Mr. Trump blames bad trade deals as helping the Chinese profit at the U.S.’s expense. Undoubtedly we could have better trade deals, if we made them one-page long rather than the monstrosities that Washington normally cooks up. Nevertheless, I remain convinced that on balance free trade agreements are beneficial, leading to higher standards of living […]
Archives
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My proposed Remedy for “Safe Spaces”
17 Oct 2016
One of the things that dismays me at our culture these days is the ever-increasing number of people who are easily offended. In fact, in economic terms, I think they have a taste for offense. It’s as if they are able to feel more self-righteous when they are offended, and hence feel better about themselves because their […]
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“Fraud!” cried the maddened thousands, and echo answered “Fraud!” But one scornful look from Casey and the audience was awed. They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain, And they knew that Casey wouldn’t let that ball go by again. Empassioned sports fans don’t like a bad call, and we […]
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I think most of us can now certainly agree: even if we give Mr. Trump his claim that he is the most brilliant businessman ever, and his paying low or no taxes is due to his incredible financial acumen, we cannot help but conclude either he is a particularly poor politician or he simply does […]
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Its puzzling to me, tell me why?
30 Sep 2016
Why is it that many Americans are concerned about CEO pay (S&P 500 median compensation $10.8M in 2015), but are not concerned that Taylor Swift made $170M last year? Or that LeBron James made $77M? Why is it that people are concerned about an explosion in the price hikes of monopolist producers of EpiPen, but […]
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Election 2016: Haymond’s for who?
19 Sep 2016
How did we get here? This is the question many of us have heard or asked during the last year. We’re all justifiably distraught that our choices seemingly are Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. No one wants to vote for the lesser of two evils, especially when it seems like the lesser is still pretty evil. Further, most Bereans […]
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Even a stopped clock is right twice per day, and Mr. Trump is right much more than that (from an economic perspective). So despite my angst over his posture on immigration and free trade, let’s give Mr. Trump his due. The Fed’s easy money policy is fraught with significant problems, and the Fed itself is institutionally […]
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How you frame the question means a lot
31 Aug 2016
My son sent me a link the other day to a isidewith.com to see who I would vote for. You are allowed to weight the questions according that issue’s importance to you, which ostensibly will lead to a more accurate assessment of who you support based on their positions. I came down solidly on the […]
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When asked how one could tell whether a country had left capitalism and become a socialist economy, the Austrian economist Ludwig Von Mises said: “A stock market is crucial to the existence of capitalism and private property. For it means that there is a functioning market in the exchange of private titles to the means of […]
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Dem’s have annointed their choice for our elite ruler, Republicans have theirs. Which elite do you want?
27 Jul 2016
It’s a frustrating choice to be sure, but let’s take a few minutes to think about what Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton have in common. At root, they and their supporters think they have the right to direct our lives in very important ways. They differ, of course, in the specifics of how they want […]