Morality of Profit

ATMs = Job killers?

From: Forbes
By: Tim Worstall

Yes of course mechanisation of a task destroys the jobs of those who previously did the task. That’s the whole point of mechanising the task. So as to free up that valuable labour so that it can go and do something else. Which makes us all richer.

For now we’ve got the output from that newly mechanised task plus the outout from the new work that is being done by the newly freed labour. If our displaced teller now works in pre-school, changing diapers, then we’ve both a way of getting money from the bank and clean and smiling babies. As a society, we’re richer, for before we faced the choice of either banking services or smiling babies.

Read the entire Forbes Story HERE.

Read the original comment and contradicting employment statistics HERE.

Image Credit: Culver-Union Township website

Free or Equal?

"Swedish economist Johan Norberg is the host of the new documentary Free or Equal, which retraces and updates the 1980 classic Free to Choose, featuring Milton and Rose Friedman."

» Reason.tv: Free or Equal? – Johan Norberg Updates Milton & Rose Friedman’s Free to Choose - Big Government

Empty Trash. Buy Milk. Forge History.

"A household list might seem a fairly modest starting point upon which to build a whole theory of economic development."

Empty trash. Buy milk. Forge history. - The Boston Globe

Affording It All

"We live in a world of scarcity. Individually and collectively we want more than available resources can yield. That will remain true even as the supply of resources expands."

Affording It All | The Freeman | Ideas On Liberty

Housing Stats Don’t Tell Full Story

"...we think it’s time for the main focus of economic policy to shift from an emphasis on government intervention via stimulus spending, bailouts and artificial incentives to an emphasis on the fundamentals of promoting free markets, free trade and a regulatory and tax system that is friendly to entrepreneurs, innovation and risk-taking."

Housing stats don’t tell full story - SignOnSanDiego.com:

Judge, Jury, And Economist

"Both Keynes and Galbraith are thought by their admirers to have offered correctives to capitalism. But it is difficult to separate their ideas about capitalism, which were economic ideas, from their ideas about capitalists, which were largely moral and aesthetic."

Judge, Jury, And Economist - Kevin D. Williamson - National Review Online

Botox and Beancounting

"COSMETIC surgery is more popular in America than in Europe. Statistics, too, may be making things there look less saggy."

Economics focus: Botox and beancounting | The Economist

Ideological Underpinnings of the "Great Society"

By: Robert Higgs
From: Mises Daily

The surge of federal economic interventions that occurred during Lyndon B. Johnson's presidency — the much-ballyhooed Great Society, whose centerpiece was the War on Poverty — differed from the four preceding surges, each of which had been sparked by war or economic depression. No national emergency prevailed when Johnson took office following John F. Kennedy's assassination on November 22, 1963. The nation was not engaged in a major shooting war, and the economy was on the mend after the mild recession of 1960-61. For the most part, the Great Society represented simply the culmination of economic, political, and intellectual developments stretching back as far as the 19th century.

Read the entire article HERE.

The Destruction of Economic Facts

"Renowned Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto argues that the financial crisis wasn't just about finance—it was about a staggering lack of knowledge."

The Destruction of Economic Facts - BusinessWeek:

Fight of the Century: Keynes vs Hayek Round Two

Bernanke's Inflation Paradox

"We too want faster economic growth, but the keys to that are fiscal and other reforms that would reverse the policies of the last four years. Much lower spending and tax reform, freer trade, fewer new regulations, an end to foreclosure mitigation and banker harassment, and repealing ObamaCare's job-killing taxes and mandates, among others."

Review & Outlook: Bernanke's Inflation Paradox - WSJ.com

The Case for Having More Kids

"Parents are “overcharging” themselves for their kids. And what do economics and common sense tell you to do when prices turn out to be lower than you thought? Buy more. Stock up. Tell your friends."

Book Chat: The Case for Having More Kids - NYTimes.com

A Misleading Barometer of Growth

"GDP is not only causing smart people to misdiagnose the economic impact of disasters and fanning fallacies. It has become so entrenched as barometer of growth that policy is being judged not by its effect on prosperity but its ability to boost GDP."

GDP no real guide to wealth or welfare | The Australian:

The Broken Window

Students Who Get It!

"Here were hundreds of students who actually understand that government creates many of the problems, and freedom -- personal and economic liberty -- makes things better."

Students Who Get It! - Page 1 - John Stossel - Townhall Conservative

Eliminating Monetary Externalities

Economic Lunacy

"The belief that society benefits from destruction is lunacy."

Economic Lunacy by Walter E. Williams

Japan and the Economics of Natural Disasters

"Modern economies, it turns out, are adept at rebuilding and are often startlingly resilient."

Japan and the Economics of Natural Disasters : The New Yorker

Coyle on "The Economics of Enough"

"Coyle argues that the financial crisis, the entitlement crisis, and climate change all reflect a failure to deal with the future appropriately."

EconTalk | Library of Economics and Liberty