"There Are Not Enough Poor People in America"

From The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy by Pietra Rivoli:

Rich Americans – or even middle-class Americans – excel at throwing things away, and the richer we become, the bigger the mounds of cast-off clothing swell. The Salvation Army at one time tried to sell all of the clothing in its stores or to give it away, but the supply now so far outstrips domestic demand that only a fraction of the clothing collected by the Salvation Army stays in the United States. There are nowhere near enough poor people in America to absorb the mountains of castoffs, even if they were given away.

Murray Rothbard: Under Socialism, All Life Becomes Politicized

As socialism gains some traction in the United States, it is important to keep in mind what Murray Rothbard taught us: "Under Socialism, all life becomes politicized."




-RW

Will the Chinese Starve Us by Airlifting Pigs Out of the Country?

By Tyler Cowen

Elizabeth Warren’s latest position paper, on agricultural policy, is a disappointment on two fronts: too wonky to be considered a purely political document, but not nearly wonky enough to be defensible in terms of substance.

Malcolm X: "Don't BEG for a Job - CREATE a Job"

-RW

VIDEO A Short History Of The Socialist Party In the USA

RW note: Although Morris discusses the development of the "democratic" socialist movement in the above clip, he does not examine the question of whether there is a significant difference between democratic socialism, socialism and communism.

I do so here:

HOT Top Trump Official Calls for Immediate Fed Rate Cut

Larry Kudlow and the President

The Trump Administration is off-the-wall inflationist and continues to muscle the Fed toward cutting rates.

In the latest move, White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow says he wants the Fed to cut its overnight lending rate 50 basis points "immediately."

SOCIALIST SUCCESS: No Electricity, No Luxury Goods; Venezuela Returns to 'Middle Ages'

AFP reports:

Walking for hours, making oil lamps, bearing water. For Venezuelans today, suffering under a new nationwide blackout that has lasted days, it's like being thrown back to life centuries ago.

Former London School of Economics Economist Arrested in India

Jean Dreze

The Jharkhand, India police on Thursday arrested economist and academic Jean Dreze and two others for allegedly holding a public meeting without permission from authorities on the "right" to food.

INSTANT CLASSIC: The Complete No-Holds Barred Coverage of the Early Trump Presidency

By Robert Wenzel

David Stockman is out with a very important book, Peak Trump: The Undrainable Swamp And The Fantasy Of MAGA.

It covers the first years of the Trump presidency. And I mean covers it. It is thorough, doesn't miss any important aspect of the Trump presidency, and it offers powerful analysis that you are not going to find anywhere else.

And by covering every part of the Trump presidency it provides detailed insight into how our economy works, how our political system works and how our society works.

In short, when historians in the future try to understand the early Trump presidency, it will be wise of them to consult this book.

For readers in the here and now, the book provides a complete and thorough analysis of Trump doings and of those around him. It is about what was really going on that mainstream media didn't properly tell you about.

Everything is covered from Trump economics to Fed policy, to Trump against the establishment, to the fake Russigate charges.

More than just a must read, this book is a handbook that can serve as reference material on the period. Stockman gets the facts right and the analysis right. Read this book and you will be better prepared than anyone about what went on during the early Trump presidency. Whether you want to win debates or educate others, this is the book that will give you a PhD in Trump, MAGA and his enemies. It's all here.

(Note: The book was first published as an ebook but is also now available in paperback.)

Order here.




Robert Wenzel is Editor & Publisher of EconomicPolicyJournal.com and Target Liberty. He also writes EPJ Daily Alert and is author of The Fed Flunks: My Speech at the New York Federal Reserve Bank and most recently Foundations of Private Property Society Theory: Anarchism for the Civilized Person Follow him on twitter:@wenzeleconomics and on LinkedIn. His youtube series is here: Robert Wenzel Talks Economics. More about Wenzel here.

NEW BOOK From Bernanke, Geithner and Paulson

I always enjoy a little twist and turn fiction reading in the Spring. It's here.

Firefighting: The Financial Crisis and Its Lessons is scheduled to be released April 16.

From the blurb:

The EPJ Daily Alert Coverage of the Yield Curve

Market traders are in panic mode as the yield curve (10-year Treasury minus 3-month) has turned negative.

This type of turn has always led to a recession but there is one unusual thing going on this time that has never occurred before. I discuss this in the EPJ Daily Alert. No one else is covering this.

A Bureau of Labor Statistics economist who subscribes to the ALERT emails this morning:

Hello Bob, greetings to you.

This alert on the Yield curve is worth a subscription. Pure Gold. Your coverage on the implications of the Yield curve and a posssible recession have been the best I've seen. Not to mention also your coverage on price inflation, which has been second to none.

Hope to see you soon in DC.

