and further behind other countries over the next twenty years. Life expectancy will continue to increase, but at a slower rate than many other countries. Whether or not these predictions ever come true, depend …

Money spent on “luxuries” goes to support ordinary people who use profits from luxury goods to make a living and support their families. Original article: It’s OK To Buy Your Pet a Halloween Costume (and Other Luxuries).

In an 1800 letter to Gideon Granger, Thomas Jefferson wrote: “The true theory of our constitution is surely the wisest and best, that the states are independent as to everything within themselves, and united as to everything respecting foreign nations. Let the general government be reduced to foreign concerns only…” In other words, the only …

Some inequality arises naturally from freedom of choice. Some comes from government meddling. One is good and the other is bad. Original article: Yes, Inequality Is a Problem — When Caused by the Government.

Why is it that starving Venezuelans are eating dogs while Americans are rescuing dogs from hurricanes? Original article: Capitalism Makes Us More Humane.

Last week, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a sizable new report titled “Global Warming of 1.5°C.” The basic premise of the report is that if the governments of the world do what the UN tells them to do, then global temperature rise will be limited to 1.5°C. The report comes …

One of the more persistent myths about capitalism is that wealth and resources are “wasted” when spent on luxuries. But now this waste has reached a new level. Thanks to our abundant wealth in the developed world, we’re no longer just spending money on luxuries for ourselves. We’re “wasting” it on our pets too. For …

Presented at the Mises Institute’s 2018 Supporters Summit in Auburn, Alabama. Recorded on September 29, 2018.

When the topic of inequality comes up, some libertarians and conservatives tend to approach the issues as something that doesn’t matter at all. “I don’t care about inequality,” they say. “Inequality occurs naturally, and its just an obsession of leftists…if anything it’s a good thing.” Part of this appears to be a natural reaction to …

On Tuesday, I looked at some recent research suggesting that both wealth and incomes are declining — all while the Fed’s monetary policy has become ever more interventionist and regulatory. The conclusions involved were premised on some assertions about Fed policy. Fed regulatory changes now favor large Wall-Street-centered borrowers over smaller Main-Street-centered borrowers. This has …

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 concluded “Post-crisis monetary and regulatory policy had an …

Writing decades ago, Friedrich Hayek observed: “In all democratic countries … a strong belief prevails that the influence of the intellectuals on politics is negligible.” Hayek conceded this was true to “the extent to which they can sway the popular vote on questions on which they differ from the current views of the masses,” but …