Next Banking Crisis Courtesy of ZIRP
Banks have crashed with third-world debt and multiple times with too much real estate exposure. What’s next? Could it be too much exposure to low interest rates. Chris Whalen has penned a piece for ZeroHedge.com called “Zombie Dance Party: Same Girls, New Music.” In most of the piece Whalen goes on about the potential for… read more
Read More CommentWhiskeyBar Today at 2:00pm EST
Today’s WhiskeyBar will discuss the market for security and why the gun debate is a huge distraction from the core issue. We meet here at 2:00pmEST… read more
Read More CommentComforting Ourselves with Drugs
Americans used to be resilient. Little things didn’t get them down. What didn’t kill Americans used to make them stronger. Now if one’s feeling a little blue, it’s off to psychiatrist who prescribes one of a myriad of medications and all is well, or at least, calm. Therapism for one and all. The psychiatric industry… read more
Read More CommentHey Fed: Just Print Food Stamps!
The four year anniversary of zero interest rate policy will be here in a couple days and what do we have to show for it: 46 million people on food stamps. Yes 15% of Americans buy their groceries with the help of Uncle Sam. Barry Ritholtz’s Big Picture Blog reports that 14% of all grocery… read more
Read More CommentThree Squares a Day, a Warm Bed, and an Unemployment Check
The Las Vegas Sun reports today that a recent audit reveals that the state’s Employment Security Division sent out $5 million worth of checks to inmates over the past three years. The state has paid $240,000 to 67 inmates this year according to the audit. It turns out the state is also paying dead people… read more
Read More CommentEssentials of Economics
Economics done well applies in all times and places. And Faustino Ballvé’s Essentials of Economics is well-done, indeed. In his outstanding introduction, Art Carden speaks of the scandal that it is not better-known. He means, of course, in our own time. The new edition from the Laissez Faire Club helps to rectify the problem. In… read more
Read More CommentJetson’s World Audio
The audio of Jetsons World is now available for download. Gold Club members get it for free. Here is a brief video that explains the point of the book.… read more
Read More CommentHigher Cause, Installment #22
The exciting conclusion to Higher Cause, a serialized novel with timely sweeping themes, active free-thinking characters, conflicts affecting the world, spies, guns, explosions, new forms of energy, sinister conspiracies, government plots, nationalization, destruction, and hope! The complete novel is available in EPUB and MOBI e-book formats. You can buy it here or join the Laissez… read more
Read More CommentInterview on Ballve, with Art Carden
Essentials of Economics by Faustino Ballve, is this week’s ebook release, and it comes with a long and thoughtful introduction by Art Carden, who is interviewed below.… read more
Read More CommentThings Not to Discuss in Polite Company
I’m visiting my old home town (Las Vegas) and a friend invited me to join his Monday lunch group. My old friend is a Republican sort, but not rabid with political opinions one way or the other. Sports and local banking gossip are what we talk about. However, his lunch group being primarily Democrats, he… read more
Read More CommentInterviewed on Adam vs. The Man
My interview starts at 44:00… read more
Read More CommentToday at the WhiskeyBar
Today at the Whiskey Bar, we’ll talk about intellectual property. Specifically, we’ll address the great issue: how to become rich and famous without copyright and patent. See you at 2:00pm EST! Go here: WhiskeyBar… read more
Read More CommentDecember Blowout Sale
Blow out sale: 50% off all books in the Laissez-Faire Book catalog. Everything. This is an amazing collection of the best books on liberty — meaning the best books in the world. Load ‘em up and take half off the regular purchase price. Start your shopping right here.… read more
Read More CommentBook Review: Ladies for Liberty
Ladies for Liberty: Women Who Made a Difference in American History by John Blundell reviewed by Wendy McElroy [Check out some of John Blundell's other books, which are available through LFB.] Ladies for Liberty is a book on a mission. In it, author and economist John Blundell seeks to combat “the myth that women want,… read more
Read More CommentThat jobs report
It is not pretty, despite first appearances. Zerohedge has the details.… read more
Read More CommentThe Drunk Driving Question
Many people are troubled by the expanse of the state in the enforcement of laws against driving under the influence of alcohol. There seems to be something wrong with this picture for a number of reasons. The law is arbitrary and shifts with the political season. The perpetrators can’t really be sure if they are… read more
Read More CommentStudents for Liberty seminar
Read More CommentWIlliam Leggett on Copyright
It’s rare to find a truly principled opponent of copyright among writers of the 19th century — not because there weren’t good arguments but mainly because the people doing the writing were…writers who imagined that they might personally benefit from copyright. They were probably wrong about that (the main beneficiaries of copyright are well-connected publishers,… read more
Read More CommentHigher Cause, Installment #21
Higher Cause, the complete novel, is now available in EPUB and MOBI e-book formats. You can buy it here or join the Laissez Faire Club and be among the first to grab a FREE copy. For a full list of chapters, see the table of contents. In recent installments… Mexico has positioned itself to nationalize… read more
Read More CommentWill the Young Storm the Barricades?
