Ludwig von Mises Institute

http://www.facebook.com/mises.institute?v=app_2373072738&ref=nf

That link should get you there.

Told you so, Adam. :p

I have noticed Mises getting more recognition lately. GREAT!

>>All I read here is half-baked statements about how government is worse than private interests and no logical explanations about how eliminating governmetn would acually result in a functioning society.

Reply: Who wants to eliminate government? We just want a limited government.

Can't wait to see Super Duper Freakonomics!

Two thumbs up!

I asked my broker the other day, what are you investing in? He replied "ammunition & Canned food"...

We'll see what happens I think deflation will be the cards for awhile. The consumer is strapped, banks are hoarding cash, velocity of money is still down. Keep in mind that Japan has had interest rates below or around 1% for almost 20 years now and they are STILL fighting deflation.

It reminds me of a Brazilian friend of mine whose son is an architect that cannot find a job down there, even as a contractor or handyman, because companies cannot pay the architect minimum wage required by the union. Insane.

This is the terror of communism, right here in the US. And still many idiots think that FDR was a "hero" and a "champion of freedom"...

LOL Brett. A paradigm is a worldview. It is most commonly used when talking about a paradigm shift, a change of worldview (such as from a capitolist system to a centrally planned one. Not to imply that we are undergoing such a paradigm shift right now)

@Brett: LOL I thought it was CHANGE we're going to be left with.

THAT IS AWESOME!!!

Wow. I had thought of Caplan as a generally intelligent person, but after that quote about people generally being too smart to be fooled by rates of interest I'll have to reconsider.

I mean, for crying out loud, the same smart people thought that houses naturally appreciate!

Wow! A prize! Goodie goodie. So how am I going to receive it?

Man, hard times. I'll tell you what really needs deflating though. This guys waistline.

Sadly, my own waistline also needs a great deal of deflating.

Mish keeps getting confused and assumes that there is no difference between commodity money and a fiat currency. His assumption that government cannot print as much as it wants does not reflect the reality of history, which many of us have personally experienced. Because it does not... Read More take more resources to add a few zeros to a legal tender 'note' most central banks and governments will pursue expansionist policies that are driven by political incentives rather than logic. (I will not go into the fact that the legal tender script that people confuse with money does not fit the definition of note because this is not the place for it.)

Mish clearly fails to see the political implications of his suggestions. Imagine foreign creditors seeing the purchasing power of their interest payments increase substantially as Americans have to sell off assets at fire-sale prices. If Mish is right, the Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and other foreign creditors will be able to step in and use the proceeds from their treasuries to purchase American commercial and residential real estate, farmland, factories, and entire companies while the former owners of those assets go into bankruptcy. How does that work when the asset owners get to vote and foreign creditors don't? America's future will look a lot less like that of Japan of the 1990s and a lot more like that of Argentina or Mexico of the past half century.

Social mood seems a bit fuzzy; if it's analogous to public opinion than events effect social mood, but social mood in turn effects how we perceive and respond to events.

Saying "social mood and not events drive human history" is like saying "the racist mood, and not the lynching, killed black southerners."

It was the reciprocity of moods and events that drove the history of racist violence and fear.... Read More

Your primary emphasis on social mood is clear, but it gets fuzzy when you say the events, which are many times manifestations of social mood, do not drive human history.

It's not an issue of "either/ or" but one of "both, and." History is driven by social moods and events. I see your point though. When people overlook the social mood element of the equation it's good to emphasize it, but not at the expense of the event side.

I also think that it is important to look at Bog Higgs' argument about 'regime uncertainty.' As much as I love Murray's book, he ended it too soon and would have been better off if he tackled the issues covered by Bob and a few others.