The Case Against Raiding Private Savings To Prop up Social Security
Adam N. Michel A recent proposal by Andrew Biggs and Alicia Munnell suggests repealing the tax exemption for employer‐sponsored retirement plans and IRAs and using the new revenue to address the majority of Social Security’s long‐term funding gap. The authors’
An Open Letter to Walter E. Block
Breaking up with a person you have known for more than thirty years, with whom you have participated in countless conferences and co-authored a couple of articles, even if only in the somewhat distant past, is nothing done lightly. It
Four Charts That Show Cantillon Effects
Murray Rothbard called Richard Cantillon the “father of modern economics.” While that title is often given to Adam Smith, Rothbard suggested that all the good things in Smith were first discovered by Cantillon or other pre-Smithian economists and that virtually
Navigating the Complexity of Climate Change: A Closer Look at the Scientific Method and Its Challenges
The physical sciences have greatly advanced knowledge by elucidating the workings of simple phenomena. In a simple phenomenon, we have a limited number of important variables, all of which are identifiable and measurable. This allows us to run a scientific
Opponents of Secession Embrace Colonialism in Defense of “Enlightened” Central Governments
The idea of secession for some regions of the United States—sometimes simplistically called "national divorce"—has increasingly been mentioned as a way to deal with the apparent growing divide between what are crudely called "red states" and "blue states." Polls suggest
Biden’s Absurd New Economic Messaging Strategy
After spending months trying to sell his economic agenda under the banner of “Bidenomics,” the president’s team is frustrated. Voters aren’t believing them when they say that the economy is doing excellent and that Joe Biden deserves the credit. Rather than
The War on Producers and Entrepreneurs Is Based on False Notions of Profits
Since Adam Smith, economic thinkers have failed to understand that profits in a market economy are not extractions of wealth from laborers. In truth, profits lead to higher wages and higher living standards for those workers. Original Article: The War on Producers