Tho Bishop is a senior contributor to The Liberty Conservative and the Media Coordinator at the Mises Institute.
The government shutdown wasn’t long enough to delay the nomination hearing for an economist who could be considered to be one of the “worst Fed nominees of all time.” While most of the headlines generated from Marvin Goodfriend’s testimony before the Senate today focused on the grilling he received from Senate Dems, there is one curious part of
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On Wednesday, the Republican controlled house voted to further federalize gun laws in this country. While Ryan McMaken has noted the danger in further centralizing gun legislation, there is another deeply troubling aspect to this bill: it expands the ability of the Federal government to restrict Americans’ right to bear arms. During the legislative process, the NRA supported
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Yesterday Donald Trump nominated Marvin Goodfriend to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, one of the numerous vacanciesthat have emerged over the course of the past year. While his prior nominations of Jay Powell as Chairman and Randal Quarles as Vice Chair represented a disappointing commitment to the status quo, his selection of Goodfriend is a
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In the end Donald Trump gets what he wanted, a “low interest rate person” who also happens to be a “Republican.” Jerome Powell will replace Janet Yellen. This means Trump will ensure that, while the stationary at the Eccles Building will change, the monetary policy guiding it likely will not. The fact that, in naming Powell, Trump is picking an
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One of the most devastating consequences of the Obama Administration has been that Americans who don’t have the luxury of large bank accounts are continuing to be treated like second-class citizens by the US financial system. The Wall Street Journal this week offered another example this week in an article noting that banks are now paying higher interest
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Recently, Russia announced that it will be unleashing a CryptoRuble, just a week after Vladimir Putin strongly criticized Bitcoin and other private cryptocurrencies. When announcing the move, Minister of Communications Nikolay Nikiforov acknowledged that it was in part inspired by the aim of getting ahead of other governments: I confidently declare that we run CryptoRuble for one simple
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Gary Cohn, chief economic adviser to the President, voiced concern over the weekend about risk posed by Wall Street clearinghouses that became systemically important following the 2008 financial crisis.
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The biggest winner of the Trump presidency is also the most surprising: Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen. After all, Yellen was a constant target for criticism by Candidate Trump, going so far as to accuse her of being “more political than Hillary Clinton.” Beyond Mr. Trump’s barbed rhetoric, pundits such as Paul Krugman predicted that Trump’s
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The Donald Trump era has made Washington D.C. a little more entertaining, but has done little to change how the Beltway operates. Democrats still hate Republicans, Republicans still hate leadership, and Wall Street still controls the Treasury. So it goes. As such, when I had heard that a last second Obamacare reform bill had come
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Almost two weeks have passed since Hurricane Irma made landfall in South Florida, yet tens of thousands remain without power. With temperatures regularly eclipsing over 90 degrees, these outages are not only a grave inconvenience for Floridians cleaning up after the storm, but have proved to be deadly. Given the power of Irma, it is
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Today Stanley Fischer submitted his letter of resignation from the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, effective next month, the second such resignation of Donald Trump’s presidency. While Fischer’s term as Vice Chairman of the Fed was set to end next year, he had the ability to serve as a governor through 2020. Along with Trump’s
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Baseball may still identify as America’s pastime, but every year consumers prove that football is the country’s true love. In fact, the intertwining of national identity and the NFL can often be troublesome, such as when the Pentagon pays the league to promote the military — or the large subsidies governments grant to help billionaires
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One of the most consistent themes through the works of Ludwig von Mises is the role ideas play in shaping society. As he wrote in Theory and History: “Thoughts and ideas are not phantoms. They are real things. Although intangible and immaterial, they are factors in bringing about changes in the realm of tangible and
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Derek Carr has just signed the most lucrative deal in NFL history, receiving a five-year extension worth $125 million with the soon-to-be Las Vegas Raiders. At $25 million per year, Carr edges out Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck (though Luck’s contract did reward him with over twice as much in guaranteed money). Carr also becomes
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Ludwig von Mises dedicated a great amount of ink to the role that ideas play in shaping society. Not only does his analysis illustrate why it is so important to educate the public on topics such as economics, but also explains the enormous danger posed by widely accepted political myths. Examples include various false narratives
