Market Clearing Update
American Banker offers a story that illustrates why the banking industry remains crippled. Back in the day fourteen lenders teamed up to make a $16 million loan on the Turfland mall in Lexington Kentucky. All the banks were small frys looking to cash in on the real estate lending boom in 2006. Well, the loan… read more
Read More CommentIrrational Builder Exuberance
Foreclosure legal tangles have kept millions of homes off the market and the lack of supply has builders reading the market’s tea leaves and seeing BULL. Yep, builders can sell anything they put up, so they’re looking for land and trying to line up subcontractors, the ranks of which were severely thinned during the ’08… read more
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Everything, I Mean Everything, Voluntary
Skyler J. Collins takes the message of voluntarism to a level that will make even a rabid libertarian uncomfortable in his collection of essays that comprises Everything Voluntary: From Politics to Parenting. Collins comes out swinging in his introduction. He makes the point that today’s politics, education, and parenting all promote the same idea: domination… read more
Read More CommentJudge’s Panel: USDA Must Regulate Hemingway’s Cats
Read this story of how absurdly large and intrusive the federal government is.… read more
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Markets, Abortion, and Human Action
The New York Times chronicles how “crisis pregnancy centers” have been incredibly effective in reducing the choice to abort. It’s not politics. It’s not lobbying. It’s not screaming at people entering clinics. It’s not showing gross pictures on social media. Instead, these centers provide a variety of real services to pregnant women, all centered on… read more
Read More CommentBanks: Wrong Place Wrong Time?
American Banker reports that small banks are starving for yield so they’re loading up on municipal bonds. Back in 2005, Munis made up about 10% of small bank securities portfolios. Now it’s over 20%. For all banks the percentage is 9.4, three percentage points higher than in 2008, overtaking money market funds’ presence in the… read more
Read More CommentLes Mis and Bastiat
Capital Account was kind enough to interview me at some length about my article on Les Mis.… read more
Read More CommentBond Bubble: All Risk, No Return
CNNMoney is ringing in the new year with worries about a bond bubble. We’ve been worrying for a while now. CNNMoney surveyed 32 investment strategists and 40% think interest rates are headed up in 2013. Higher rates mean lower bond prices. Of course the inverse of that is the majority–60%–think rates will remain where they… read more
Read More CommentWhat Would George Orwell Say?
Read More CommentWalk Away Tax Cliff Averted
Yahoo reports that buried in the 150 some pages of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of of 2012 is a one year extension of the Mortgage Debt Relief Act of 2007. So if you’re underwater on that mortgage and still haven’t done your short sale yet, you have another year. We’re talking real money here.… read more
Read More CommentWhiskeyBar Today
If you are around today, I’ll be at the WhiskeyBar at 2:00pm EST. I’m talking about my top ten list of films in 2012, and Les Mis in particular. Hope you can come: http://lfb.org/whiskeybar.… read more
Read More CommentThe St. Louis Fed Answers: Why There’s No Gold Standard
Who knew a person can write into the St. Louis Fed, pose a question, and receive a thoughtful response from one of the thousands of real, live, PhD-trained economists working at the Fed. Hey, and the Fed isn’t dodging the tough ones. Consider this one, Q. Why doesn’t the U.S. return to the gold standard… read more
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My Top Ten Films of 2012
10. Hotel Transylvania. The weird, ugly, odd, and scary are shunned by society, so what do they do? They gather in a fabulous commercial setting in a hotel owned and run by Dracula himself. They don’t make war; they make money. There is a market-based solution to all problems. Eventually that market draws the monsters… read more
Read More CommentHayek’s Triangles
In the mind of Ben Bernanke and thousands of other government planners, the economy consists of data and levers. Production is down so pull the lever for lower interest. Unemployment is up so we need some fiscal and monetary stimulus. If a sector sags, give it a lift. If stock markets come under pressure, protect… read more
Read More CommentForget Chemistry: What’s Your Credit Score?
