Here are the articles I’ve written on the topics of economics, politics, and/or libertarianism for a variety of publishers.
“The Rise and Fall of Good Money: A Tale of the Market and the State”
https://mises.org/mises-wire/rise-and-fall-good-money-tale-market-and-state
This article takes a look at Mises’s characteristics of a good money from The Theory of Money and Credit and makes a short historical argument that, while money was left to the market, its utility (as measured by how well it achieved Mises’s five characteristics) increased, but as the state hijacked the money function, its utility as money decreased.
“The MMT-and-Bailey Fallacy”
https://mises.org/mises-wire/mmt-and-bailey-fallacy
I note that there seem to be two types of MMT practitioners: those who acknowledge that government spending has negative consequences, and those who don’t. Those who do serve as an ideological smokescreen for those who don’t, and of course the state listens mostly to those who don’t, because they’re saying what the parasitic politicians want to hear!
“Review: Orwell’s The Road to Wigan Pier“
https://mises.org/mises-wire/review-orwells-road-wigan-pier
A somewhat revisionist look at a book I’ve heard as a great example of Orwell’s criticisms of socialism.
What I found was that this book showcases Orwell’s economic illiteracy and is more a criticism of socialists, rather than socialism. Basically, Orwell thinks the socialists he sees on the bus (so to speak) are too cringe.
“Five Faulty Arguments Against Secession”
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/five-faulty-arguments-against-secession/
I examine five common arguments against secession and break down major shortcomings of each one.
“The Lockean Delusion”
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/the-lockean-delusion/
An essay on the ideals of the Lockean commonwealth and how states originally founded on that ideal tend to forget it in the quest for more power and more reach.
“There Is No Right to a ‘Freedom from Fear’ “
https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2023/11/30/there-is-no-right-to-a-freedom-from-fear/
I take a look at a common argument in favor of gun control and discover that the forces of statism are not only trying to disarm you, they’re trying to divest you of some of the most fundamental protections of the English common law tradition.
“The Founders and the Supreme Power of the People”
https://blog.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2023/11/the-founders-and-the-supreme-power-of-the-people/
I take a look at James Wilson and his doctrine that supreme power resides with the people. I consider what powers the people actually possess, and what a state based solely on delegation of those powers might look like.
“A Positive Feedback Loop of Power-Grabbing”
https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2024/04/13/a-positive-feedback-loop-of-power-grabbing/
A look at one of Locke’s primary criteria for a legitimate government: that no man be his own judge, and how quickly the American government threw away that principle in favor of the rapidly growing monster we call judicial review.
“MMT: Feeding the economically inferior machine”
https://mises.org/mises-wire/mmt-feeding-economically-inferior-machine
A thought experiment attacking the Modern Monetary Theory perception that government spending is merely a way to transfer goods from the private sphere to the public sphere, and that such transfer is essentially harmless.
A review of four powerful reasons why goods in the public sphere are much more likely to be squandered, compared to the private sphere.
“MMT’s Barely-Hidden Totalitarian Bias”
https://mises.org/mises-wire/mmts-barely-hidden-totalitarian-bias
Using my earlier article about Freedom from Fear as a jumping-off point, I explore how the structure and assumptions of Modern Monetary Theory demand a totalitarian government, much in the same way that Keynes admitted that his General Theory was much more suited to a fascist government.
“The Entrepreneur and the Summer Blockbuster”
https://mises.org/mises-wire/entrepreneur-and-summer-blockbuster
An examination of some of the differences between standard entrepreneurship and media entrepreneurship. I explore some different assumptions and forces that result in the somewhat different arc of profitability for media franchises, as compared to mature industries.