tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63011229988405790682011-10-06T16:06:18.950-07:00"There is no question of importance, whose decision is not compriz'd in the science of man; and there is none, which can be decided with any certainty, before we become acquainted with that science." ---David HumeLilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.comBlogger2331100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-54334150941375600592011-02-07T01:03:00.000-08:002011-02-07T01:05:07.507-08:00

I wrote the following three Mises Wiki "stubs" (incomplete articles) by taking every paragraph from the first section of the introduction to Human Action, asking myself: "What topic would this paragraph best apply to?", plumbing my memory, and doing a bit of research.  I think this is a good approach to take, because, to be true to its name, the Mises Wiki really ought to use the thought of

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-42618984701553859532011-01-17T03:30:00.000-08:002011-01-17T03:30:36.950-08:00

"...we recognize that Justice is not the ultimate ethical end, existing purely for its own sake, but is primarily a means, and even a means to a means. Justice and Freedom are the great means to the promotion of Social Cooperation, which in turn is the great means to the realization of each individual's ends and therefore to the realization of the ends of "society."" "The subordination of

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-4497133365233819682011-01-09T03:50:00.000-08:002011-01-09T18:09:38.150-08:00

Intellectual property results in monopoly prices and concomitant shortages, thereby harming the interests of consumers (all the members of society).  To demonstrate that, I present here a catallactic analysis of the function of ideas (recipes) in market production. Recipes and Labor As an act of production on the market, to formulate ideas (or recipes, in Misesian terminology) is to labor.  To

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-80509700861457710972011-01-07T09:35:00.000-08:002011-01-07T09:35:39.832-08:00

Over a century ago, a young statist read a book. His life was never the same again. In fact, his reading of that book changed the world. Last year, an online school opened its doors. In what follows I will explain how these two events are connected. The book the young man read was Principles of Economics by Carl Menger, and the young statist himself was Ludwig von Mises. Mises would later

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-20111390300400630842010-12-27T07:21:00.000-08:002011-01-15T08:10:22.021-08:00

In 1789 a group of men gathered in Paris to sound the death knell for the ancien regime, and to inaugurate the modern political world.  But there were some differences among them.  Some wanted to abolish the old order more completely.  Others wanted to retain some vestiges of the old privileges.  In this "National Constituent Assembly" of France, the ideological birds of a feather sat together;

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-35255816351697913022010-12-25T03:51:00.000-08:002010-12-25T04:24:21.038-08:00

Chapter 3 of The Theory of Money and Credit establishes the terminology Mises will use to construct his theory of indirect exchange.  Mises stresses that terminological discussions are not an end for science, but a means for discovering principles.  And the principles to be discovered for monetary theory are economic principles, not juristic or numismatic principles.  More specifically, the goal

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-43784013398601775062010-12-23T03:48:00.000-08:002010-12-23T03:48:36.585-08:00

"Whether one likes it or not, it is a fact that the main issues of present-day politics are purely economic and cannot be understood without a grasp of economic theory. Only a man conversant with the main problems of economics is in a position to form an independent opinion on the problems involved. All the others are merely repeating what they have picked up by the way. They are an easy prey to

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-77442308952205886112010-11-26T21:08:00.000-08:002011-01-07T10:22:49.814-08:00

In chapter 1 of The Theory of Money and Credit, Mises explained what money is (a universally, or at least commonly, used medium of exchange).  In chapter 2, Mises explains what money is not.  Contrary to the common fallacy, it is not a measure of value. The notion of money as a measure of value as an artifact of the value theory of the "older political economy".  By this he means the "classical

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-1965572592254683142010-10-29T16:30:00.000-07:002010-10-29T16:30:24.584-07:00

One of the most important theorems that played a role in smashing mercantalism was that of the specie-flow mechanism, the chief proponent of which was David Hume. It should be noted that Richard Cantillon formulated the theorem first. But Cantillon's work was not published until after Hume wrote on the subject. Mark Thornton has an interesting paper claiming that Hume may have had access to

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-36700292573719789022010-10-29T16:07:00.000-07:002010-10-29T16:07:24.887-07:00

 Cross-posted at the Mises Economics Blog.See below for weekly topics.  Read instructor Stephan Kinsella's article about the course.  Click here for more details and to enroll.

