My friend Zach linked to this amazing article this morning: The Shadow Superpower.
In many countries — particularly in the developing world — System D [the black market] is growing faster than any other part of the economy, and it is an increasing force in world trade. But even in developed countries, after the...
I’m proud to announce the birth of a new website, libertarianism.org, a project of the Cato Institute. The site is a one-stop shop for the ideology. I’ve been combing through it all morning and there’s really nothing quite as comprehensive in terms of scope. It spans from Charles Murray to Murray Rothbard.
I...
As it has been widely reported, Jon Corzine will get a golden parachute valued at $12.1 mn after driving MF Global into the ground. Fair enough. After all, it wasn’t paid for with taxpayer money and the firm failed by making some appallingly bad bets.
My only wish is that Corzine takes this...
During my morning peruse through the paper, I found a shocking headline: Bullet train cost estimates rise to $98.5 billion.
I wasn’t surprised at the cost; it’s well-established that “infrastructure spending” is a fancy way of saying “giant black money hole.” (Hooray for inflation to boot!) I’m just surprised that California hasn’t...
I was over at #OWS yesterday and I know the LI readership will be pleased to hear that the movement is still going strong. This is despite Mayor Bloomberg's crackdown on their primitive heating system.What will be the next challenge for the organizers? After, you know, taking down the man, a...
but he totally wrecks Cornel West in this recent TV interview that I have deemed a must watch. Once Cornel West makes a fortune off of reading the market, I’ll start listening to his explanations of crises.
By the way, I’m fairly certain that everyone who pines for Glass-Steagall does not know what the hell...
Apparently George Soros foot the bill of the Frank La Rue’s ‘research’ for the UN that concluded that the Internet is a “human right” subject to the same creeping legislation and special interests as every other ‘right.’
Advocates of net neutrality, a position championed by the billionaire Soros and by the U.N.,...
Arnold Kling struck a great chord in a recent post on EconLog:
From the perspective of a macroeconomic textbook, journalists write as if the aggregate supply curve is nearly vertical with respect to monetary policy and nearly horizontal for fiscal policy.
1. You would be rich if you had a dollar for every...
Conservative rebels pushing for an in-or-out referendum on Europe are riding the tide...
I recommend reading this discussion between Eliot Spitzer and a protester from Occupy Wall Street. It is actually pretty interesting and shows that Spitzer hasn’t forgotten how to speak like a politician:
MM: You think representative democracy is the best system we’ve got?
ES: Yes! I say that without any hesitation. Because it...
California’s streak of bad governance is coming to a climax with the finalization of their cap and trade legislation:
California’s plan to cap greenhouse gas emissions and put a price on carbon is set to take effect on Jan. 1 after...
Over at Marginal Revolution, Alex Tabarrok has a really fascinating post on the Mexican Mafia:
The Mexican Mafia is a fairly small prison gang (perhaps 150-300 made members) and it has significant operational control only within prisons in Southern California yet the Mexican Mafia is extremely powerful. In fact, the MM taxes...
I participated in a debate last night at Cornell sponsored by Students for Education Reform to encourage an exchange of ideas on education policy. I was on the libertarian panel, which was wedged between the College Democrats and Republicans. It was a fairly heated debate:
“Libertarians believe the federal government should play...
Amidst news about Wall Street bonuses and fat-cat corruption, I’m sure it will go uncovered that Washington has finally eclipsed Silicon Valley as the wealthiest U.S. metropolitan area:
“Lobbyists play a prominent role in the Washington economy. In 2010 there were 12,964 registered lobbyists, with most working in or around the nation’s capital,...
Today marks fifty years since a massacre swept the streets — not in the maghreb region of north Africa, but in the streets of Paris:
A number of events were held on Monday to remember the violent deaths...