Kind Regards,

Subscribe to the EPJ Daily Alert today and your subscription will include my full yield curve analysis.  Click here to subscribe.

Hayek Is Not a Prophet of Doom and Disaster But of Peace and Plenty

 Friedrich Hayek

Earlier this month immediately after the auction of items of Austrian school Noble Prize-winning economist Friedrich Hayek by Sotheby's, I posted on the astounding prices paid for the items (See: Hayek on Fire!!)

It has just now come to my attention of another Hayek item that was auctioned off.

Piketty and Stiglitz Call for Global Wealth Registry - Blockchain to Track Wealth

K emails:

The reason I email is to bring up the Independent Commission for the Reform on International Corporate Taxation. They recently came out in support of a global wealth registry that might be required for assets valued at just $10k USD. The blockchain will be used to track everything. I know you are not a big fan of Bitcoin/crypto - without anonymity, I always feared its tracking ability.

Senior Berkeley Researcher: Bitcoin is Nothing More Than ‘Bovine Excrement’

Nicholas Weaver – a senior researcher at the International Computer Science Institute at Berkeley – once said that blockchain and cryptocurrency should both be “burned with fire.”

According to CCN, he continued his attack most recently during an interview on the latest episode of Bloomberg’s Odd Lots podcast. He said:

The Green New Deal Also Suffers From the Economic Calculation Problem

By Ron Paul

The recently-proposed Green New Deal is proof that climate change is for progressive Democrats what terrorism is for neoconservative Republicans: a ready-made excuse to expand government and curtail liberty. This radical plan would authorize the US government to seize control of major sectors of the US economy, phase out gasoline-fueled cars, make buildings “energy efficient,” and even replace air travel with rail travel.

A New Definition of Socialism

RW note: This is breakthrough thinking by Rozeff on the fundamental nature of current socialism.

By Michael S. Rozeff

The hallmark of free markets (or capitalism) is entrepreneurship. The entrepreneur seeks and acts so as to obtain profit. Because he operates in a world in which the future is unknown, his activity may result in profit or loss.

How Correlation of Subsections Will Be Lower Than the Total (In Absolute Value)

 Nassim Nicholas Taleb 

As Paul Krugman would say, the below is pretty wonkish.

In the below clip, Nassim Nicholas Taleb discusses the very important observation that the correlation of subsections will be lower than the total (in absolute value). With implications for "empirical" research.

I'm guessing that many will understand the general gist from the context of the video even if they don't understand all the technicalities.

Selgin Smashes Trump Fed Nominee Stephen Moore (and also Arthur Laffer in the process)

Also see RW note below.

By George Selgin

Of many dubious claims that recent Federal Reserve Board nominee Stephen Moore made in a Wall Street Journal op-ed he published a couple weeks ago, perhaps the most startling was his claim that "to break the crippling inflation of the 1970s," former Fed chair Paul Volcker linked Fed monetary policy to real-time changes in commodity prices. When commodity prices rose, Mr. Volcker saw inflation coming and increased interest rates. When commodities fell in price, he lowered rates.

A Letter to a Young Self-Described “Proud Socialist”

Here’s a Don Boudreaux follow-up letter to Ms. Leah Grant, a young self-described “proud socialist”:

Ms. Grant:

I’m sorry that you found my response to your first e-mail “offensive.”

In your latest e-mail you object to what you call my “caricature of [the] case for massive wealth redistribution.” In your words, “people who accumulated billions of dollars or even just multi millions can’t possibly use all of it.”

Awesome Place for an Austrian School Student to Infiltrate This Summer

SPOTLIGHT || Ph.D. Internships at the New York Fed:
Ph.D. students in all fields of economics and finance who are at an advanced stage of their dissertation work are welcome to apply.
DEADLINE: March 31, 2019
APPLY: https://t.co/dXX8MoESh4 pic.twitter.com/7vPhXD1rf2

— New York Fed (@NewYorkFed) March 25, 2019

-RW

Here Are the Most Socialistic—and Most Capitalistic—Democrats Running for President

Yahoo Finance has put together a nice chart of the socialistic and capitalistic tendencies of the various Democrats running for president.

It is a pretty pathetic group. The scale is 1 to 12. I think they got the ranking, from bad to worse, right but I wouldn't have given any of them a total ranking of even 6, the half-way point.

Google Pay To Launch Investment Program That Will Allow Purchases of Gold

Google Pay users will soon be able to invest in gold through the app--at least in India.

Google Pay is preparing to launch ‘Gold’ as an investment plan on its platform , according to two sources, reports The Economic Times of India.

While the service has not been officially launched, the company has already updated its terms of service on the Google Pay application in India, which ET has checked and verified.

