The Inflation ‘Know-Somethings’ Doth Protest Too Much
“If one-half of the commodities in the market rise in exchange value, the very terms imply a fall of the other half; and reciprocally, the fall implies a rise.” – John Stuart Mill, Principles of…
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Essays
Writing by John Tamny and Parkview contributors, from the latest commentary to the collected archive.
1053 essays · Newest first
Clear filtersThe Washington Post’s Kate Cohen Happens On Her Inner Libertarian
Particularly after presidential elections that invariably get Democrats and Republicans way too riled up, it’s useful to bring Ed Crane into the discussion. Crane is the co-founder of the libertarian…
A Falling Oil Price Is a Beautiful Sign of Progress, Not ‘Recession’
“We better hang up. This call is getting very expensive.” It’s something no one says anymore, but it was the norm right up to the dawn of the 21st century, and realistically beyond. Long distance…
Why Don’t Americans Just Move To Flint, Michigan?
If the question at the top of this opinion piece reads as flippant, that’s because it is. How else to respond to Columbia economics professor Glenn Hubbard than with flippancy born of mystification?…
James Grant’s Perpetual Misery Blinds Him to Market Reality
“Our company is thirty days from going out of business.” Every so often it’s useful to reference the previous quote. It’s real, and to this day can be found posted in the headquarters of Nvidia,…
It’s Not Just Smartphones Rendering Alarm Clocks Obsolete
What, within reason, is the worst sound of all to the typical human ear? One that stands out from the K-12 years is the ticking clock on CBS’s 60 Minutes. Particularly in the days of three networks…
Google’s Reward for Being the Best? DOJ Harassment
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is presently demanding that Google sell Chrome, the world’s most popular internet browser. Oh wow, not again… Traveling back in time, as late as 2002 Microsoft’s…
Book Review: Tevi Troy’s ‘The Power and the Money’
Jeff Bezos’s purchase of the Washington Post in 2013 may not have been his best business acquisition, but it still arguably rates among his best acquisitions. Precisely due to Amazon’s stupendous…
Inflation Is a Shrinkage of the Monetary Unit, Nothing Else
Inflation is all over the news and commentary today, particularly after a presidential election that was allegedly all about it. The problem remains that few who utter the word grasp its singular…
Get Ready For Delayed and Lower Taxes on 401(k) Withdrawals
“Another bad decision is that I didn’t move any of my money from a traditional 401(k) to a Roth 401(k). Neither did my husband. So we have to take more withdrawals than we need right now and pay…
Peter Orszag Discredits Keynes…AND Supply-Side on ‘Inflation’
Lazard chief executive Peter Orszag recently published an opinion piece in the Washington Post that exists as an essential economics lesson for left-leaning Keynesian economic thinkers, along with…
The FTC Is Attacking Meta For Making Global Communication Free
In the 1860s the first transcontinental cable was laid on the ocean floor. While it miraculously connected North America with Europe, communication via the connection was only affordable to the…
So Long As Bitcoin Is Loud Price Story, It Won’t Ever Be Money
Bitcoin in its present, high-profile form cannot be money. About the previous assertion, it should in no way be taken as a knock on crypto, or private money more broadly. Evidence supporting the…
Jack Ryan Is the Ultimate Choice for HUD Secretary
Jack Ryan is passionate about expanding access to housing. Ryan’s passion makes him ideal as HUD secretary for the incoming Trump administration. To which some will respond that what Ryan believes in…
Book Review: CTA CEO Gary Shapiro’s ‘Pivot or Die’
It’s always amusing to read about businesses said to possess so-called “monopoly” power in the U.S., or much more disturbingly, about accusations of “monopoly” power from the ankle biters inside the…
Javier Milei Needn’t Dollarize, He Only Needs to Set Argentina Free
Cato Institute co-founder Ed Crane has long said in print, on television and in person that a focus on economic growth misses the point. Paraphrasing Crane, if the people are free they’ll have all…
While Oil Is Essential to Life and Progress, ‘Drill Baby, Drill’ Is Mindless
A recent front page story in the Wall Street Journal told the story of a courageous entrepreneur who impressively got in the proverbial door with Costco. She had what Journal reporter Ruth Simon…
The World’s Stablecoins Deserve More From the Dollar
Every so often it’s useful to quote arguably the most important passage from Wall Street Journal reporter Craig Karmin’s 2008 book, Biography of the Dollar. Karmin noted that prior to 1971, there…
Biden Administration Leaks Rob Corporations of Their Best Asset
Warren Buffett has famously said that “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and 5 minutes to ruin it.” Buffett’s wise words rate prominent mention in light of a disturbing pattern of corporate…
Intel’s DJIA Exit Mocks Silly Notion Abt. Fed Boosting Stocks
Promoting his new book over the summer, economist Ruchir Sharma managed to get one of its main themes splashed all over the media: “When the price of borrowing money is zero, the price of everything…
The Bigger Meaning of Quincy Jones’s Remarkable Life
“I saw a little piano in the room and I closed the door. Something said to me, ‘Idiot, go back in that room!’ I went back in the room and touched the piano…and every drop of blood in my body said,…
Bernie Marcus Was One of the All-Time GREATS
“Get out of the car! Get the f**k out of my car.” That’s a paraphrase of the words of the recently passed, and incomparably GREAT Bernie Marcus. Marcus, along with Arthur Blank and Ken Langone,…
Congratulations Donald Trump, Please Have the Courage To Do Nothing
Flipping through the channels on election night, I was reminded of the Dallas Cowboys winning their second straight Super Bowl in 1994. A friend of mine who truly loathed the Cowboys (the Oilers were…
As Its Wallet Share Has Shrunk, Baseball Has Soared
Who manages the Yankees? Or the Dodgers? By the conclusion of the 1977 World Series, managers Tommy Lasorda (Dodgers) and Billy Martin (Yankees) were household names. So were the players. It’s easy…