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-53893668508425254522010-10-24T23:24:00.000-07:002010-11-25T20:25:45.696-08:00

Is money not absurd?  Daily we give up perfectly useful goods and services for the sake of little green pieces of paper.  But it is not just the fiat paper money we are familiar with that can seem strange in this regard.  Even commodity money can seem weird when you think about it.  Why would people give up goods and services for little disks of silver and gold that they never actually used?  

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-20249996560732747542010-10-24T11:32:00.000-07:002010-10-24T11:32:12.003-07:00

The close-knit symbiosis between Throne and Altar known as "Caesaro-Papism" characterized virtually all states throughout ancient history, from the Egyptian Pharaohs who reigned as living incarnations of the god Horus, to the Athenian Democracy which executed Socrates for impiety, to the Roman imperial cult of Sol Invictus, to the literal Caesaro-Papism of the Byzantine Empire. The first great

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-70240643230126157752010-10-24T10:52:00.000-07:002010-10-24T10:52:22.593-07:00

To get an idea how important an economist David Hume was in the judgment of Ludwig von Mises, note that Mises regarded British Political Economy as "the most exquisite outcome of the philosophy of the Enlightenment"1 and that, according to Mises, Hume was "the founder of British Political Economy"2 1The Historical Setting of the Austrian School of Economics 2Money, Method, and the Market

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-20262800440921641172010-10-23T16:05:00.000-07:002010-10-29T16:06:04.877-07:00

I finished comic-ifying "Lesson 11" from Lessons for the Young Economist by Robert Murphy.  I also made the voice-bubble text bigger, so it should be more legible now.

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-74230885806681944182010-10-22T18:12:00.000-07:002010-10-22T18:17:07.396-07:00

Marcus Aurelius, who died in 180 AD was the last of the "Five Good Emperors", a succession of highly competent and fortunate Roman rulers that began with Nerva in 96 AD.  After Aurelius, and beginning with his son Commodus, Rome began its long, permanent decline.  Here is Ludwig von Mises on the fall of the Roman Empire: The showdown came when in the political troubles of the third and fourth

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-69004272924456246102010-10-22T17:40:00.000-07:002010-10-22T17:40:43.145-07:00

In Appendix 1 of his book Liberalism, Ludwig von Mises wrote: Liberal ideas are already to be found in the works of many of the earlier writers. The great English and Scotch thinkers of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century were the first to formulate these ideas into a system. When fragmentary insights are integrated and systemetized, that is the mark of a science.  Mises

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-89410302869317683552010-10-22T14:10:00.001-07:002010-10-22T14:10:02.687-07:00

 In Story III, I will tell of the flowering of humanity known as the Classical Civilization.  A distinct civilization was born in archaic Greece, and (to a large extent) thrived through the Hellenic, Hellenistic, and much of the Roman Period.  Out of it came some of the most remarkable achievements of the human mind in science and culture.  I will argue that this flowering was predominantly the

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-6349970776637976752010-10-22T14:09:00.000-07:002010-10-22T14:09:11.992-07:00

Joseph Salerno has done a lot of interesting work characterizing Austrian Economics in the Mengerian tradition as "causal-realist". Causal realism is defined by philsophyprofessor.com as: The view that substantive causal connections exist in reality Causal realism is considered to have a diametric opposite in the Regularity Theory of Causation, which according to the above-mentioned site:

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-65038318279219778842010-10-21T16:02:00.000-07:002010-10-29T16:04:36.484-07:00

Cross-posted at the Mises Economics Blog. Notice that the Mises Academy has lowered its prices by about 40% !! Murphy on the Fed 8 weeks, January 10, 2011 - February 28, 2011 Anatomy of the Fed with Robert Murphy will cover both the theory and history behind the Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States. Instructor Robert Murphy will first detail the theory of free-market

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-5245784456559542602010-10-21T15:59:00.000-07:002010-10-29T16:01:23.737-07:00

Cross-posted at the Mises Economics Blog (lots of comments there) From the New York Times, "Europe Is Turning Its Back on Keynes’s Cure for Recession": The British economist John Maynard Keynes may live on in popular legend as the world’s most influential economist. But in much of Europe, and most acutely here in the land of his birth, his view that deficit spending by governments is crucial

