Ludwig von Mises

Faces of Death

Wednesday, November 12th, 2008

Like the Old Hag, socialism has a number of different faces, none of which are very pretty, but all of which have something vital in common: the face of death.
If you find perplexing the purported distinctions between socialism, Marxism, communism, and fascism, know, first of all, that you’re not alone.
Many of today’s socialists will [...]

Bailout

Wednesday, October 8th, 2008

Mercantilism is the system of securing special economic favors from government.
Capitalism is the system of private ownership of the means of production and the primacy of the individual over the group.
Mercantilism is in every significant way the exact opposite of laissez-faire capitalism.
Most businessmen today are not capitalists — insofar as they seek, demand, and [...]

Natural Resource and Goods Theory

Saturday, September 13th, 2008

The economist George Reisman writes:
The two essential claims of the environmentalists, which I take for granted are already well known to everyone, are (1) that continued economic progress is impossible, because of the impending exhaustion of natural resources (it is from this notion that the slogan “reduce, reuse, recycle” comes), and (2) that continued economic [...]