Author: Tho Bishop

Last night the Senate passed the Republican proposed tax plan, which is expected to be signed later today. At the Mises Wire, we have featured numerous articles pointing out many of the fallacies involved with the general debate on the issue of “tax reform.” For example, the absurdity of “revenue neutral” reform, the danger of raising rates through eliminating loop hopes, the fallacy of trying to address the deficit through eliminating deductions on state and local taxes, and the general notion that tax breaks can be equated to tax subsidies. While the Republican bill does fall for some of these traps, the result of … Continue reading →

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On Wednesday, the Republican controlled house voted to further federalize gun laws in this country. While Ryan McMaken has noted the danger in further centralizing gun legislation, there is another deeply troubling aspect to this bill: it expands the ability of the Federal government to restrict Americans’ right to bear arms. During the legislative process, the NRA supported merging the bill aimed at nationalizing concealed carry permits with another piece of legislation aimed at “fixing” the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS.) Obviously this legislation was inspired by the failure of the US Air Force to report the criminal record of Devin … Continue reading →

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Today Stanley Fischer submitted his letter of resignation from the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, effective next month, the second such resignation of Donald Trump’s presidency. While Fischer’s term as Vice Chairman of the Fed was set to end next year, he had the ability to serve as a governor through 2020. Along with Trump’s decision next year on whether to replace Janet Yellen as the Fed’s chair, this means Trumps will have the opportunity to appoint five of seven governors to America’s central bank. Given that the position holds a 14-year term, it is unusual for a president to have the … Continue reading →

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The beltway Republicans are scrambling now that it seems the Obamacare replacement package put forward for Paul Ryan and endorsed by Donald Trump can’t get enough support to get through the House. The failure of the American Health Care Act should surprise no one, as it is a piece of legislation that managed to please no one. The Freedom Caucus, made up of the “true believers” of the Tea Party, balked at its similarities to Obamacare, while more moderate members found the bill’s modest change to the ACA too radical for their tastes. While the failure of the Ryan/Trump/Whatevercare represents a political defeat … Continue reading →

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The Trump administration has released its proposed 2018 budget, and within it are some things worth cheering. Trump’s “America First budget” includes needed cuts to the regulatory state, defunds efforts to purchase more Federal land, eliminates funding for 19 minor government agencies, and makes significant cuts to a number of more significant ones — including the State Department, HUD, and Commerce. Unfortunately, the proposal also reflects the myth that America’s military is underfunded, calling for a $52 billion increase for the Pentagon and another $2.8 billion increase for Homeland Security. The budget also ignores America’s web of entitlement programs, the … Continue reading →

The post A Step Towards De-Politicizing Science appeared first on LewRockwell.

As painfully clichéd as it is to say, it really does seem as if Trump has built his inner circle with an Apprentice-like dynamic of two competing teams. As Axios described it this weekend in a useful article, the dynamic is pitting “confrontationists v. conformists.” The confrontation side is led by Steve Bannon, Jeff Sessions, and Stephen Miller, while the conformists are led by Reince Priebus, Jared Kushner, and most of the cabinet that weren’t in the trenches during the campaign (Tillerson, Mattis, etc.)  (I find Axios useful here because it was started by one of the Politico founders. While they shouldn’t … Continue reading →

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One of the potential silver linings from the surprising victory for Donald Trump is the hope that a Republican White House will resurrect the left’s distrust of the Federal government. During the Obama administration, progressive activists have been noticeably less vocal on issues such as war, executive overreach, and civil liberty violations than they were when George W. Bush was in office. Encouragingly, we are already seeing signs of this with the idea of California secession buzzing on social media as demonstrators marched in Sacramento yesterday in support of the idea. As Business Insider reported: The group leading the charge, Yes … Continue reading →

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The War on Cash continues to gain momentum within the circles of the politically influential. Bloomberg yesterday posted an article on a new book titled The Curse of Cash, written by Kenneth Rogoff former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund and current Harvard University economist. Though the Bloomberg piece, unfortunately, accepts at face value the weak argument that eliminating cash will make it harder for criminals to operate, it does focus on the real goal of people like Rogoff, to give more power to central bankers: Rogoff … contends that suppressing cash would make it easier for the Federal Reserve and other central banks … Continue reading →

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Today the Bank of England announced that it would follow the lead of the Federal Reserve and maintain interest rates at .5%. The bank didn’t stop there, however, warning voters that next week’s Brexit referendum posed “the largest immediate risk facing UK financial markets, and possibly also global financial markets. “ Considering the growing public support for the UK’s separation from the EU, the statement can be seen as a last ditch effort by the BoE to push back against the effort and the move has been strongly criticized by British politicians skeptical of the EU. Of course, central bankers using … Continue reading →

The post A Key Propaganda Tool for Central Bank Liars appeared first on LewRockwell.

With Batman vs. Superman hitting theaters, movie goers will be treated to Zack Snyder’s new take on the legendary caped crusader. Snyder, who reported last week that he’s currently working on a new adaptation of Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead, has often talked about drawing inspiration from Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns when coming up with the direction for the sequel to his Superman origin story, Man of Steel. While The Dark Knight Returns is widely considered to be one of the most iconic books in the character’s fabled history, there is another Batman story I’d rather see on the … Continue reading →

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As a young man Alexander Hamilton once wrote, “There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty, that makes human nature rise above itself, in acts of bravery and heroism.” While it is tragic that Hamilton would grow up to advocate all sorts of government policies contrary to liberty — America would be better off had he read Cantillion — there is a power in these words that has always resonated with me. No man better embodies this heroic nature of liberty than Ludwig von Mises. My favorite example of Mises’s legendary dedication to his principles is his experience during WWI. Even … Continue reading →

The post Mises Is Winning appeared first on LewRockwell.

A paper written by Zachary Feinstein discussing the economic consequences of blowing up the Death Star has been making the rounds on social media. While I’m a fan of using Star Wars to teach economics, Feinstein makes a very basic economic mistake in his focus on the Death Star’s destruction. The paper actually starts out strong. Feinstein notes that, “Economics and finance, much like the Force as explained by Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, is ‘created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together.’” Unfortunately, the author shifts from looking at the organic economy … Continue reading →

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Cultural Marxism enjoyed a victory last week when University of Missouri President Tim Wolfe resigned after members of the Missouri Tigers football team joined a student movement calling for his resignation. While I fully support the rights of these players to leverage their athletic ability to advocate a cause — as I would support their university if it decided to pull their scholarship — what is concerning is the actual list of demands shared by the cause they joined. The top priority of the #ConcernedStudent1950 movement was not the resignation of University of Missouri President Tim Wolfe, but that he … Continue reading →

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