NVDA Shows Stocks Gain Boost From Fundamentals, Not Fed
As is well known now, Nvidia shares tumbled something like 17% last Monday. Was this bad news from the Fed about its plans for interest rates? The question isn’t serious. Stock prices are a…
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Essays
Writing by John Tamny and Parkview contributors, from the latest commentary to the collected archive.
993 essays · Newest first
Clear filtersIn the U.S. We Have Ski and Surf Bums, Bangladesh Doesn’t
“Since he was a kid, Randy Miod wanted to be at the beach. Once he got there, he never left.” That’s what the Wall Street Journal’s Chris Kornelis wrote about Miod in “Crawdaddy’s” obituary. Although…
The ‘Great Resignation’ Was Always An Obnoxious Myth
Compensation in the United States is very good. How you know this without knowing it is that most of the best, most valuable businesses in the world are American. It brings to mind the popular…
Immigration, ‘Unskilled’ Workers, and the Yuma, AZ Fallacy
Highly emotional members of the left have been known to bemoan immense wealth. Possessing a fixed pie, zero sum view of the world, they imagine that wealth is taken as opposed to being created. …
Lacking a Basis for Banning TikTok, Its Critics Resort to ‘Because…’
“We have access to information that you don’t have.” That’s one way Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara (1916-2009) explained a Vietnam War that not everyone supported. The recently passed writer…
The Rise of DeepSeek Is Unreservedly Bullish For the U.S.
Oil is the most important commodity in the world when it comes to human flourishing, and nothing else comes close. Stop and think about how intensely inconvenient and impoverished life would be…
Neither Govt Spending Nor Fed Printing Brought Higher Prices
Back in March of 2020, former Federal Reserve Board member Kevin Warsh penned an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal (“Let the Fed Administer an Antiviral Shot”) calling for the Federal Reserve…
Book Review: Amor Towles Triumphs With ‘Table for Two’
In his 2023 book The Art Thief, author Michael Finkel crucially observed (my book review here) that “art is the result of facing almost no survival pressure of all.” So true, and it raises an…
There’s One Merger Trump’s FTC Shouldn’t Hesitate To Approve
The United States has long been the “Land of Opportunity.” That has been true since our founding and remained through different epochs of political change and social turmoil. During the past few…
Contra the Washington Post, Exports Are a Bullish Sign of Imports
“The world is being swamped with Chinese goods, and the United States, Europe and Japan are right to worry about it.” Those are the opening words of a recent Washington Post editorial about Chinese…
North Carolina Confirms Rising Term-Limit Momentum
North Carolina’s legislature recently passed a Congressional Term Limits resolution in bipartisan fashion. The Tar Heel state is the third one in 2024 (joining Louisiana and Tennessee) to make the…
The Capacity for People to Prosper Is Limitless
Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell writes that Scott Bessent “is using all the budget high jinks at his disposal to produce a pseudoscientific plan that’s rosier, more magical and more…
Minorities Voted For Trump, Trump Owes Them Prosperous Policy
Jack Kemp (1935-2009) always felt Republicans should do well with minorities and immigrants. He saw the Republicans as the party of opportunity, and felt his message of growth should and would…
A ‘Monetary Rule’ Doesn’t Suddenly Validate Mkt. Intervention
The Federal Reserve doesn’t need to adopt a “Monetary Policy Rule.” Not only would the central bank shed the pretense of rules-based constraints on its power during times of upheaval and uncertainty…
The Late, Great David Lodge Helped Us to Relax, and Relax Some More
I was first introduced to David Lodge’s endlessly great novels when a college girlfriend gave me her copy of Nice Work. The book was assigned to her in a senior-year English literature class at…
Our National Security Calls for Trump to Impede the TikTok Ban
Writing about antitrust law recently, the excellent Holman Jenkins observed that “At best it’s a criminal waste of talent. At worst, it’s deeply worrisome that any law school graduate aspires to…
Government Spending’s Warping Effect On Its Contractors
Government spending never enhances economic growth precisely because governments only have money to spend insofar as they have taxable access to private economic activity. In other words, government…
An Easy Fix For Social Security Hides In Plain Sight
It turns out back-scratching is a profession. And a well-paid one at that. So is sleeping, videogame playing, and college sorority consulting. As automation and globalization continue to lay waste to…
Rising Dollar Circulation In Syria Is a Sign of Liberty
Central banks don’t “supply” dollars to cities, states and nations, rather dollars are an automatic effect of production in cities, states and nations. Contrary to what most economists believe,…
Actually Mike Gallagher, Congress Has Legislated TikTok’s Theft
“Congress Didn’t Ban TikTok.” That’s the title of Mike Gallagher’s latest column in the Wall Street Journal. The former congressman from Wisconsin is correct that Congress didn’t ban TikTok, it’s…
Mexico’s Economy Rejects Keynes, Friedman, & Neo-Miseans
One of the most powerful drivers of Mexican economic growth is economic activity that takes place outside of Mexico. Specifically, economic activity within the United States. Stop and think about…
Those Who Would Ban TikTok Are More Dangerous Than TikTok
Adam Smith’s observation that “the sole use of money is to circulate consumable goods” cannot be repeated enough. It explains so much, and in particular it explains why world leaders were so eager to…
Book Review: Ron Manners’ ‘The Impatient Libertarian’
They’re libertarians and they don’t know it. That’s long been the view of Cato Institute co-founder Ed Crane. It’s what he expressed decades ago to recently passed Cato executive vice president David…
The Fed’s Stress Tests Are a Conceited Look Backwards
To this day it’s said that mark-to-market (MTM) accounting rules are what caused existential troubles for banks and investment banks back in 2008. It sounds so compelling at first glance, but only…