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-16499942964964607402010-10-20T22:13:00.000-07:002010-10-20T22:14:16.387-07:00

In Story II, I will tell of the rise of Eridu in ancient Sumer, which may have been the first state. I will relate the nature of the Sumerian state, and how a chain of influence extends from it to the Akkadians, the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Persians, and even the Macedonian Greeks. I will also write about the histories of the early states of Egypt, Phoenicia, Palestine, Asia Minor, and

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-34035929888429063182010-10-20T21:54:00.000-07:002010-10-20T21:54:33.260-07:00

The following passages should shatter any misconception that David Hume was a crude empiricist. Shall we then rest contented with these two relations of contiguity and succession, as affording a complete idea of causation? By, no means. An object may be contiguous and prior to another, without being considered as its cause. There is a NECESSARY CONNEXION to be taken into consideration; and that

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-27826468261737172252010-10-19T12:31:00.001-07:002010-10-19T12:31:59.231-07:00

The Mises Academy is pleased to announce Nullification: A Jeffersonian Bulwark Against Tyranny, a four-week, online course with Thomas E. Woods, starting November 16. From the description: Nullification, the Jeffersonian mechanism of state resistance to unconstitutional acts of the U.S. government, has returned to the news in recent years, and is the subject of a new book by the instructor of

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-6205580049453516842010-10-19T11:33:00.000-07:002010-10-19T11:33:41.827-07:00

Mainstream history textbooks hail the origination of the state as a crucial step in the “march of progress.”  However, great prosperity is the fruit of society, not the state.  And society antedates the state. Civilization first arose in Mesopotamia, the “land between the rivers”.1  However, many societal advancements associated with “civilization” antedated the state in that region.2  

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-72613518787460042702010-10-19T11:17:00.000-07:002010-10-19T11:17:40.733-07:00

Cross-posted at Hume and Action. One of the topics that will  be covered in this blog is wertfreiheit.  This is German for "value freedom".  Ludwig von Mises, following Max Weber, subscribed to the notion that science must be value-free to truly be a science, and not merely an expression of one's own desires.  Liberals in the tradition of Murray Rothbard generally agree with Mises that economics

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-31342491134623550022010-10-18T17:36:00.000-07:002010-10-18T17:36:57.128-07:00

 Some of the topics I will be covering in Hume and Action: Wertfreiheit and the is/ought, or fact/value, divide The irreduceability of logic, causality, and induction Recent Hume studies trending toward interpreting Hume as a causal-realist Hume's vital role, currently neglected in the liberal tradition, in the advent of scientific liberalism and modern economics. The resonance between the

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-61309202498132635812010-10-18T17:33:00.000-07:002010-10-18T17:33:25.769-07:00

A blog, co-authored with Ian Ryan, with the theme of expounding upon resonances between the thought of David Hume and that of Ludwig von Mises.

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-83295376345826733292010-10-18T17:19:00.000-07:002010-10-18T17:19:19.564-07:00

Here are the stories I'll be telling through my blog, 10 Stories: The History of the West in Ten Tales.  You might ask what, for example, Mesopotamian history has to do with "the west".  Basically, I want to tell the story of all the antecedents of ancient Greek culture, so as to understand it.  So that involves studying Egypt and the Fertile Crescent. I. The Rise of Prehistoric Man: From the

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-33561489328366566582010-10-18T16:45:00.000-07:002010-10-18T16:45:50.425-07:00

Introducing my new blog, 10 Stories: The History of the West in Ten Tales. I'll be cross-posting that blog's posts here as well.

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-3960990251459180022010-10-17T16:37:00.000-07:002010-10-17T16:37:58.619-07:00

Created especially for Mises Academy students. (Double-click slide for full-screen option.)  

