Peter's Blog

Why Critics of Free Markets Can’t Resist Free-Market Platforms

While free trade has never been universally popular in America, today its principles are under economic and moral attack from both the left and the right. Yet, the greatest concession that opponents of free trade make is, ironically, their love of the services that the market makes available to them.

What’s Behind the Logic of Today’s U.S. Tariff Policy?

Last week the Trump administration hinted at the possibility of new tariffs that would target the European Union and tech giant Apple. As the presidency continues to flip flop on this issue, American citizens should only conclude that the protectionist right is hopelessly deluded on trade.

What Really Solves America’s Debt Woes—And Why Rate Caps Aren’t It

Free-marketers rightly criticize the Fed for manipulating interest rates, which serve as important price signals to entrepreneurs. Many stumble, however, in applying this same criticism to other forms of price controls, such as interest rate caps, which have been revived earlier this year.

Economic Growth vs. the Stock Market

As the stock market climbs out of its tariff-induced April slump, many are hailing the return of a strong economy. Investors should be wary of unbridled optimism, since the Fed is still liable to fire up the money printers.

The Fed Holds Rates at 4.5% Amid Rising Risks of Stagflation

As of last week, the Federal Reserve has basically admitted it doesn’t know what’s happening in the economy. One thing’s for sure: inflation is still a problem.

The Political Business Cycle, 50 Years On

With the Fed utterly clueless about inflation and GDP ticking lower, the Trump administration may be in trouble come midterms. As political narratives start to spin up, it’s worth recalling the nature of the so-called “Political Business Cycle.”

Free Trade: A Moral Imperative

The Trump administration is anything but the paragon of free trade. And while their economic arguments fall short, an even stronger case can be made that protectionist policies like tariffs are fundamentally unjust.

Cracked Shells: How Supply Shocks, Not Monopoly, Drive Egg Prices

Are rising egg prices a result of monopoly power? As of late, egg prices are taking a central role in the economic narrative with focus groups, and economists decreeing monopolistic “greed” as the prime cause of a sudden upturn in prices. Yet, this must be insufficient to establish why producers’ have—all of a sudden—become immensely […]

The Cracks in Marx’s Labor Theory of Value

Free-marketers must be constantly vigilant in an age of economic fallacies, chief among them being the labor or cost theory of value. Promoted by Marx and the Classical Economists, this theory fails to explain market prices and the origin of money, and the results of its acceptance are catastrophic.

Trump’s Easy-Money Agenda: Empowering Wall Street, Undermining Main Street

Although Jerome Powell appears temporarily safe from President Trump’s ire, it’s only a matter of time before the pressure to cut rates will ratchet up on the Fed. Indeed, Trump– like all other politicians– wants low interest rates to facilitate ever-increasing deficits and obscure the faultlines in the economy.