All Posts Tagged With: "economy"
We’re the Economy They Want to Manage
In his State of the Union speech President Obama said: Tonight, I want to . . . lay out a blueprint for an economy that’s built to last. . . . Considering that an economy (a free one, that is) is just people engaging in exchanges for mutual benefit, it defies blueprinting, which sounds ominously [...]
26Jan2012 | Sheldon Richman | 1 comment | ContinuedEconomy Said to Be at Risk from Oil Prices
“If the recent rise in oil prices sticks, it will most likely slow a growth rate that is already too sluggish to produce many jobs in this country.” (New York Times) The best energy policy is no energy policy. FEE Timely Classic “Energy Policy: Wisdom or Waste?” by Roger McKinney
25Feb2011 | Foundation for Economic Education | 0 comments | ContinuedStimulate the Catallaxy?
Last fall and winter’s brouhaha over the so-called economic stimulus package got me thinking about how far off target most people are when they talk about “the economy.” To hear the politicians and commentators tell it, the economy is a big machine located somewhere in Washington, D.C. That machine requires a skilled operator, and elections [...]
1Jul2010 | Sheldon Richman | 1 comment | ContinuedThe Politics of Failure and Success
Do you remember when the left was up in arms of the Rush Limbaugh’s comment about wanting Barack Obama to fail? Well, now they are twisting the same idea to argue the GOP is “betting on failure”. From the Hill: Republicans have so poorly positioned their party that they have a huge political interest in [...]
23Feb2010 | Mike Van Winkle | 2 comments | ContinuedSnow Job Summit
What are the odds that yesterday’s White House jobs summit will lead to the creation of any real jobs? The summit was based on the magic theory of government: Say the right incantations and reality will be reshaped according to one’s desires. There are no economic laws. There is only will. If we all think [...]
4Dec2009 | Sheldon Richman | 11 comments | ContinuedDistress Index Updated
FEE updated the Distress Index this morning to reflect the reported increase in GDP during 2009 Q3. As you might imagine the estimated increase of 3.5% in the GDP does not dramatically change our economic situation. GDP is still down -2.3% from a year and many of the gains were driven by unsustainable government stimulus. [...]
29Oct2009 | Mike Van Winkle | 1 comment | ContinuedGovernment Fundamentalism
Many free-market economists like me are quite willing to admit that markets don’t work perfectly and to examine and accept government solutions if their advocates can show how governments can be motivated to actually carry them out. And yet we are called market fundamentalists. On the other hand, many people who call us that are unwilling to change any of their views about the efficacy of government intervention no matter how badly the intervention works. Who are the fundamentalists here?
21May2009 | David R. Henderson | 16 comments | ContinuedWhat's Hope Got to Do with It?
People get upset if they think you don’t hope Barack Obama succeeds in fixing the economy. Any freedom advocate hopes he discovers what it would take for the economy to recover permanently: the repeal of taxes, spending programs, regulations, and the Federal Reserve Act — in other words, an overall and dramatic reduction in the [...]
1May2009 | Sheldon Richman | 0 comments | ContinuedIs It Really the Bottom?
Obama economic adviser Christina Romer says there are signs the economy has found its “bottom” and is poised to begin recovery, however slow and fitful. Reassuring words, except hasn’t most of the recent economic policy been designed to construct an artificial bottom in housing and other assets? Indeed, it has–in which case, the sighs of [...]
14Apr2009 | Sheldon Richman | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Knowledge Problem, cont'd.
An occasional series exposing the “pretence of knowledge” of government officials.From Barack Obama’s inaugural address: The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act — not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids [...]
21Jan2009 | Sheldon Richman | 0 comments | ContinuedWill the rest of TARPs $350 Billion pass?
Chris Edwards at Cato says no…
19Jan2009 | Ben Stafford | 0 comments | ContinuedBeware "Stabilization"
The inestimable Robert Higgs, a Freeman columnist and senior fellow at the Independent Institute, has another insightful entry at The Beacon. In “Stabilize This, Stabilize That,” Higgs rips the mask from government programs ostensibly designed to bring stability to the economy. As he puts it: [L]ike most government policies, those purportedly aimed at stabilization are [...]
13Nov2008 | Sheldon Richman | 0 comments | ContinuedDid Greenspan Do It?
Nearly every free-market advocate believes that the ultimate cause of the current housing and financial mess is Alan Greenspan’s easy-money policy when he was chairman of the Federal Reserve. But now two solid free-market economists and researchers nonpareil — David Henderson and Jeffrey Rogers Hummel — have published a paper arguing that Greenspan did not [...]
12Nov2008 | Sheldon Richman | 0 comments | ContinuedMurray Rothbard’s Philosophy of Freedom
Murray Rothbard (1926–1995) based his political philosophy on a simple insight: slavery is wrong. Few, if any, would dare to challenge this obvious truth; but its implications are far reaching. It is Rothbard’s singular merit to show that rejecting slavery leads inexorably to laissez-faire capitalism, unrestricted by the slightest government interference. If we reject slavery, [...]
1Nov2007 | David Gordon | 1 comment | ContinuedTrue Ecology
Daniel Hager is a writer in Lansing, Michigan. Ecology is generally considered to be a branch of biology. It does not belong there. An examination of the subject indicates a better home for it. Ecology is defined as the study of organisms in relation to their animate and inanimate surroundings. It focuses on the connections [...]
1May2001 | Daniel Hager | 1 comment | Continued-
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