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As the Trump Administration continues to try to figure where it wants to go with healthcare, his team at the Treasury is readying tax reform. Unfortunately, much like the Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s film Suicide Squad, initial optimism is facing the bitter reality of horrible early reviews. After all, during the campaign there was much to
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There are indications that Donald Trump is prepared to radically shake-up one of the most deadly Federal agencies: the FDA. Ever since Bloomberg reported in December that Jim O’Neill, managing director at Mithril Capital Management and noted FDA-critic, was being considered for the position, there has been reason to hope that Trump was considering a libertarian
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The crisis in Venezuela is the most modern illustration of the horrific consequences of socialism and the devastating reality of hyperinflation. What makes this disaster all the more infuriating is that it could have been avoided with a basic understanding of history. We’ve seen the disaster of socialism and interventionism in various forms play out
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Donald Trump hasn’t yet made the move from Trump Tower to America’s most expensive public housing, but he was able to come through with one campaign promise this week by announcing a deal with Indiana-based Carrier Air Conditioning that will keep almost 1,000 jobs in the state. As reported, the deal seems largely focused on
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Cultural Marxism enjoyed a victory last week when University of Missouri President Tim Wolfe resigned after members of the Missouri Tigers football team joined a student movement calling for his resignation. While I fully support the rights of these players to leverage their athletic ability to advocate a cause — as I would support their
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In an American society increasingly polarized over politics, one uniting belief is that there is something very wrong with our government. While this is true, there is an unfortunate tendency — on both sides — to try to identify simple, easy to recite reforms to fix our woes. On the left, for example, the cries
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After weeks of speculation, Donald Trump has announced Steve Mnuchin as his nominee for Treasury Secretary. Though Mnuchin can currently be seen in movie theaters playing a banker in Warren Beatty’s new film Rules Don’t Apply, he has a lower profile than most tapped to head the Treasury department. Probably to his credit, he has
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Last night’s presidential debate was the latest episode in what appears to be a prolonged infomercial for Hans-Hermann Hoppe’s Democracy: The God that Failed. One of the rare libertarian highlights of the 2016 campaign, however, came when Donald Trump called for a special prosecutor in the case of Hillary Clinton’s unprecedented recklessness with her private e-mail
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The Johnson-Weld ticket had its second CNN primetime special on Wednesday, with the duo once again missing a great opportunity to be taken seriously by most of the country. While it’s great to see cable news acknowledge viewpoints outside of the corrupt duopoly (monopoly?) of the status quo, the attention given to the Libertarian Party
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The Tonys this weekend featured a rarity in modern award ceremonies, a massive celebration for a work of art that romanticizes both America and the men that founded it. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s smash-hit Hamilton racked up 11 awards, including best musical, leading actor (Leslie Odom Jr. as Aaron Burr), featured actress (Renée Elise Goldsberry as Angelica
MoreIn Orlando this weekend, the Libertarian Party will settle on their standard bearer for 2016. Not since 2004 has there been such intrigue at a Libertarian Party convention, and with the traditional two-party system as weak as it has ever been, it’s the first time in decades the Libertarian Party nomination may have impact outside
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Gary Johnson, perceived front-runner for the Libertarian Party, announced today that he would choose former Massachusetts’s Governor Bill Weld as his Vice Presidential candidate. On paper, the move seems to make a lot of sense. Weld, like Johnson, is a former Republican who has long had a reputation for being a “libertarian,” having been a
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During Monday’s chaotic day of demonstrations at the University of Missouri, professor Melissa Click accomplished something she may have never done before in her academic career – taught an important lesson. Click, an assistant professor of mass media at Mizzou’s communications department, was recorded intimidating and threatening student journalists trying to document the protests occurring
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As a proud libertarian working in Congress, it is easy to adopt a nihilistic tone. While it is great see members like Justin Amash and Thomas Massie communicate the message of liberty on the House floor – the direction of the GOP caucus is often not that discernable from the Democrats across the aisle. So
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