Remember that credit is money. —Benjamin Franklin The June 2023 Supreme Court decision to reject the Biden administration’s plan that pandered to those claiming impoverishment by the costs of higher education is a second-act curtain on the student debt drama. A third act in the drama was outlined by President Biden on June 30 using piecemeal
I put for the general inclination of all mankind, a perpetual and restless desire of power after power, that ceaseth only in death. —Thomas Hobbes, The Leviathan California continues to attack businesses and entrepreneurial freedom. Leviathan has awakened, this time with Assembly Bill 257, promoting a state-controlled trade union for all
Continued inflation inevitably leads to catastrophe. —Ludwig von Mises Consumers’ behaviors cause the consumer price index (CPI) broad heading of food to understate the real or wallet level of inflation. It is much worse than the top line statistic—it is a serious offense to the poor and fixed-income citizens. The CPI measures nominal dollar
Modern secular society embraces a new religion complete with prophets, crusaders, commandments, contrition, and even a holy land: East Anglia, United Kingdom. These congregants will behave idiosyncratically in the economy. The activist green movement increasingly parallels Western religious structure, even generating a modern version of the
A student goes into a bank. He tells the personal loan banker, “I want to borrow $7,500 per year for the next four or five years.” “That’s at least $30,000 over time,” the banker says. “Personal loans have a 10 percent interest factor.” “For my loan,” says the student, “I need an interest rate close to a home mortgage, like 6 percent. Also, I
To me, a wise and humane policy is occasionally to let inflation rise even when inflation is running above target. —Janet Yellen We have sighted the enemy and he is us. —Pogo On July 26, 2023, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point. By the time you read this, your credit card interest rate will probably have
As the economy slowly deteriorates, consumer debt rises. In the meantime, the Fed is pushing up interest rates to deal with the inflation it caused. This does not end well. Original Article: Consumer Credit Is Expanding Even While the Fed Pushes up Interest
The “first” Children’s Crusade of 1212 ended in tragedy for those taking part. The “second” crusade is not going to produce any happy endings, either. Original Article: “Climate Activism: The Second Children’s Crusade” This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher
Even after two years of “transitory” inflation, America’s ruling classes insist that prices are falling and that all of this is temporary. We don’t believe them. Original Article: “ The Ruling Classes Are Inflation Deniers and the Ship of Fools Sails On”
The student loan program is descending into chaos and the Biden administration is clueless about what to do. Furthermore, the value of a college education continues to fall while college costs increase. Original Article: Student Loans: The Continuing Crisis That Is Getting
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.