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-34849166413043435682010-10-17T12:42:00.000-07:002010-10-17T12:42:39.939-07:00

I don't follow sports, but this insanely high-scoring game won by the Mises Institute's hometown college football team caught my attention. AUBURN, Ala. -- Cam Newton kept looking up at the scoreboard, amazed as anyone at the numbers he saw, climbing higher and higher with each possession. He wondered how many points it would take to win. Fifty? Sixty? Seventy? "I'm sitting there on the

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-43309079744679795092010-10-16T12:33:00.000-07:002010-10-17T12:36:37.455-07:00

 Cross-posted at the Mises Economics Blog. Robert Murphy just finished his weekly office hours session for his online class, Principles of Economics.  As I mentioned previously on the Mises Academy blog, this week, he’s been covering supply and demand charts.  The educational opportunities that web conferencing software makes possible are really amazing.  Over video broadcast, he was able to

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-9485786266147656592010-10-15T22:00:00.000-07:002010-10-15T22:00:37.656-07:00

 In my hands a little late, only because I was out of the house for a while... Hoppe's Democracy: The God That Failed (Can't wait to contrast it to Mises' pro-democracy arguments) DiLorenzo's The Real Lincoln (I've had the sequel, Lincoln Unmasked, sitting unread on my bookshelf for about a year, because I wanted to read The Real Lincoln first; now I can!) DiLorenzo's Hamilton's Curse: I know

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-27008808200777009722010-10-15T16:13:00.000-07:002010-10-15T16:18:05.116-07:00

Cross-posted at the Mises Economics Blog. It seems there is not an economic fallacy so basic that it will not be espoused at some elite university. Robots Are Stealing American Jobs, According to MIT Economist Before any MIT econ dons start invading the labs of their funding-rivals in the engineering department to smash any robots or mechanized looms they find, I hope they will take a second

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-4278347411034682522010-10-15T13:37:00.000-07:002010-10-15T13:37:55.779-07:00

 http://mises.org/nsande.asp After this, I just need to read Omnipotent Government and Bureaucracy, and I'll have read all his major works.

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-61420427113420969492010-10-15T12:44:00.000-07:002010-10-15T12:44:27.261-07:00

Cross-posted on the Mises Economics Blog. There is a YouTube video entitled "A Critique of Austrian Economics", made by an anonymous YouTuber, which has had over twenty thousand views.  The reader is dripping with insipid condescension; he reads the whole thing in this pedantic sing-song voice that is quite emetic in effect.  So that you don't have to listen to that, and so as to thus spare

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-37480864665851206562010-10-14T13:52:00.000-07:002010-10-15T16:14:01.529-07:00

Cross-posted on the Mises Economics Blog. Ludwig von Mises first formulated the Austrian Business Cycle Theory (ABCT) in his groundbreaking treatise The Theory of Money and Credit (1912).  But in the following much earlier passage (1888) by Eugen von Bohm-Bawerk (who, as his teacher, was a great influence on Mises) one can see the theory shadowed forth. Bohm-Bawerk considers below what would

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-89343958827375104542010-10-14T13:14:00.000-07:002010-10-14T13:14:30.825-07:00

 Sam Harris, the Naturalistic Fallacy, and the Slipperiness of "Well-Being" by Simon Rippon

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-72143211866855915112010-10-13T21:02:00.000-07:002010-10-13T21:02:20.078-07:00

Cross-post from the Mises Academy Blog. Professor Murphy covered supply and demand curves in his Econ 101 lecture today.  He covered common misunderstandings.  For one, even professional economists will from time to time mix up the idea of movement ALONG a curve, and a shift of the curve ITSELF.  Another thing forgotten is that the curves represent various hypothetical price/quantity pairs.  

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-61452899503254075682010-10-13T12:02:00.000-07:002010-10-13T12:02:38.696-07:00

 Many might be surprised when they read Nation, State, and Economy to learn that Mises was a nationalist.  But he carefully distinguished "liberal nationalism" (which might be considered the nationalism of the Revolutions of 1848) as against "imperial nationalism" of Bismarck's Prussia and Czarist Russia.  He wrote in Nation, State and Economy: The only true national autonomy is the freedom of

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-22195327740353351312010-10-12T20:30:00.000-07:002010-10-12T20:30:33.786-07:00

Starting November 1 at the Mises Academy: Rethinking Intellectual Property: History, Theory, and Economics, a 6-week course, with Monday evening lecture/question-and-answer sessions.

