Mises Wire

Week in Review: December 17, 2016

We lost one of the great scholars this week with the passing of Ralph Raico. A student of both Mises and Hayek, and a member of Rothbard’s legendary Circle Bastiat, Ralph was an intellectual giant whose legacy includes his books Classical Liberalism and the Austrian School and Great Wars and Great Leaders, countless articles, lectures, and recordings, as well as the English translation of Mises’s great work Liberalismus. As David Gordon remembered him this week: "Ralph was one of my closest friends for over thirty-five years, and I wish I could convey to those who didn’t know him his intellectual sharpness, wit, and kindness."

Elsewhere on the Mises Wire this week: the Federal Reserve finally raised rates, but their forecasts still aren’t being trusted, Jonathan Newman defended the value of Christmas gifts, Ryan McMaken explained why the Bill of Rights isn’t holding up, and while President Trump can’t stop marijuana’s momentum — he can move us to better monetary policy.

On Mises Weekends, Jeff is joined by John Williams of Shadowstats.com. With the media obsessed with fake news, it’s worth remembering that statistics issued by the federal government about the economy, from CPI to GDP, are themselves fake. John is a vocal critic of modern economic reporting, which is manipulated to make the economy appear stronger than it is. So he devoted his professional life to telling the real story, through statistics he painstakingly compiles himself. And his statistics paint an alarming picture: virtually all "growth" in the US economy since the Crash of '08 has been artificially engineered by the Fed, while the risk of debt contagion has increased. We discuss the "Fed tax," what a radical increase in the monetary base means for your financial future, and whether Janet Yellen will be forced to resort to more QE in 2017.

This is a must-hear interview if you're interested in sober economic reality.   

In case you missed any of them, here are this week's articles:

image/svg+xml
Note: The views expressed on Mises.org are not necessarily those of the Mises Institute.
Support Liberty

The Mises Institute exists solely on voluntary contributions from readers like you. Support our students and faculty in their work for Austrian economics, freedom, and peace.

Donate today
Group photo of Mises staff and fellows