Audio Mises Wire

A strategy for liberty must be both optimistic and realistic. Murray Rothbard understood that important point and laid out strategies and their moral justification. Original Article: An Optimistic Strategy for Liberty  

According to a recent 60 Minutes broadcast, Russian agents are suspected of launching microwave rays at US diplomats abroad. The problem is that many of these stories are technologically implausible. Maybe skepticism is in order here. Original Article: Is “Havana Syndrome” Russian Aggression or Another Media Conspiracy Theory?  

In this review of Edward Chancellor’s The Price of Time, Joakim Book notes that a market economy cannot function correctly when central bankers manipulate interest rates. Original Article: Artificially Low Interest Rates Are Creating Economic Chaos   

Government officials like to claim they are doing something about reducing poverty. The trouble is, of course, that what they are doing makes things worse. Here on Income Tax Day, we recommend that next time, they should do nothing. Original Article: The War on Poverty Makes Poverty Worse  

F.A. Hayek coined the term spontaneous order to point out that the prosperous societies are also societies where people are free to pursue their own goals. The result is, ironically, harmony that cannot come about through central state planning. Original Article: The Intellectual Humility of the Spontaneous Order

Why have some Americans opposed this nation’s involvement in foreign wars? According to Jacob Heilbrunn of The National Interest, it is because those Americans love bloody dictators like Adolph Hitler. Original Article: Opposing Military Intervention: Loving Dictators or Hating War?   

While these students are right to oppose the horrific Israeli attacks on Gaza, many of the protests reflect leftist groupthink and typical higher education collectivism. Original Article: What the Campus Protesters and Their Critics Get Right and Wrong   

The attempt by the mainstream economics profession to create economic literacy has turned into a movement to promote economic illiteracy. Original Article: Economic Education Has Become Economic Disinformation   

In 1959, Ludwig von Mises gave lectures on economics in Argentina, where the economy was in steep decline. In the 1920s, Argentina was one of the world's wealthiest countries, but decades of Peronism and inflation started the country on the long road to poverty. Original Article: Mises in Argentina: Lessons of the Past for Today   

Although mainstream economists hold that Adam Smith is the father of modern economics, it was Richard Cantillon that recognized the centrality of entrepreneurship in economic development. Original Article: Creating Wealth: The Cantillon or the Smith Way   

Mainstream economists believe that economic theory is valid when it “predicts” economic actions or trends. Austrian economists, however, say that the purpose of economic theory is to explain economic events. Original Article: What Is the Purpose of Economic Theory?   

Animal control officers are supposed to, well, control animals in a municipal area. But thanks to animal control policies, it's the stray animals that are in control of our author’s town. Original Article: Thanks to Government Animal Control, Stray Animals Rule My Neighborhood   

Like the Biden administration, the European Union elites are seeking to crush free speech on the Internet in the name of preventing “hate speech” and “disinformation.” Of course, the EU ruling classes won’t have to worry about being censored. Original Article: How EU Law Has Made the Internet Less Free for Everyone Else   

The only answer lies in eviscerating their budgets, abolishing their enabling legislation, and encouraging aggressive lawfare against the regime in retribution for these agencies' many crimes. Original Article: The FBI and CIA Are Enemies of the American People   

The New York Times recently characterized House Republicans that voted to extend government domestic spying and continue to fund wars in the Middle East and Ukraine as “the adults in the room.” This is ironic, as real adults would not spend the country into oblivion. Original Article: Cowardice, Not Courage, Led House Republicans to Side with the Democrats   

While conservatives and followers of Austrian economics often have much in common, many conservatives are against free trade and free exchange. Austrians need to carefully explain why those beliefs are harmful. Original Article: Conservatives Are Wrong on Economics. Here’s How to Fix the Problem.   

Unsurprisingly, Javier Milei’s free-market and antistate initiatives face opposition in Argentina. Whether he is successful depends on his being able to politically outlast his collectivist opposition. Original Article: Javier Milei vs. the Status Quo   

Individual rights originated in Western thinking. Today, it is the West that produces the ruling class that disdains individual rights and replaces them with collectivism. Original Article: Why the West Is Giving Up on Individual Rights   

Economists use time preference to explain the existence of interest, but the ability of people to postpone some present consumption in order to save for the future has much broader social ramifications. Original Article: Low Time Preference Leads to Civilization   

People often stubbornly hold to false beliefs, one of them being that government regulation of driving prevents chaos. However, the opposite seems to be true: government involvement in anything, including driving a car, creates the chaos we claim we want to avoid. Original Article: Privatize Driver’s Licenses   

A common knock on libertarianism is that it is so individualistic that it rejects the concept of community. (Think of the political cartoon in which the libertarian lifeguard let people drown.) In truth, strong communities also need free individuals. Original Article: Does Libertarianism Reject Communities? Libertarianism Actually Strengthens Them   

Biden has embraced the trade war. But, if protectionism actually produced competitiveness, American steel manufacturers would have become world leaders long ago. Original Article: Biden Perpetuates Washington’s Idiotic Steel Trade Policies   

Feminist theorist Judith Butler is calling for mandatory education to confront children with modern gender theory. As David Gordon points out, she wants to use coercion to force people to accept her theories. Original Article: Butler, Butt Out!   

Libertarianism is criticized on all sides, but a new criticism has emerged that claims libertarianism is little more than another form of critical theory. Like the other complaints, this one is based on fallacious thinking. Original Article: Is Libertarianism Just Another Form of Critical Theory?   

Great Britain are shifting back toward railway nationalization. Of course, the vaunted railway privatization of the 1990s wasn’t real privatization at all. Original Article: The UK Is Reverting to Railway Socialism