Money in no way alters reality. This truth seemingly eludes Harvard economist Jason Furman. Consider his assertion in the New York Times that the dollar at “multiyear lows” ultimately “could be good for the U.S. economy.” Really? How? Furman is making an argument equivalent to one suggesting a six-inch-foot would magically make us tall. […]
Jason Furman Has a Plan To Make All of Us Very Tall Read More »
Government spending is excessively harmful precisely because it’s the central planning of precious goods, services and labor by the federal government. Conservatives and libertarians at one time nodded along to the latter, while progressives and liberals rolled their eyes. Not so much today. As this write-up’s title indicates, they’ve become one. See Patricia Cohen
On the National Debt, Left and Right Have Become One Read More »
When did Republicans quit on supply side and go John Maynard Keynes on us? What can’t be said enough is that supply-side economics isn’t about fiddling with the tax rate to increase tax revenues by lowering taxes. Rising tax revenues are the opposite of supply-side economics exactly because more wealth is handed to the
A Tax Cut for ‘Working Families’ Does Nothing For Economic Growth Read More »
Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos can’t realistically spend all the wealth they’ve created. That’s why both epitomize progress. It’s not just that they’ve transformed how we live, it’s that their inability to spend the abundant fruits of their commercial genius means that what they don’t spend will be continuously directed to entrepreneurs and businesses
Falling Prices Enable the Savings That Drive Progress Read More »
The worst thing for a country’s economy is for legislators to borrow money for deficit spending during economic downturns. Too bad no one agrees, including those perhaps pre-disposed to agree. For background, a recent Washington Post editorial lamented that “During a three-year span of low unemployment, economic expansion, increasing revenue and no major foreign wars, the budget deficit
Keynes Doesn’t Gain Legitimacy During Downturns Read More »
The brilliant thinking of Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973) has been unfairly besmirched by a rather absurd “money multiplier” theory puzzlingly embraced by his more modern followers. Mises’s self-proclaimed disciples have long promoted the fiction about money somehow multiplying itself via bank lending… Continue reading on Forbes.
Berkshire’s $358 Billion Question & the Money Multiplier Myth Read More »
“We thought Grease was going to be a disaster.” That’s how Barry Diller bluntly puts it in his memoirs (Who Knew) about one of the many blockbuster films that Paramount Pictures released during his tenure as CEO. When it comes to audience tastes, it’s frequently true that no one knows. All of this is worth remembering
If Xi Jinping Is All-Powerful, Then Why Do We Fear China? Read More »
In an ideal world, every credentialed economist would spend a day, week or semester in Orlando as a way of facing up to the myriad fallacies that stalk their profession. What gives Orlando life is reality about how economies work, and it runs counter to what economists teach. Think the popular notion about the
Orlando and Disney World Are Where Economic Myths Go To Die Read More »
As has been said here before, the most important line in Henry Hazlitt’s Economics In One Lesson has rarely, if ever, been referenced. Hazlitt wrote, “What is harmful or disastrous for an individual must be equally harmful or disastrous to the collection of individuals that make up a nation.” It deserves more attention. Think
Jason Furman Continues To Show Us How Economies Do Not Grow Read More »
Why is Ray Dalio’s debt alarmism so wrongheaded? The view here is that successful investing (Dalio is brilliant at it) is incredibly difficult, while economics is blindingly simple. The investor in Dalio is complicating what isn’t. See his recent post on X: “When an empire runs out of its own money, it is able
Ray Dalio’s Debt Alarmism Is Belied by His Genius As An Investor Read More »