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-50449203125729994132010-06-05T15:41:00.000-07:002010-06-05T15:41:21.356-07:00

Misesian Comics #9: Works and Days and the Tyranny of Zeus

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-56187075727644004962010-05-31T13:08:00.001-07:002010-05-31T13:09:36.290-07:00

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-6128261749671200042010-05-13T00:02:00.001-07:002010-05-13T00:02:43.422-07:00

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-4822771429871006112010-05-11T10:34:00.001-07:002010-05-11T10:34:44.543-07:00

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-34145480898894433692010-05-10T12:23:00.001-07:002010-05-10T12:23:44.865-07:00

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-88254340474452525982010-05-09T10:31:00.000-07:002010-05-09T10:31:09.284-07:00

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-64921815668509712332010-05-08T16:37:00.000-07:002010-05-08T16:37:58.972-07:00

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-2937854926409795622010-05-08T16:34:00.001-07:002010-05-08T16:34:47.321-07:00

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-82668041058767155402010-05-08T16:33:00.001-07:002010-05-08T16:35:25.747-07:00

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-59351472236796869842010-05-06T19:40:00.000-07:002010-05-11T10:35:20.202-07:00

A daily webcomic by J. Grayson Lilburne, exploring history, philosophy, economics and more from a Misesian perspective. Issues The Inspiration of Hesiod Hesiod on Space Hesiod, Earth, and Teleology Hesiod, Night, and Day Hesiod and Animism  Titans and Hypostatization

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-74274282677340695292010-04-04T14:44:00.001-07:002010-04-04T14:51:54.802-07:00

Testing something. Please ignore.

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-74202120689103401782010-03-31T15:59:00.000-07:002010-04-01T00:12:15.837-07:00

In my post The Mises Academy in Context, I made the case for what I call the Misesian Injunction, Mises' call for every person to, for the sake of civilization, study economics. I also made the case for studying economics at the Mises Academy with Dr. Robert P. Murphy. But, you might ask, why take Understanding the Business Cycle in particular? I would answer, in brief, that business cycle

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-67378315849642092922010-03-30T01:31:00.000-07:002010-03-30T10:24:50.794-07:00

Over a century ago, a young statist read a book. His life was never the same again. In fact, his reading of that book changed the world. A few days ago, an online school opened its doors. In what follows I will explain how these two events are connected. The book the young man read was Principles of Economics by Carl Menger, and the young statist himself was Ludwig von Mises. Mises would

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-91098648209714553212010-03-14T19:48:00.000-07:002010-03-16T17:17:42.496-07:00

Daniel Muffinburg couldn't find something, so he asked his friend Zach the Lizard for help. (No this article isn't a children's story; Daniel and Zach are the handles of two Mises Community members.) What Daniel couldn't find was the phrase, "Tu ne cede malis sed contra audentior ito", the motto of Ludwig von Mises and the Mises Institute, in an English translation of Virgil's Aeneid. Zach

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-59159577902453917322010-03-03T19:19:00.000-08:002010-03-03T19:21:03.841-08:00

"To paraphrase Howard Baker, England is our friend, and Argentina is our friend. And we should always side with our friends." via Is The Sun Setting On England’s Banana Empire? « LewRockwell.com Blog.

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-43439775684688119412010-03-03T18:54:00.001-08:002010-03-03T18:54:25.158-08:00

Just trying something out...

Daniel James Sanchezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08653430203683233455noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-28116847578258594352010-02-27T13:42:00.000-08:002010-02-27T13:44:49.035-08:00

In the following passage of his Works and Days, Hesiod distinguishes between the deleterious "strife" involved in violent conflicts and the beneficent "strife" involved in economic rivalry: So, after all, there was not one kind of Strife alone, but all over the earth there are two. As for the one, a man would praise her when he came to understand her; but the other is blameworthy: and they are

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-51463061197241661712010-02-22T13:48:00.000-08:002010-02-22T14:12:19.683-08:00

The episode in the Iliad recounted previously, in which a plague is attributed to the vengeance of a god, is typical of the general cosmology of the holy man, of primitive man, and of the infant.In Human Action, Chapter 1, Section 6, Mises writes: Both primitive man and the infant, in a naive anthropomorphic attitude, consider it quite plausible that every change and event is the outcome of the

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-26049407000295191262010-02-21T14:55:00.000-08:002010-03-13T14:43:17.891-08:00

Ancient holy men, whatever their motives, and whatever their methods, held forth on matters of hidden causes and predictions. Therefore, they were their ages closest thing to a philosopher or a scientist. Of course the favorite epistemology of the priesthood is that of divine revelation. In Theory and History Chapter 3, Mises discusses revelation: Revealed religion derives its authority and

