Mises Media

Ryan McMaken, Jonathan Newman, and Joshua Mawhorter of the Mises Institute take a look at the politics of "fedspeak" and what officials at the Federal Reserve really mean when they say they're going to fix the Fed.

Related:

• Jonathan's Article, "A Look Behind the Fed’s Curtains": Mises.org/PM43a
• NYT, "How Kevin Warsh Could Shrink the Fed’s Footprint in Financial Markets": Mises.org/PM43b

The old republic is gone. The constitutional order of the Jeffersonian years—i.e., the so-called "American experiment"—was swept away long ago.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/we-are-living-fourth-american-republic

The dearth of child-bearing in western countries like the US is seen as a political crisis. Yet, if there is any place in our lives where government should stay out, it is in the area of childbirth.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/tragedy-socialized-fertility

The Trump administration’s downsizing USAID has brought the usual claims: that without US aid, millions of poor people around the world will die of starvation and disease. Not surprisingly, the claims are exaggerated.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/usaid-funded-aid-programs-abroad-mainly-was-jobs-program-progressives

In his concluding argument, Molinari envisions a society where security is provided by competing private firms chosen voluntarily by consumers. He contends that such a system would deliver better protection at lower cost while preserving individual freedom.

Molinari describes the inevitable consequences of monopolized security: rising costs, declining quality, and the use of force against the very citizens the government claims to protect. He illustrates how monopoly governments tend toward oppression and fiscal exploitation.

This section critiques the justifications used to legitimize government monopoly, from the divine right of monarchs to the sovereignty of democratic majorities. Molinari argues that majority rule is no more legitimate than royal absolutism when it violates individual rights.

Molinari distinguishes between society, which arises naturally from voluntary human cooperation, and government, which imposes itself through force. He argues that conflating the two leads people to accept unjust authority as a necessary feature of civilized life.

This section traces how governments historically established and maintained their monopoly over the production of security. Molinari describes how coercive control over defense led to the familiar abuses of taxation, war, and the suppression of individual liberty.

Molinari draws a parallel between monopoly and communism, arguing that both represent departures from the principle of free competition. He shows that a government monopoly on security shares the same economic defects as collectivized production in any other industry.