Mark Skousen
The New Working Class — The Elderly!
My wife and I just returned from Hawaii, where we celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary and gave talks at the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, a free-market think tank (http://www.grassrootinstitute.org/). In light of April 15, I talked about tax policy in theory and practice, explaining that most tax policies violate the accountability principle, i.e., that those who benefit should pay (the user pay concept) and adding that most taxes distort economic incentives and hurt economic growth.
Positive or Negative about the Stock Market?
“Bull markets climb a wall of worry.” — Old Wall Street saying I have on my bookshelf a series of books with opposite titles: “The Alpha Strategy” and the “Omega Strategy;” “Asia Rising” and “Asia Falling;” “Free to Choose” and “Free to Lose;” “How to Win Friends and Influence People” and “How to Lose Friends […]
The 21st Century Gold Standard: Bitcoin!
Gold and silver have been in a bear market for the past two years, but a private alternative currency is all the rage and has tripled in value this year! Bitcoin is a private digital currency, created in 2009, which now has a monetary base of $1 billion. It is in many ways like a […]
Austrian Economics in the Bible
“This man began to build and was not able to finish.” — Luke 14:30 I’ve enjoyed watching parts of “The Bible,” the History Channel’s series on the Bible from the story of Adam and Eve to the resurrection of Jesus Christ (the final episode is airing Easter Sunday). It reminded me of a couple of […]
Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Fall of America
“The United States was lucky to have George Washington as a founding father, because he had that same civic virtue, and of course he had read about and admired Cincinnatus.” — Arnold Schwarzenegger Last week, I drove my car from Florida to New York, and on the way, I listened to the audiobook, “Total Recall: […]
Romney’s Revenge: Private Equity Stocks Soar
“Free enterprise has done more to increase the standard of living of Americans than all the government programs combined.” — Mitt Romney I am speaking at the Investment U conference this week in St. Petersburg, Fla., and the focus is mainly on income-producing stocks and funds. We had a big panel discussion about whether dividend-paying […]