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-46823735327596905452010-02-20T19:36:00.001-08:002010-02-20T19:37:18.564-08:00

Let us meet one of these classes of proto-philosopher through visiting a scene from the Iliad of Homer. A beleaguered man decked out in priestly regalia treks along a beach on the coast of Asia Minor. He carries a rod of solid gold, and is followed by a train of servants bearing a palanquin filled with bricks of gold. Through the tears obscuring his peripheral vision, he can see the great city

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-41445277440202815362010-02-20T17:37:00.000-08:002010-02-20T19:35:37.723-08:00

Man's quest for the great mysteries of the universe began long before philosophy proper is thought to have begun, with the life and thought of Thales of Miletus. In fact the calling of the philosopher was anticipated by, and perhaps grew out of, the callings of the Sage, the Poet, the Singer, the Prophet, and even the Priest.

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-40634813806999447782010-02-20T17:26:00.000-08:002010-02-20T17:37:55.217-08:00

A thinker's journey is never done. But at this stage in mine, it seems evident that the thought of Ludwig von Mises is, thus far, the apogee and culmination of man's age-old quest for soundness of thought. In the essays that follow, I will put that impression to the test in a study of the most important ideas in the history of mankind, viewed through the lens of Mises' thought.

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-75383747437492279182010-01-17T13:07:00.000-08:002010-01-17T13:11:37.316-08:00

Of Time and Marshmallows, originally published here, is featured today on Mises.org. (Article | Comments)

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-68396517202886555752010-01-02T13:00:00.000-08:002010-01-17T13:07:41.131-08:00

I weigh in on an inter-Austrian controversy on the Mises blog.

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-44825178844320704062010-01-01T18:35:00.000-08:002010-01-04T14:20:24.643-08:00

As I expressed in my piece For Civilization, It Is Mises Or Bust, it seems that central banks, and the interventionist state in general, is inducing the squandering of capital at a rate that may prove fatal to civilization, and that the only way for society to avoid disintegration is for a critical mass of people to embrace the teaching of Ludwig von Mises and his students. In

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-29867965132673756882009-12-17T08:05:00.000-08:002010-01-02T22:49:43.004-08:00

My article "For Civilization, it is Mises or Bust (originally posted here) is featured today on the Ludwig von Mises Institute web site (Article | Comments) | Spanish Translation (Thank you, Euribe!) I hope you will enjoy reading it. Here is an excerpt Before the rise of liberalism made continuous capital accumulation possible across generations, the common man held a gross underestimation of

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-25388596376551147502009-12-17T07:54:00.000-08:002009-12-17T08:02:58.365-08:00

The Seen and Unseen of Obama's Stimulus Plans Egalitarian Expropriation: Bernie Sanders on Colbert Economics and Moral Cowardice (about Krugman's petty swipe at Austrians) Confronting the "Unconfrontable" in the LvMI Forum The Trinity is Complete (about Bernanke being made Time's Person of the Year

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-62898233318032341032009-12-16T16:18:00.000-08:002009-12-18T13:39:18.569-08:00

As readers of this blog know, in an astounding feat of oblivious irony, Time magazine has chosen the man who very likely just broke the world as "Person of the Year". In my last post, I commented on the propaganda aspects of the choice. In this article, I would like to address the woeful economic content of Time's corresponding hagiographic piece on Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve,

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-22927861203802401352009-12-07T20:21:00.000-08:002009-12-07T20:40:03.688-08:00

From my Posthumous Refutations series: Capitalism, Competition, Collaboration, and Kindness Absolving with Faint Criticism: A Media and Real Estate Mogul Defends the Fed The Starvation Brink, Victorian England, and the Santa Claus Principle Cash for Cranks What That Jobs Report Might Really Mean Safeway and Consumer Sovereignty in Oakland, CA From my Mises Forums Digest series: Five Star

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-52396206595783195362009-12-05T22:06:00.000-08:002009-12-05T22:11:01.847-08:00

Here's a new issue.  Sorry for the long delay.  This one cover the law of marginal utility, and is a follow up to the issue introducing marginal utility.  I had to race through making this one tonight due to time constraints, so there may be mistakes I'll need to correct later.

