The
Rational Argumentator
Issue CCLXV
November 18-20, 2010
Quantitative Easing: It's Sinking the Fed's Status:
Robert P. Murphy
November 18, 2010
Now it's not just Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck, or foreign central bankers, but more and more American economists who are starting to openly challenge the second round of "quantitative easing." In the realm of monetary policy, the Fed's apologists are circling the wagons against the ostensibly unsophisticated critics of "QE2," who don't want to take their inflationary medicine. In the present article Dr. Robert Murphy points out some of the latest (and most amusing) twists and turns in the debate.
Currency Wars:
Robert P. Murphy
November 19, 2010
US officials have pressured the Chinese to allow their currency to appreciate against the dollar. More recently, Europeans have complained about the Federal Reserve's plans for a second round of "quantitative easing" because of the advantage a weaker dollar gives to US exporters. Over the next few years, Dr. Robert Murphy fears that we may be in store for currency wars, in which nations continually print money in order to gain a temporary trade advantage. The end result, of course, will be accelerating price inflation and distorted production across the globe.
Gold: The Market's Global Currency:
Robert P. Murphy
November 20, 2010
World Bank president Robert Zoellick has stirred up a hornet's nest with his recent call for a return to a gold anchor in the global financial system. The usual suspects immediately denounced him, with Keynesian Brad DeLong anointing Zoellick the "Stupidest Man Alive." In the present article Dr. Robert Murphy explains the resurging interest in the yellow metal. He also explains the dangers of Zoellick's proposal, and why fans of the classical gold standard should be wary.
Thinking Clearly About Capital, Interest, and Income:
Robert P. Murphy
November 20, 2010
Nowadays, Austrian economists are most famous for their theory of the business cycle, as developed by Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek. However, they also made many contributions to the pure theory of capital and interest, most notably in the seminal work of Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk and later in that of Hayek. In the present article Dr. Robert Murphy shows that these insights are relevant today, as mainstream economist Scott Sumner lashes out justifiably against absurd tax policies but, in the process, throws economic theory out the window, too.
Soak-the-Rich Taxes: Fail!:
Robert P. Murphy
November 20, 2010
This week's episode of 60 Minutes featured a 13-minute segment on "taxing the rich" in order to cure the government's debt problem. In addition to being an outrageously biased story, the coverage was filled with more economic fallacies than Dr. Robert Murphy can address in a single article. In this essay, however, Dr. Murphy highlights some of the major absurdities of the 60 Minutes segment.
Politics
Introducing the American Traveler Dignity Act:
Ron Paul
November 18, 2010
Today Rep. Ron Paul introduced legislation to protect Americans from physical and emotional abuse by federal Transportation Security Administration employees conducting screenings at the nation’s airports. We have seen the videos of terrified children being grabbed and probed by airport screeners. We have read the stories of Americans being subjected to humiliating body imaging machines and/or forced to have the most intimate parts of their bodies poked and fondled. We do not know the potentially harmful effects of the radiation emitted by the new millimeter wave machines.
End the Ethanol Subsidies:
Paul Driessen
November 19, 2010
Amazingly, not even the independent deficit reduction commission was willing to eliminate the $6-billion sacred cow of annual ethanol subsidies. The current 45-cents-per-gallon tax credit for blending ethanol into gasoline automatically expires December 31, as does the 54-cents-a-gallon tariff on imported ethanol. Paul Driessen reminds us that all senators and congressmen need to do is nothing, and beleaguered taxpayers will save six billion bucks.
Prop. 19 Goes Up in Smoke:
Mark Thornton
November 19, 2010
Proposition 19 in California would have legalized marijuana, but it fell short. Victory seemed almost a foregone conclusion for many; after all, it is California. For millions, both in California and across the country, news of Prop. 19's failure came as a major disappointment. However, it should be considered a great victory for such a radical measure to get 46 percent of the vote in open defiance of federal law, especially considering the intense opposition. Plans are already in the works to put the initiative back on the ballot for the 2012 election, which is expected to have higher turnout from young people. But in order for the ballot initiative to succeed, Mark Thornton writes that we must first understand why it failed.
Greenwashing America:
Alan Caruba
November 20, 2010
Every time you see some product being sold as “Green”, allegedly safer or beneficial for the environment, you can be sure that it is more expensive than a comparable product that does the same thing without making this claim. In a similar fashion, every time you hear a corporation claiming it is concerned about the environment, you can be sure that it is trying to protect itself against lawsuits from environmental groups or Environmental Protection Agency action that will eat into its profits and dividends.
Goodbye Global Warming, Hello Biodiversity:
Alan Caruba
November 20, 2010
After three decades of trying to push the global warming scam to a point where billions could be made selling and trading bogus “carbon credits”, the global schemers have abandoned it in the wake of 2009 revelations that a handful of rogue climate scientists were literally inventing the data to support it. But now unjustified fears of dwindling “biodiversity” may be the next scare used to justify onerous controls, writes Alan Caruba.
"We all look for happiness, but without knowing where to find it: like drunkards who look for their house, knowing dimly that they have one."
~ Francois-Marie Arouet de Voltaire