Audio Mises Wire

While people claim they want the "virtuous" state with citizens to match, what we really get is realpolitik, whether we want it or not.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/evolution-politics-civic-virtue-realpolitik

While we speak highly of “rule of law” and the “limited state,” the unfortunate truth is that the modern state is a law unto itself. Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/predatory-logic-state

Murray Rothbard saw government as a predatory, criminal entity and the Microsoft lawsuit of 1998 proved to be a classic example of government organized crime in action.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/rothbards-definition-government-organized-crime-microsoft-antitrust-case

To deny local self-determination to the Catholic Vendean rebels was to support the imperialist impulse, just as the opponents of the American revolutionaries embraced imperialism over freedom. Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/vendee-french-war-national-liberation

World Cup tickets are a hot commodity with prices through the roof. Naturally, governments want to do what governments always do unsuccessfully: levy price controls.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/fifa-world-cup-price-controls-ticket-prices

The standard narrative is that policing and imprisonment are necessary tools to keep the public safe from criminals. But it also would seem that these things are useful tools for a state that wishes to dominate its citizens.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/foucault-panopticism-and-carceral-society-rise-surveillance-state

America's elderly political class is only the most visible symptom. The deeper problem is a government built to transfer wealth from younger Americans to a caste of older, wealthier generations.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/americas-gerontocracy-goes-deeper-aging-politicians

If avoiding a repeat of the excesses of the French revolution is an important goal, we need a thorough understanding of its causes. Edmund Burke and his conservative followers don't offer this. Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/what-conservatives-get-wrong-about-french-revolution

Great Britain's “Equality Act” is not simply a civil rights bill gone too far. It is, as Murray Rothbard would have put it, a “monstrous” piece of legislation that looks to create a social and economic equality that could never exist.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/uks-monstrous-equality-act

Since abandoning socialism 30 years ago, Poland's economy has grown, as one would expect with a market economy. However, there could be more economic freedom there that easily would translate into a booming economy.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/poland-now-its-still-paper-tiger

Lolcows, part of the world of internet personalities, would seem well beyond the world of economic analysis. Yet, much of what happens can be explained by the paradigm of Austrian economics.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/austrian-perspective-lolcows

Carl Menger, founder of the Austrian School of economics, served as the tutor for Austrian-Hungary's Crown Prince Rudolf, the only son of Emperor Franz Joseph. But Rudolph's untimely death in 1889 would end up changing the ruling dynamics of pre-World War I Central Europe.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/carl-menger-crown-prince-rudolf-and-marginal-revolution-never-was

Austrian economics does not share the same methodology as we see in the economics mainstream. The Austrian emphasis on praxeology provides a better explanation of economic events than does the mathematically-bound mainstream.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/praxeology-within-physics-social-sciences

Intervention begets intervention. This was the case following the American Revolution, as the consequences of inflation, credit expansion, and wartime disruptions set up for the depression of 1784 in peacetime.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/depression-1784-revolutionary-inflation-and-post-revolution-depression

While Adam Smith is celebrated in some circles as the “Father of Free-Market Economics” (Austrians would disagree), his writings on the “disadvantages” of the worker are misleading.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/how-adam-smith-helped-create-modern-unionism

As AI becomes a more important and visible part of our lives, the movement to regulate it also grows. The standard regulation narratives—that government regulates things in the name of the public interest—clearly do not fit the facts.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/cronyism-and-regulatory-capture

Every July 4th, politicians climb podiums, flags wave, a hundred million dollars' worth of fireworks scatter across the sky, and somewhere between the hot dogs and the stadium-rock anthems, it becomes easy to confuse the theater of freedom with the substance of it.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/fireworks-regime-what-july-4th-actually-celebrates

The media tells us that the rape allegations that brought down Graham Platner's Senate campaign just came to light. Actually, the media had those allegations for months, but sat on them to protect Platner's campaign.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/senate-isnt-his-oyster-after-all-graham-platners-socialist-vessel-turned-out-be-leaky

"The main aim of American foreign policy is to impose the will of our ruling elite on the rest of the world." Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/war-system

Contrary to a common—and incorrect—critique of Rothbard, he was not a fanciful purist who refused to support any political movement that failed to be perfectly libertarian in every way. Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/why-rothbard-sided-american-revolutionaries