Congratulations to Dr. Walter Block

The first volume of the magazine Estudios Libertariosn pays tribute to Professor Walter Block.

What $800K Can Get You In The People's Republic of San Francisco vs. Texas

SF fog

In the People's Republic of San Francisco where there are more building regulations than even fog, below is what you can buy for $800,000.

STOCKMAN: Shut Down the FOMC!

Hey, Donald, You Just Buried MAGA!
By Donald Stockman

The Donald buried MAGA once and for all today. He did so by making the preposterous claim that the US economy would have grown at 4% if the Fed had not raised interest rates; and then added insult to injury by nominating a supply-side crackpot, Stephen Moore, to the Federal Reserve Board.

New York Magazine Headline: "Trump Nominates Famous Idiot Stephen Moore to Federal Reserve Board"

Stephen Moore

From the accompanying article by Jonathan Chait:

Stephen Moore’s career as an economic analyst has been a decades-long continuous procession of error and hackery. It is not despite but precisely because of these errors that Moore now finds himself in the astonishing position of having been offered a position on the Federal Reserve board by President Trump...

Superhero Fake Interns at the Council of Economic Advisers?

Bruce Wayne, CEA intern?

This past week, the Council of Economic Advisers released its 2019 absurdly optimistic economic forecasts in the "Economic Report of the President." (SEE: 'Economic Report of the President': Projections Way Out of Line With Other Forecasters).

Careful readers of the report found curious names such as Bruce Wayne listed as interns at the CEA according to the end of the report.

Trump Says Auto Tariffs Never Going to Zero

Spencer C. emails:

Hi Robert,

Love your blogs. I thought you should see this if you hadn’t already. Trump tells Bartimoto in interview that he has no intention of ever reducing auto tariffs to zero. To be fair he says he’s open to zero tariffs on other goods, just not cars. So any notion that libertarians have that he’s secretly a free-trader and this is all a game to get to zero tariffs can be definitively debunked.

Was the 2008 Recession Caused by a Shortage of Housing?

The Koch-funded Mercatus Center has moved even farther away from sound Austrian school business cycle theory.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Talks Total Nonsense on "Late Night"

Socialist congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. appeared on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” on Thursday. During her appearance, she said that the Green New Deal was "expansive."

U.S. Budget Deficit Grows 39% in First Five Months of Fiscal 2019

The US deficit increased by a half-trillion dollars in the first five months of the 2019 fiscal year.

On a percentage basis budget gap widened by 39%/

The gap exploded as tax revenues held steady and federal spending increased.

REPORT: Trump Considering Nominating Super Inflationist to the Federal Reserve Board

Stephen Moore

UPDATE below: Trump Confirms

Now multiple additional updates:

• Kansas City paper refuses to run his op-eds---too many factual errors
• George Selgin calls out
• Larry White: I thought it was a joke.
• Moore tweets
• Benn Steil weighs in: Appalling 

The Trump administration is considering Stephen Moore for a seat on the Federal Reserve Board, Jennifer Jacobs, White House reporter for Bloomberg News, is reporting.

Moore is a crazed inflationist that would have no trouble lining up with Trump against further interest rate hikes.

This is what I wrote about Moore in December:

Changes in National Population Through the Ages

This is damn fascinating. The below is an animation of the growth and changes in population over the last 12,000 years, from 10,000 BC to today.



-RW

Is the World Going Mad?

By Don Boudreaux

Upon returning home from campus late last night I opened an e-mail from one Ms. Leah Grant. I don’t know her, but she is quite angry with me. (I was unaware that “apologetisies” is a word.) Here’s my response to her:

'Economic Report of the President' Projections Way Out of Line With Other Forecasters

With the release of the Economic Report of the President on Tuesday, CEA Chairman Kevin Hassett noted, as Politico reports, that it was “not impossible” that the U.S. could have a recession next year. But he added that “it would be very unusual for that to happen given the massive amount of capital spending that’s coming online.”

Hayek's Nobel Prize Becomes Most Valuable Item to Ever Be Sold Online by Sotheby’s

A follow up to my post, Hayek on Fire!!

The Nobel Prize medal of Friedrich von Hayek has become the most valuable item ever to be auctioned by Sotheby’s online after it sold for £1.1 million on Tuesday.

BREAKING Fed Leaves Rates Unchanged

As broadly expected, following a meeting of the FOMC, the Federal Reserve monetary policy-setting committee, the Fed has announced that it will maintain the interest rates it controls at current levels.

The target rate for the Fed funds rate will remain between 2.25% and 2.50%.

-RW

UPDATE HOT:

Karl Marx Call Your Office, Urgent!

Karl Marx, wage theorist

Apparently, sports owners are not doing a very good job of exploiting their workers.

