The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design. – F.A. Hayek
Posted in Classical Liberalism, Corporatism, Economic Illiteracy, Economics Problems on Dec 8th, 2011
Diligent readers will know that I frequently bang on the idea that we ought to be humble regarding the state of our knowledge and our ability to act on it. But that does not mean, as Hayek correctly pointed out, that economists cannot say anything, about the world. We are well positioned to make what [...]
Posted in Corporatism, Special Privilege on Oct 10th, 2011
It’s nice to have so many thoughtful bloggers out there – I have to respond to far fewer inquiries today than I had in the past. She captures the issue very nicely. I reprint a good Venn Diagram here:
Posted in Corporatism, Regulation on Sep 25th, 2011
Gazprom, the Russian oil giant and one of the most profitable corporations in the world is warning Western greens of the dangers of hydrofracking. For those of you not following, fracking is the technology that is allowing the shale-gas revolution to escalate not only in the US but in dozens of countries around the world. [...]
Posted in Corporatism on Aug 17th, 2011
I really, really, really, really abhor the run up to the Presidential elections. And what I most abhor is the blind faith the “outsiders” always have that they have finally found “a guy” that is all right and that will do the right thing. Here is what we learn about Rick Perry (does he look [...]
Posted in Corporatism, History, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Mar 15th, 2011
Episode 1: The Dawn of the Progressive Era In 1890 the US passed the Sherman Antitrust act, which had as its goal the elimination of monopolies or attempts to monopolize. This was the dawn of the Progressive Era (needless to say, this act was passed on behalf of big business, don’t like your HS history [...]
Posted in Corporatism, Economic Illiteracy, Extended Order on Feb 8th, 2011
The Central Planner intends on spending $53 billion of other people’s money to build toy trains. President Barack Obama is calling for a six-year, $53 billion spending plan for high-speed rail, as he seeks to use infrastructure spending to jump-start job creation. … Obama’s push for high-speed rail spending is part of his broad goal [...]
Posted in Corporatism on Jan 7th, 2011
Gosh, only one day after my post on GE, this comes across the desk: If Congress is looking for New Year’s resolutions, it could start by breaking the habit of funding programs the government doesn’t want. A case in point is the attempt to throw another $450 million at the development of a second engine [...]
Posted in Corporatism, Market Failures, Regulation on Jan 5th, 2011
Regulation and anti-trust is rarely about consumer protection. I was thinking about the old anti-trust suit brought against Microsoft over a decade ago. The claim went something like this: Microsoft developed its own web browser (Internet Explorer) that it packaged for “free” with its windows operating system software. Most hardware devices contracted with Microsoft to [...]
Posted in Corporatism on Dec 23rd, 2010
In 1971, the National Association of Letter Carriers (i.e. the Postal Union) secured a court injunction against the Independent Postal Services of America – who had the gall to deliver 2nd, 3rd and 4th class Christmas Cards for 5 cents while the Postal Service was only able to do it for 8 cents. Why did [...]
Posted in Corporatism on Sep 15th, 2010
The CEO of a major investment bank argues in favor of creating an “Infrastructure Bank” because, you know, if we don’t have a plan for some “national economic objectives” we’ll all shrivel up and die. And of course, the thugs on Wall Street don’t stand to benefit a single dime from such a plan. The [...]
![[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]](http://www.kitconet.com/charts/metals/gold/t24_au_en_usoz_2.gif)
![[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]](http://www.kitconet.com/charts/metals/silver/t24_ag_en_usoz_2.gif)