"There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
Adam Smith, the builder of a majestic Gothic cathedral of economic thought. by John Kay (1742-1826)/Library of Congress (PD-1996) This is the second of two posts on the applicability of … Read More
Although it might not be immediately obvious to you, the law of supply and demand implies one of the most important functions of money. Everyone knows money serves as a … Read More
Chaos, chaos everywhere! Image Credit: Flickr.com/SantaRosa OLD SKOOL It is sometimes said that “if the only tool you have is a hammer, then everything you see looks like … Read More
I was inspired to write this post by a person named Cai in a comment on Clouds and Global Warming. Not that the suggestive part of Cai’s comment had anything to … Read More
Many people, especially progressive Democrats, confuse crony capitalism with free-market capitalism. This confusion is part of the religious faith of the woke. Capitalist corporate officers are viewed as among the … Read More
American progressives are afflicted by a number of biases, which cause them to devalue the classical laws of economics. Nevertheless, whether they believe in those laws or not, those laws … Read More
Recently, I suggested that the members of the Biden Administration needed to take a remedial course in basic economics. Fundamental to the understanding of that subject are the four classical … Read More
Recently, a friend of mine asked me how I felt about our descent into the hell of our ideological warfare. What animated her interest was the kinds of emotions generated … Read More
In June, 2016 and September, 2018, I wrote posts that compared the economies of all countries on Earth for which data was available. My purpose was to examine which of … Read More
I was reading an essay in Foreign Affairs magazine recently entitled The Broken Bargain. It was about the multifarious populist and nationalist revolts among Western electorates over the last few … Read More
NOTE: This post was updated on April 16, 2020. The explosion of the COVID-19 coronavirus on the international scene emphasizes yet again that China has no intention of merely coexisting … Read More
Almost two years ago, I produced the plots above as evidence for Western economic stagnation. If anything, the situation for European stagnation is only getting worse. The purpose of this … Read More
American progressives have a real problem. Somehow, they must figure out how to finance the huge new social programs they would like to impose on us. Lately, a number of … Read More
The vicious ideological warfare between the Left and the Right is caused by one salient question: Just how useful is government in solving social and economic problems? A subsidiary issue … Read More
The progressive view of American corporations dating from the late 19th century. The Robber Barons, seated on bags of millions of dollars, are supported upon the backs of the workers. … Read More
Freeimages.com / Julia Borysewicz Recently a friend asked me, “What do you think life and economics will be like in 100 and 200 years, if no catastrophe derails the progress of … Read More
Two faces of American populism Left: Sen. Bernie Sanders(I-VT) during campaign event in Phoenix, Az. Wikimedia Commons/Gage Skidmore Right: Donald Trump during 2016 presidential campaign event. Wikimedia Commons/Gage Skidmore American … Read More
Democratic Party workers watching the presidential election returns in shock on the night of November 8, 2016. Photo Credit: AP / Matt Rourke One might expect such a lurid title … Read More
An Indian plowman in West Bengal working in India’s largest industry: Agriculture Wikimedia Commons / ILRI In my last two posts, I have taken looks at the history of leftist … Read More
Revolutionary Images: Lessons to be avoided like the plague! Left: A barricade erected by revolutionaries in Moscow, 1905. Wikimedia Commons / Imperial War Museum Right: People’s Liberation Army entering Beijing, … Read More
Automated pharmacology production Wikimedia Commons / FLAGRANGE This is the third essay in a series in which I answer progressive criticisms of neoliberalism (often mistakenly called conservatism). The author of … Read More
Let the Games begin! (c) Can Stock Photo / Mark2121 Over the last couple of years, I have been very hard on progressives on this website. It is no surprise … Read More
An imaginary European seaport painted by Claude Lorrain around 1639, at the height of mercantilism Wikimedia Commons / Musée du Louvre / Mbzt In the year 1776, the same year in which 13 … Read More
Left: Jean-Baptiste Say (5 January 1787 – 15 November 1832), Wikimedia Commons Right: John Maynard Keynes (5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), Wikimedia Commons / National Portrait Gallery At … Read More
Line of shoppers in front of a Polish shop in the 1980s. A common sight in Warsaw pact countries ruled by communism. Wikimedia Commons Actually, dirigisme as a way of … Read More
A wartime factory worker in 1940s Fort Worth, Texas Wikimedia Commons/Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division On opening up my online edition of the Wall Street Journal this morning, … Read More
Hurricane Isabel, a category 5 hurricane, seen from the International Space Station in September 2003. This deadly storm had many of the same system characteristics in the planet’s weather that … Read More
Constant Russian per capita GDP in 2010 US dollars (Blue curve) and its percent change from a year earlier (red curve). Image Credit: St. Louis Federal Reserve District Bank/FRED Data … Read More
An Icon of Human Freedom with its Author, Thomas Jefferson Flickr.com/Drew Myers It is no secret that American progressives are at the very best terribly ambivalent about democracy, and about … Read More
Hillary Clinton speaking at the Brown & Black Presidential Forum in Des Moines, Iowa on January 11, 2016 Wikimedia Commons/Arthur Skidmore Given how the bombastic Donald is increasingly sabotaging his own … Read More
