The Keynesian disaster recovery plan has been to lower rates, force people to take more risk in search of yield, and entice others to borrow and spend and, magically, more jobs will be created. If people won’t buy stocks, central banks will. Back in 2011, Ben Bernanke, when asked if QE2 was driving up stock […]
Laissez-Faire Today
Join 200 Other Wildcatters Plotting a Course for the Baby Bakken
I want to share some insight and give you a front-row seat to America’s next big shale play. Let’s get to it… Over the past 10 years, the U.S. has turned the ship around, quite literally. We’ve gone from a country that was expecting to import massive amounts of oil and gas — to a […]
The Challenge of Measuring Obamacare’s Results
In September 2009, when President Obama made a primetime speech pitching his not-yet-passed health care overhaul, he made the following promise: “I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits — either now or in the future. Period.” To prove his seriousness, he further promised that “there will be a provision […]
The Painless Way to Pay Off America’s Debts
Whatever your views on the role of government, one thing is clear: There will be no way to pay for it if the economy doesn’t grow. And I’m not talking by a measly percentage point or two. If we can’t find our way back to 5% annual economic growth or above soon, America’s accumulated federal […]
The Next Great American Industry
What if I told you that the march of human progress could be traced in a direct line from the Epicureans of Ancient Greece… through the 18th Century’s cure for smallpox… to where Steve Jobs and Bill Gates found inspiration as scrappy teenagers… to the flying car of tomorrow? Stay with me and I’ll show […]
Why Listening to Economists Is Dangerous for Your Health
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, consumer prices are rising at a 2.1% annual rate. This suggests to us that the current stock market boom will die with a bang, rather than a whimper. Fed economists say they don’t think inflation rates are rising. They think the most recent reading is a fluke. But […]
How Progress Happens: The Case of Bitcoin
Real progress happens through real people, ideas, and innovations. Not by legislation argued and debated in Congress. Right now, one of the most influential technologies is changing the way people do business. And reinventing the future in the process.
The Regulatory State Versus Innovators
Innovation can change the world… if the world lets it. Unfortunately, society’s gatekeepers make it a point to constrain, regulate, and control these ideas. But their power is limited, and the power of innovation is too great. Unfortunately for regulators, there are some technologies they can’t control.
The Unraveling of Iraq is Playing Out Just as Dick Cheney Predicted
“Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen.” — Emperor Palpatine, The Return of the Jedi Jon Stewart made great comedic hay during the Bush Administration out of the enormity of Dick Cheney’s “Sith Lord” malevolence. Events in Iraq in the past week have made especially palpable Cheney’s Palpatine-like quality. As Iraq unravels, you may suspect that Cheney […]
Tax Exiles Flee America
Entrepreneurs are high-tailing it out of the United States, and it’s the politicians’ fault The U.S. government is driving some of its most productive citizens abroad. The only beneficiaries are countries such as Singapore and Switzerland, which offer sanctuary to Americans fleeing avaricious Uncle Sam. Three years ago Eduardo Saverin, one of Facebook’s founders, joined […]