Mark Skousen
‘The Incident’ Transformed This Hollywood Producer: A Thanksgiving Story
“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” — Hebrews 13:2 Frank Capra (1897-1991) was the Oscar-winning Italian-American filmmaker of “It Happened One Night,” “You Can’t Take It with You,” “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” and the most famous of all, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” He worked with some of […]
The Fed is Missing a Key Ingredient for a ‘Soft Landing’
“Don’t fight the Fed — fear the Fed!” — Michael Sincere, MarketWatch (“Maxims of Wall Street,” p. 148) Last week, I gave the opening lecture at Hillsdale College on “The Genius of Adam Smith” as part of a “Great Economists” conference. But it was the final speaker who created the most controversy: Nicholas Wapshott, author […]
Why Did This Happen? This Chart Says It All
“Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.” — Milton Friedman At last week’s Mont Pelerin Society meetings in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, I organized an “ad hoc” session and invited several dozen guests, including government leaders, to respond to one of the most incredible charts I’ve ever seen. Your editor showing the “permanent inflation” […]
Is Income Inequality a Myth?
“Income inequality is the challenge of our times.” — Barack Obama (2013) “When you include all transfer payments and taxes and look at changes in income inequality over time, you find that income inequality is not rising.” — Senator Paul Gramm, Robert Ekelund and John Early, “The Myth of American Inequality,” p. 4. One of the […]
The GOAT in Economics – The Answer May Surprise You
“It was the reading of his book that made an ‘economist’ out of me.” — Ludwig von Mises “I found it such a fascinating book, so satisfying.” — Friedrich Hayek “No book since David Ricardo’s Principles has had such a great influence on the development of economics as…” — Knut Wicksell Yesterday, I made the #1 economics website, “Marginal Revolution”. […]
Coincidence or Fate?
“God works in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm.” —William Cowper (1731-1800) I’ve always been fascinated with numbers and dates since I was a young man. For instance, there is the Fibonacci series, which forms the basis of the “golden ratio” in plants, […]