When discussing the role of government in the economy, bailouts come up quite often as a rationale for government intervention. I’d like to say a bit about that. When businesses are very large, their failure can indeed send ripple effects through the economy–their suppliers, employees, customers, and others might find themselves trying to find alternatives. […]

The interstate highway near my house is being resurfaced. As part of the process, large machines have ground off the top layer of asphalt, leaving a rough surface on which to lay down new asphalt. It’s left a lot of loose stone, which gets tossed around by the wheels of vehicles on the road. My […]

Farmer poor-mouthing to get subsidies, vs. reality: “Farm subsidies redistribute wealth from taxpayers to often well-off farm businesses and landowners. Farm income stabilization payments have recently fluctuated between about $13 billion and $33 billion annually. This is a welfare hand-out like food stamps, yet it goes to higher-income households. In 2010, the average income of […]

Has the wealth gap, as measured by the fraction of wealth held by the top 1%, been increasing in the US? Fortune magazine says yes, but the Cato Institute says that it's been remarkably stable for at least 4-5 decades.

This satellite photo shows an almost completely dark North Korea in sharp contrast to the brightly lit South Korea and Japan. The DPRK is a communist hellhole, but hey, they're conserving energy! Isn't that a good thing? Maybe North Korea, rather than South Korea, should be a country to emulate. <tongue firmly planted in cheek>

Interested in getting a liberty-oriented group going? See yaliberty.org and let me know how I can help.

A new post: "DOJ Demands Laptop Password," Mises Economics Blog, July 13, 2011.

A new op-ed: "Was the Space Shuttle Worth It?" Mises Daily, July 13, 2011.