It wasn’t long ago that the survival of Social Security was a hot topic. It’s still broke, and still a Ponzi scheme, but other catastrophes are currently more pressing. Social Security will have to wait. Back in 2007, just as the financial world was on the verge of cracking up, Christopher Buckley took a satirical… read more
Read More CommentPups of Liberty
I absolutely loved “Pups of Liberty,” a new video about the Boston Tea Party from the Free to Choose Network. You can buy it here. The video is $15 but worth every dollar because the thing is so delightful — and I would say that it is great for adults too. The economics are perfect.… read more
Read More CommentThe New Lincoln Look Alike
Further to my point about look-alike, highly regulated cars, this new Lincoln ad is about everything (butterflies, rockets, skydiving, etc.) but the new car, which turns out to look like all the other cars on the market. Also, note the loving images of the Lincoln models of the past, a desperate attempt to cover up… read more
Read More CommentArab Spring 2.0?
Items from the WSJ: “CAIRO—Tens of thousands of Egyptians tore through cordons of barbed wire and riot police and surged against the gates of the Presidential Palace in Cairo on Tuesday, as anger mounted over what they called a power grab by the country’s Islamist president.” These sorts of news items always amaze me, not… read more
Read More CommentBanking: No Charters, No Coverage
The 3rd quarter FDIC report was released today with the number of reporting financial institutions declining to 7,181 (at the end of Q3 1999 the number was 8,621). Only a dozen banks failed in the quarter and 49 banks were absorbed by merger. The key here is, “For a fifth consecutive quarter, no new charters… read more
Read More CommentThe Radio Station at the End of the Universe
This blog post is just for the fun of it! And, yes, I am an amateur ham radio operator. Radio amateurs have a quirky sense of humor. This from the site Now Zero Days: That’s right! The end is finally near. According to one of the three Mayan Calendars, the End of the world will… read more
Read More CommentIs This What a Housing Recovery Looks Like?
Bank analyst Chris Whelan posted a letter from Florida residential real estate broker Eric Johnson in his “The Institutional Risk Analyst” newsletter. Johnson says private lending in his market has stopped on owner-occuppied properties because of Dodd-Frank legislation. Because of the legislation now, private mortgage lenders just don’t want the extra risk and trouble of… read more
Read More CommentHayek on “Masters of Money”
Pretty good overall:… read more
Read More CommentAudio version of Tucker’s article on “Lincoln Uncensored”
I received quite the positive feedback from this piece, so I recorded it:… read more
Read More CommentExplaining the upcoming Senate filibuster fracas
REID PREPARES TO NUKE THE FILIBUSTER By Wendy McElroy [To access the many embedded links, please click here.] A filibuster is the procedure within a legislative body through which one member can extend debate and, so, delay or obstruct the vote on a proposal. In theory, its purpose is to protect the rights of a… read more
Read More CommentInterview with Joseph Fallon on Lincoln
Please take a few minutes to listen to this, and join the Club to get the book right now… read more
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