Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr.'s Blog, page 422

The Sweet Relief of Choosing Well

For the past month, my husband and I have agonized over a decision. It wasn’t a ‘life or death” sort of affair, and there was no financial burden associated with it, but its impacts would surely speak into our life for the next few years. At first, our options seemed to differ little in a material way—the merits were debatable to some degree yet were popularly viewed as matters of taste. Surrounded by so many compelling new arguments in favor of one of the options, it seemed almost foolish to re...

Climate Worries Are Non-Credible, Luxury Beliefs That Harm Civilization Itself

I live in a small village at the edge of lands surrounded by very harsh nature. Those who occupied these valleys in ages past lived ruthlessly dangerous lives, where starvation was a constant worry, the sea just as often nurtured as it took away, and the winters were long and perilous. Nowadays, while I’m walking the desolate mountains or admiring the fierce storms from inside my nice, sheltered existence, echoing in my head is Thomas Hobbes’s descriptions of man’s precivilizational life: “Solit...

How the War in Ukraine Does Not Benefit Core America

In spring/summer 2022 a lot of noise was raised because of the words of Russian Foreign Minister Sergej Lavrov who compared current western anti-Russian course to German Fascism. All and sundry stigmatize “dark” Lavrov. Let me start with where Mr. Lavrov is not right. Ways to express and choice of words matters too. “Brevity is the soul of wit.” Not everyone has the ability to say in one phrase what requires 2 pages of explanations. But purely humanly, I understand what kind of emotional load Se...

Voir Dire, Jury Nullification, Dred Scott & Donald Trump

One of the strongest protections against run-away government was crafted into the Constitution of the American Republic by founder James Madison. It was trial by a jury of twelve of your randomly chosen peers.

The strength of this protection is seriously underrated. Since conviction requires unanimous agreement by the jury, any one of the twelve jurors can block any prosecution by simply voting “not guilty.” They can do this based not only on the asserted guilt or innocense of the defendant, but...

What Are Mises’s Six Lessons?

Ludwig von Mises’s Economic Policy: Thoughts for Today and Tomorrow has become quite popular recently. The Mises Book Store has sold out of its physical copies, and the PDF, which is available online for free, has seen over 50,000 downloads in the past few days.

This surge in interest in Mises’s ideas was started by UFC fighter Renato Moicano, who declared in a short post-fight victory speech, “I love America, I love the Constitution…I want to carry…guns. I love private property. Let me tell you...

Why the Great Labor Arbitrage Is Coming to an End…

When it comes to Keynesian central banking, it might well be said that if you paint by the numbers you are stuck with the brush. That is to say, the Fed has turned its 2.00% target into an economic holy grail and therefore does not dare risk a rebound of the 40-year high inflationary pressures that remain directly in the rearview mirror.

Yes, the inflation gauges have cooled considerably since the 9% CPI (Consumer Price Index) peak of June 2022, but the Fed is not yet remotely out of the woods. ...

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White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy Abundance, Generosity, and the State: An Inquiry into Economic...

The Spear in AI’s Back

That real harm will result from the use of AI tools is a given.

AI is like the powerful character in an action movie who looks invincible until they turn around, revealing a fatal spear embedded in their back. The spear in AI’s back is the American legal system, which has been issuing free passes to tech companies and platforms for decades on the idea that limiting innovation will hurt economic growth, so we’d best let tech companies run with few restrictions.

The issuance of free passes to Tech...

Iran And Saudi Arabia – A Common Future Looking East

In March 2023 Iran and Saudi Arabia restored their diplomatic ties with each other. The deal had been mediated by China.

As I remarked at that time:

This is huge!
…
Reviving relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran will make a lot of new things possible.

That Iran and Saudi Arabia accepted China’s mediation is a recognition of Beijing’s new standing in world policies. That alone is enough reason for the White House to hate the deal.

I later summarized the diplomatic action in the Middle East:

For...

The Road Back From Serfdom

mM article the other day about the road to serfdom and the ratchets of inflation and political power providing perverse incentives laid out the problem:

politicians who gain power by wrecking financial and social fabrics and gain revenues by wrecking currencies will run awful playbooks to maximize their perverse incentives and the worse they do, the more they get, which, in turn, makes things worse.

It’s a positive feedback loop and those only end in starvation or explosion.

So what is the solut...