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-46084067555453934252009-12-05T07:56:00.000-08:002009-12-05T08:30:26.109-08:00

Tony from Toronto, in a New York Time discussion forum says: Well at least we now know what causes man-made global warming:- Phil Jones, Michael Mann and their all-male cast of dodgy scientists. They have generated global warming all on their own. So long as we keep giving 'em more data Harry_Read_Me's computer programs will keep those graphs trending relentlessly upward. I never thought a

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-59847437903656000632009-12-02T21:45:00.000-08:002011-02-11T22:53:57.539-08:00

For those who may be new to Austrian Economics, to better understand the ideas presented below, please first take a look at this web comic on capital theory from my series Human Action Comics Probably what most sets the Austrian School apart from mainstream economics is the Austrian School's careful analysis of the structure of production. When an Austrian economist considers the structure of

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-70663865386013491222009-11-27T11:06:00.000-08:002009-11-27T11:08:42.255-08:00

Please read about my new (hopefully daily, if I can maintain that pace) project on the Mises Blog.

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-7992532292016907892009-11-21T16:22:00.000-08:002009-11-21T16:27:37.741-08:00

Two recent posts by me on the Mises blog: A Credibility Meltdown for the World's Leading Climate Scientists Curing Virulent Health Care Myths in the LvMI Forum

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-80332256212153406782009-11-21T00:37:00.000-08:002009-11-21T00:41:39.462-08:00

Ludwig von Mises wrote:"Society lives and acts only in individuals; it is nothing more than a certain attitude on their part. Everyone carries a part of society on his shoulders; no one is relieved of his share of responsibility by others. And no one can find a safe way out for himself if society is sweeping towards destruction. Therefore everyone, in his own interests, must thrust himself

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-37733923228853779622009-11-11T17:15:00.000-08:002009-11-11T19:00:50.044-08:00

Human Action Comics #4 and #5 are now #5 and #6 respectively. I've created a new #4 on opportunity cost and the entrepreneur (two subjects which I believe are best treated before capital theory and exchange theory). You can view the new issue in Facebook (no account required) or watch it as a Picassa slideshow below. Click play and then pause to advance at your own pace. Click on the middle of

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-73655610842185585032009-11-09T20:14:00.000-08:002009-11-09T20:31:34.371-08:00

I've expanded and improved issue #1. I believe it now covers the basics more thoroughly, extensively, and funnily. I hope you will take a look. You can either view in Facebook or watch as a Picassa slideshow below. Click play and then pause to advance at your own pace. Click on the middle of the screen to view in a bigger window (or even full-screen).

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-41251930734275863492009-11-08T09:55:00.000-08:002009-11-08T09:59:31.470-08:00

Libertarianism is the only morally justifiable political philosophy for anyone with a conscience normal enough to feel that murder, theft, and enslavement are wrong, and a mind consistent enough to apply that maxim to every man equally.

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-39040288281067444182009-11-08T07:28:00.000-08:002009-11-08T07:47:25.512-08:00

I'm now writing for the Ludwig von Mises Institute Blog! I'll be regularly posting digests of interesting topics and discussions going on in the Ludwig von Mises Institute Forum. Here is my first such digest: Lifelong Learning in the LvMI Forum.

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-24595142367352520592009-11-07T08:49:00.000-08:002009-11-07T08:52:52.418-08:00

I've updated the inter-post links in my series of posts called Epistemology and Worldview Throughout History. If you're interested in mythology and/or ancient philosophy, I hope you will give it a read.

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-29158876779316291092009-11-05T17:45:00.000-08:002009-11-05T17:47:48.642-08:00

Narrated by yours truly. Thanks to Daniel from the Mises Forums for editing it!

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-31923914699224089192009-11-04T00:39:00.000-08:002009-11-04T00:41:50.597-08:00

Over the long term, ALL the central banks do is dramatically increase the money supply. And an increase in the money supply provides NO general social benefit. Think about it. How could increasing the amount of money in circulation do any good? By making society directly wealthier? That's ridiculous, because money has no direct use-value, and it does not produce anything with direct use-value.