What happened to “What’s your sign” and other innocent conversation starters for that first date? Guys used to be looking for a sweet smile and shapely gams. Girls swooned for dreamy eyes and a sense of humor. Now those on a first date are cutting right to the chase. Forget about sparks and chemistry, the… read more
Read More CommentRepudiate the National Debt
As of December 19 at 11:50:59 a.m. GMT, the national debt of the federal government was $16,357,278,240,896.86, or $52,080.07 for every individual in the United States. The only sane and moral stance is to repudiate it entirely.… read more
Read More CommentCombiBars and Micropayments in Gold and Silver
The first I had heard of micropayments in silver and gold was from Shire Silver. These cards are the size of a credit card and they have strands of silver or gold that make them fantastic for alternative payments. Well, maybe it seems like this is a crazy libertarian thing, useful for showing off at… read more
Read More CommentLibertarian themes in Jack Reacher (2012)
Lone anarchist seeks justice and truth and doesn’t use the law to find them. Corrupt government officials and cops. Public infrastructure scam artists with a long trail of blood on their hands. Private gun owners who do what needs to be done. It’s a bit slow in the first half but otherwise there so much… read more
Read More CommentWhat’s the Deal with Interest Rates?
An Interview with banking expert Doug French… read more
Read More CommentIn the Foreclosure Capital the Real Estate Market is…”Hot”?
Las Vegas continues at or near the top of the default charts, but that hasn’t stopped big money from rushing into the city of dreams and second chances. “Las Vegas is coming back in a big way,” Eric Trump, son of Donald Trump. told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. If a Trump says so, it must… read more
Read More CommentThe Fusing of Liberty and Commerce: One Year Retrospective
As is obvious today, LFB.org is getting ever better, more stable, filled with more and more services, and ebook archive is more impressive each week. The book offerings are growing as is the traffic and the energy in this enterprise. In the new year, we are in all the way with audio books and more… read more
Read More CommentNRA chooses fascism over liberty
So armed guards it is, at least according to the NRA. Instead of letting school handle their own security and getting out from under the government’s central plan (see my article on this), the NRA is living up to the caricature and proposing that more weapons in anyone’s hands as the solution. The real solution… read more
Read More CommentAttention Contrarians
Reuters reports that Vanguard says its customers “invested $130.4 billion in its mutual and exchange-traded funds during the first 11 months of 2012, beating the fund industry’s previous annual inflow record.” The funds flowed mostly into equity funds. The company’s previous record was $104 billion in 2007. The money has continued to flood in this… read more
Read More CommentThe Lily and Its Reach
When I read the draft of The Lily by Daniel Cloud (free to Club members), I knew that this book would have a long reach. It’s the sort of book that you wake up thinking about. It’s thesis that uncertainty and surprise are the creative engines of economic progress sticks with you to the point… read more
Read More CommentGreece: More Strikes, Lower Interest
One would think that a country tortured with constant strikes would have to pay heavily for its debt. After all, strikes are disruptive to the economy, which lowers efficiency, which crimps the ability to pay taxes, which…. But as the FT reports, Greek bond yields plunged to their lowest since March 2011 after the European… read more
Read More CommentCasey Day
Totally Incorrect is out! Club members get it for free.… read more
Read More CommentOCC Warns Banks
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is warning that the safety and soundness of the banking industry is slipping. Wall Street is all gaga for bank stocks, even Meredith Whitney has turned bullish, thinking the worst is over. The regulators, who generally aren’t early to any party, see it differently. Banks are… read more
Read More CommentBina West Miller: Pioneer
Sabina West Miller (1867–1954) is proof that one person can change the world. … read more
Read More CommentA Free Market in Video Gaming
An absolutely fascinating message I just received from Wulf Wechsung: There is a video game genre called MOBA that was almost singlehandedly launched by a guy calling himself Guinsoo who wrote a modification called Dota to the commercial video game Warcraft 3 (by Blizzard Entertainment). He gave Dota away for free. Dota was HUGE! Bigger… read more
Read More CommentAuthor Interview with Doug Casey
Laissez Faire is thrilled to be releasing Doug Casey’s book tomorrow.… read more
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