The Non-Mystery of Inflation

by Mark Spangler on Mises Daily

[The Freeman, 1978]

Nowadays people from every walk of life are concerned about inflation.

What actually is inflation? Is it inherent in a free market economy? Who or what is the cause? Unions, government regulations, merchants, federal deficits, or middlemen? Can inflation be stopped, and how?

What to do? Most people are desperately confused and searching for answers. Society is facing nothing short of a crisis. In answer to this grave situation comes Henry Hazlitt’s latest book, The Inflation Crisis, and How to Resolve It. As Mr. Hazlitt himself begins the book, “no subject is so much discussed today — or so little understood — as inflation.”

Henry Hazlitt estimates that a dollar of today is worth less than 25 cents of a 1940 dollar, and certainly no one has to be told that a dollar continues to buy less and less. Yet, how many people realize that since 1940 the federal government has increased the money stock by well over a thousand percent? Hazlitt reports that at the end of 1939 the total number of dollars in the economy was 63.3 billion, and at the end of 1977 that figure stood at 806.5 billion. Anyone who is aware of these events should surely sense a logical connection between constantly rising prices and a continuous expansion of the money supply.

Mr. Hazlitt points out that there are two sides to every price.

A price is an exchange ratio between a dollar and a unit of goods. When people have more dollars, they value each dollar less. Goods then rise in price, not because goods are scarcer than before, but because dollars are more abundant, and thus less valued.

He clearly explains that the present predicament of ever-soaring prices results from a deliberate government policy to flood the economy with more and more dollars simply by “printing” them. In fact, the term inflation originally meant increasing (inflating) the money supply. Today the term is commonly used to mean the most evident consequence of creating money, generally rising prices.

So, nothing at all is mysterious about inflation; it is government intervention pure and simple. Why, then, do government leaders continue to inflate and why do the printing presses go undetected by the general public?

Continue Reading

Elevator Psychology – Group Influence on Individual Behavior

Stop and Reflect – Advice For a New Year

As I begin 2010 I am reminded of the importance of reflection.  We live in a culture of doing.  Reflection and rest are often viewed as a waste of time or lazyness.  We must recapture the value of reflection.

As you  start the new year it may be important to consider thinking and reflection as a valuable part of your work.  Do you have a big project to get done?  Or perhaps you are confused about what paths to take in this new year.  Take some time to reflect.

Consider taking a time of reflection at the beginning of your day to consider what you want to accomplish and what is important to you.  It is also helpful to periodically take longer times of reflection about your goals and direction in life.

Though easily forgotten, the work of thinking and reflection are important keys to your success.

Ron Paul’s Attempt Return the Republican Party to its Roots.

From the Documentary ‘For Liberty’

Iraq War Veteran – Speaks Out Against The War

College 401: Tips for Advanced Students

by Dustin Wax of Lifehack.org

It’s hard to believe, but the Spring semester is upon many of us already – I have colleagues who are already 3 days into the semester, and my own classes start back in just a few days. Outside the US, students are still working on their Fall terms, but they’ll be starting Spring soon enough, too.

At the beginning of the school year, I posted a list of tips for first-year students; with the new semester getting underway, I want to turn my attention to upper-division students, the third- and fourth-year students who have gotten their “sea legs” and begun the advanced coursework that will make up their majors.

If you’re a junior or senior, by now you should have mastered basic stuff like citing references correctly, using evidence to support a thesis, and taking effective notes in class. That was “general education”; the work you’ll be doing over the next year or two is intended to immerse you intensely in the ideas, findings, and ways of looking at the world that make up a particular academic discipline.

Success in upper-division courses depends not so much on your mastery of basic skills or even of the material in your courses, but on what you can make of that material using those skills. While you’re not expected to make significant contributions to the disciplinary body of knowledge – that’s what graduate school, and graduate research, is for – you are expected to be able to apply what is already understood in the discipline to the world you live in.

While to some degree your approach to these years will be dictated by your plans after graduation – do you plan to continue studying in grad school? Or maybe you want to get into the workforce right away? Or teach? – the following tips should apply regardless of your future plans. Even if, as many others in your place are, you don’t have a clue what your future plans are.

Continue to the 8 Tips for Advanced Students

Partisan Politics and The Church

Take a look at art about partisan politics and the Church by Bethany Tobin.

There is hope in the Kingdom of God!

Imagine Video – Kinetic Typography

Gerald Celente’s Top 10 Predictions for 2010

I’m curious to see how many of these predictions will come to pass in 2010. Gerald Celente is not God and I don’t think he has a crystal ball. He has predicted many things in the past, based on current trends and his research of history. It should be an interesting year.

Ron Paul on Terrorism – Why do they attack us?

« Newer Posts — Older Posts »