Is the “fiscal cliff” a threat to the US economy?
byThe US Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said on August 22nd that scheduled tax increases and spending cuts in 2013 would reverse the current modest…
August, 2012
Gross and net product
byThe other day I happened to be talking to a politician who was also a successful entrepreneur. He knew of the absurdity that when…
Storing up trouble
byWith the release of the ‘flash’ PMI for China, a further setback has been suffered by the eternal Polyannnas who expect a recovery to…
More QE is on the way – The central banks are digging themselves a deeper hole
byDear readers, first of all, apologies seem in order. An unusual gap between blog posts has appeared on the Schlichter Files this summer. The…
The purpose of market intervention
byInterventions in markets by governments and central banks are routine and we take them for granted. No one questions them, but they can create…
Class war, Adam Smith, and the Marginal Productivity Theory of Distribution
byThere is a pleasure almost cruel in seeing someone deploy irrefutable logic to destroy an opponent’s arguments. I felt it this week reading George…
Economic growth and the pool of funding
byThe heart of economic growth is the availability of the means of sustenance to support the maintenance and the improvement of an economy’s infrastructure….
Who needs economic freedom when you can vote?
byAs the resident Parliamentarian amongst the Cobden Centre staff, I thought Learn Liberty’s Who Needs Economic Freedom When You Can Vote? was the right…
Could the US Republican Party take gold seriously?
byVia the Financial Times and behind their paywall, we learn: The gold standard has returned to mainstream US politics for the first time in 30…
What price for freedom?
bySometime in 1760, Venture Smith, a slave “resolutely determined to become free,” purchased his freedom— with his own savings. After all, in free markets,…