All tagged Ludwig von Mises
Back in the days of quasi-Laissez Faire, a pandemic would have created plenty of opportunities for the Zells of the world, but, as Grant explains, “Hotels, malls and other properties have suffered enormous declines in revenue. But few owners have been forced to sell at steep discounts thanks to government stimulus programs and the Federal Reserve’s easy money policy which kept a lid on foreclosure.”
Ah yes, another new normal. “Speculation in the capitalist system performs a function which must be performed in any economic system however organized: it provides for the adjustment of supply and demand over time and space,” wrote Ludwig von Mises in his book “Socialism.”
Kerkorian began his art early, by necessity. “When you’re a self-made man you start very early in life…,” Kerkorian said. “You get a drive that’s a little different, maybe a little stronger, than somebody who inherited.” Unlike a certain president of the United States we know. Rempel starts his first chapter with a quote from Mark Twain, “Necessity is the mother of taking chances.”
U.S. Consumers and their lenders are seeing the world through Trump’s rose colored glasses. So much to buy and not enough time to save for it! Plus, the Fed’s inflation will chip away at their debts.
Trade wars create winners and losers, at home and abroad. American consumers lose, as the prices are hiked while capital and labor are misallocated. This makes everyone, over time, poorer--even the tier two real estate developer.
The NYT pair writes, “The fear now is that inflation will start to rise more quickly, potentially crimping global growth or forcing borrowing costs higher,” making it sound like inflation comes and goes with the wind.
The econ department is out-of-step with young people, they claim. Capitalism is for old folks these two write, “according to a Harvard University study, ‘only the age group above 50 years old contains a majority that supports capitalism.’”
Meanwhile we have a modern socialist experiment imploding before our eyes. These policies have led to shortages of everything, from food to toilet paper, while the government’s printing presses have created hyperinflation.
In Mises's view, economics doesn't deal with homo economicus at all, but with homo agens: man "as he really is, often weak, stupid, inconsiderate, and badly instructed."
"There is something wrong with the Boomers and there has been for a long time,” writes Gibney in the forward to A Generation of Sociopaths: How the Baby Boomers Betrayed America and the author’s beatings continue for 400 plus pages.