It appears that Los Angeles Angels center fielder Mike Trout will be living above the subsistence level that Karl Marx said is the level at which capitalists pay workers.

Marx wrote in Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844:

DiLorenzo on Krugman, Academic Economists and the Younger Generation of Econ Ph.D.s

As part of an email exchange with Tom DiLorenzo as a follow up to the post, DiLorenzo vs. Krugman on Krueger, Tom had this to say (posted with permission).

Hayek on Fire!!

Austrian school economist and Noble Prize winner Friedrich Hayek’s typewriter was expected to sell at a Sotheby's auction for less than $2,000. It sold for $24,937.

And then it got really crazy.

DiLorenzo vs. Krugman on Krueger

Update below.

Tom DiLorenzo called it.

It shows the sad state of mainstream economics profession when Dilorenzo has to state the obvious and then provide a warning:

Trump's Fake Trillion Dollars in Budget Revenue

Should President Trump's budget revenue projections be considered a combover?

His budget blueprint for the next decade relies on up to $1.2 trillion in revenue that might not materialize, reports The Wall Street Journal.

A Reverse Austrian Business Cycle Theory?

By Robert Wenzel

Tyler Cowen drops the below post with his limited comment to start:

A Reverse Austrian Business Cycle Theory

Obama White House Economist Alan Krueger Dead at 58; Held Odd View on the Impact of Minimum Wage Laws

Alan Krueger and President Obama

UPDATE Below: Family says it was a suicide. 

Alan Krueger, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers during the Obama administration has died at age 58, Princeton University said in a statement.

Harvard Prof Smacks The New York Times

Greg Mankiw

Harvard professor and big-time economics textbook author Greg Mankiw is out with a new essay, Reflections of a Textbook Author.

In the piece, he claims his textbooks are fair and balanced:

The Wonderful World of Money Printing in Pre-Revolution Massachusetts (According to MMTers)

By Robert Wenzel

Was there an early successful application of Modern Monetary Theory in the pre-revolutionary American colonies?

What is the Difference Between Socialism and Democratic Socialism?

Below is a discussion about socialism and democratic socialism. Plus, if profit isn't the exploitation of labor, what is it?



-RW

The One Paragraph That Exposes the Many Problems with Modern Monetary Theory

Updated with 1931 quote from Mises.

James K. Galbraith, MMTer and a professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin, writes at Project Syndicate in defense of Modern Monetary Theory:

Now, Warren Buffett Smashes Modern Monetary Theory

Warren Buffett

I have never considered multi-billionaire Warren Buffett to be particularly sound when it comes to economics.

He is very shrewd when it comes to investing but he certainly didn't get his father's genes when it comes to economics.

Noah Smith's Rejection of "Bloodless Abstractions" and Harvard's Next Econ 10 Professor

Harvard University

By Robert Wenzel

Bloomberg columnist Noah Smith has gone on a screed calling for Harvard to replace the departing Econ 10 professor Gregory Mankiw with a professor with a more empirical-leaning viewpoint.

Current Day Democrats and Republicans: "They are all a bunch of socialists."

Richard Ebeling emails:

Dear Bob,

I have a new article on the website of the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) on, “Political Contests are Between Competing Socialisms.” 

We are already in the 2020 presidential election cycle, with the results of the last congressional voting only a few months old. Democrat candidates for their party’s nomination are falling over each other with promises for bigger and more controlling government. While president Trump pursues his neo-mercantilist agenda to make America great again. 

When everything Democrats and Republicans say and propose are placed next to each other there is one common denominator:

Alan Blinder Gives Advice to Democrats on How to Not Look Socialist While Calling for Socialists Policies

Alan Blinder

Alan Blinder, a professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University, a former economic adviser to Hillary Clinton and a former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve, writes in The Wall Street Journal:

Gary Cohn Rips Trump Trade Advisers

Peter Navarro with Wilbur Ross
and the President

Former White House chief economic advisor Gary Cohn let it rip during a  "Freakonomics" radio interview that was broadcast today.

THE TAKEOVER: Amazon Warehouse Robots

Menial work being done by robots. Heroic!



-RW

Training the Bastard Algorithms: It Works!

As a follow up to my post, Personal Alertness and Beating the Algorithms, Brad A. emails:

Hi Bob,

Your blog last week was spot on...  I didn't even make a purchase though.  I went to JoS. A. Bank's website and searched a bit, did a Google search and an Amazon search and a few days later... I get the below ads.

Zero Top US Economists Agree With the Economic Theory Promoted by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the newly elected socialist House member representative from the Bronx, told Business Insider recently that modern monetary theory, or MMT, should “be a larger part of our conversation” when it comes to funding ambitious policies she’s proposed, such as her “Green New Deal.”