Most readers are familiar with the 1964 Civil Rights Act. They are less familiar with the 1957 Civil Rights Act.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/consolidating-federal-power-under-civil-rights-act-1957

Some people seem to think the Constitution of 1787 is pretty much the same thing as the Declaration of Independence. They're wrong.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/dont-confuse-declaration-independence-constitution

In celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we remember names like Jefferson and Washington. Unfortunately, the man probably most responsible for push this nation to independence, Thomas Paine, is mostly forgotten.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/no-paine-no-declaration

The US “celebrates” its 250th birthday today, but not everyone is celebrating. We bring back a classic from 10 years ago that is even more relevant today.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/its-fourth-july-why-am-i-sad

In the deepest sense, the American Revolution was a conscious majority revolution on behalf of libertarianism and against power.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/americas-libertarian-revolution

Jean-Luc Mélenchon—the leader of the French far-left party “La France Insoumise”—says it's no problem that the French government's debt now tops more than 100% of GDP.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/french-far-left-downplays-government-debt-order-spend-even-more

Many largely accept Jefferson's statements about rights, liberty, consent, criminality, and the role of government, however, many come short of adopting Jefferson's radical libertarian political convictions.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/tracing-jeffersons-libertarian-thought-declaration-independence

The dangers posed by a paper fiat currency were well-known even in the early days of the U.S. republic.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/patriotism-shouldnt-apply-debauched-dollar

As technology and AI grow more sophisticated, people commonly believe that they also are eliminating uncertainty. Nothing could be further from the truth.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/why-history-refuses-stay-planned

The modern state has become not only the guardian of political order but also the architect of cultural identity. We must separate culture from the state.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/culture-state-and-problem-liberty

Despite the eternal promises of members of Congress, government office space is rapidly deteriorating. Unfortunately, Congress has no plans to deal with the problem. All of this is easily explained by Austrian economics.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/surprise-surprise-government-capital-stock-deteriorating

This decision—as with birthright citizenship in general—will increase political conflict over the presence of foreign nationals—both legal and illegal—within the United States.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/birthright-citizenship-ruling-will-create-more-conflict-over-immigration

Money did originate from the state, no matter how many times contemporary monetary theorists might claim otherwise.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/backwards-history-money

With its new ruling in Trump v. Cook, the Supreme Court demonstrates it does not understand central banking or the Fed. Clarence Thomas, however, saw through the Fed's lies. Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/supreme-court-and-supreme-fed

It is important to change our political culture, which treats "democracy," or the "right" to vote, as the supreme political good.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/libertarian-critique-birthright-citizenship

While Bitcoin in its early days promised freedom from the tyranny of fiat currency, those days are gone. Instead, Bitcoin owners are now satisfied if its value goes up against the dollar.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/bitcoin-not-freedom-delusion-digital-escape

Comparing Sanders to fascism may seem unusual, but it should not be forgotten that the main leaders of Italian fascism, including Mussolini, were initially socialists before they became fascists.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/why-bernie-sanderss-ai-bill-fascistic-and-dangerous

What role does the Constitution play when one state has a different understanding of “American values” than another? Unfortunately, the responses have been inconsistent, depending upon which “values” one wishes to promote.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/calhouns-answer-abolition-petitions

Mainstream economists claim that understanding and observing reality is not really “doing economics.” Instead, they believe that all we need are abstract theories that predict events well. But over time, financial markets must bend to the real world.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/state-financial-markets-tells-us-what-investors-really-believe

On this July 4, Americans will celebrate 250 years of independence. However, what are people really celebrating, freedom or a militaristic regime?Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/july-4-will-you-be-celebrating-founders-or-status-quo

Pandemics offer an alleged challenge to libertarians, as some argue that governments should have the power to order quarantines and impose vaccine requirements. It turns out that statism makes things worse—and that free markets offer the best solutions.Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/hantavirus-market-versus-government-disease-control

While the pundits are insisting that the late Alan Greenspan was a committed free market adherent, his actions throughout his career spoke differently. In today's Friday Philosophy, Dr. David Gordon exposes Greenspan for what he was: an opportunist.Original article: https://mises.org/friday-philosophy/greenspan-great-opportunist