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-16595488561869457432009-11-04T00:35:00.000-08:002009-11-04T00:39:43.870-08:00

In this ongoing series of posts, I will try to condense the most concise and effective arguments possible for several big issues.

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-63570938046182298762009-11-03T20:40:00.000-08:002009-11-03T20:45:51.572-08:00

I've copied over from the old site all the posts in my Guide to Principles of Economics by Carl Menger and completed the laborious task of updating all the links in each post. It's not as easy to read as my comics, but I hope you find it informative all the same!

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-89745768439025021482009-11-01T20:14:00.000-08:002009-11-12T10:08:32.505-08:00

I've added 15 new slides on economic growth to Issue #5 (slides 35-50). They can be found on the Human Action Comics main page.

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-90270602555597004452009-10-29T23:12:00.000-07:002009-10-29T23:17:40.674-07:00

Click here to learn how to read these on your iPhone. Freedom and Property: Where They Conflict by Frank van Dun

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-16979059623368361722009-10-29T19:46:00.000-07:002009-10-29T22:44:06.222-07:00

Issue #5 on Direct Exchange is up on Picassa and Facebook. I'll come back to edit this post, once I narrate it and upload it on YouTube.

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-43910590256027551542009-10-28T20:52:00.000-07:002009-10-28T21:02:17.425-07:00

Click here to learn how to read these on your iPhone. An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume II: Classical Economics by Murray N. Rothbard

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-45226359665963148142009-10-27T11:34:00.000-07:002009-10-27T13:46:29.402-07:00

Why Health Insurance? (on Mises Blog) by Robert Blumen Why Health Insurance? (follow up on LewRockwell.com) by Robert Blumen

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-78491609535089899782009-10-27T10:49:00.000-07:002009-10-27T11:57:03.876-07:00

The Demand for Money and the Time-Structure of Production by Jörg Guido Hülsmann

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-85140213987737470102009-10-27T08:54:00.000-07:002009-10-27T11:53:20.598-07:00

Healthcare and Insurance on a Desert Island by Gilbert G. Berdine, M.D.

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-55898779716222823092009-10-26T20:10:00.000-07:002009-11-03T21:13:15.053-08:00

I wasn't active in the Ron Paul campaign, though I wish I was. I wrote this song imagining what it might have been like.

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-52723628013929733702009-10-26T17:13:00.000-07:002009-10-26T17:16:09.361-07:00

Economics and Moral Courage by Lew Rockwell

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-77853607888805384882009-10-26T09:29:00.000-07:002009-10-27T13:49:53.269-07:00

Click here to learn how to read these on your iPhone. The World of Salamanca by Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr. Mises.org in the Context of Publishing History by Jeffrey A. Tucker

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-70219683355879637902009-10-26T00:27:00.000-07:002009-10-26T16:56:37.939-07:00

10 Anthropica Points for whoever can identify what quotation the title of this post is based on and who said it! I recently installed the eBook reader Stanza on my iPhone.  It may not be E Ink, but it's much better than reading Rothard and Mises on the iPhone's Safari browser!  Just the fact that Stanza remembers exactly which page you left off at makes all the difference. There are other ways

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-46045328039750714312009-10-22T11:29:00.000-07:002009-10-22T21:46:33.541-07:00

The Journal of the American Medical Association, the labor-restricting guild that is largely responsible for the high cost of health care published an editorial, the thrust of which, in the words of its lead author Laura Esserman (who by the way donated a cool thousand to Obama's presidential campaign), is that, "The benefit [of cancer screening] is not nearly as much as we hoped and comes at the

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-40512471916524244592009-10-19T18:07:00.000-07:002009-10-22T15:23:21.942-07:00

Human Action; Chapter 7, Part 1: The Law of Marginal Utility by Ludwig von Mises. An Introduction to Value Theory by F.A. Harper.

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-53918301379996627402009-10-19T14:16:00.000-07:002009-10-22T15:23:05.418-07:00

Human Action; Chapter IV: A First Analysis of the Category of Action by Ludwig von Mises Man, Economy, and State; Chapter 1: Fundamentals of Human Action by Murray N. Rothbard

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6301122998840579068.post-45951035589024771132009-10-19T13:59:00.001-07:002009-10-19T13:59:59.914-07:00

An excellent resource.

Lilburnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01927904691376298637noreply@blogger.com0