Peter's Blog

Disruptors of the State’s Educational Monopoly

Since the advent of public education, the state has had a monopoly on accessible K-12 education. However, the monopolistic nature of their situation let them to seek rent in several ways that greatly damaged their ability to sustain such a powerful role. Although private schools served as a competitor for more wealthy students, for most […]

The Illusion of Transparency in 21st Century Equities

Warren Buffett solidly trounced the S&P 500 for the first 35 years of his career, and then something terrible happened to him. While in the past, he was able to receive stock tips ahead of time, in 2000 the US government began to require uniform disclosure patterns for earnings information. Buffet had been merely arbitraging […]

Price Synergies of Gold and Oil Muddy the Water

Gold and oil price are connected uniquely through several different mechanisms. The recent conflict in Iran has created a massive international oil shortage and thrown the FX markets and gold prices around dramatically. While international tensions are often good for the gold market, in this situation, the price of gold experienced some dramatic downward price […]

Eisenhower and the Threat of Military Overreach

In a timeless and ominously prophetic speech, Eisenhower left the nation after his eight years in office with a warning that no one at the time understood the significance of. Although Eisenhower had been at the very heart of America’s military might during World War II, he believed that what he and other American Americans […]

The Many Costs of Public Control of Water Rights

Although water rights are often used as the poster child of the need for government intervention, the private market actually presents many compelling solutions for their allocation. State control of water rights, while compelling, actually presents many unseen costs and damages the efficient allocation of one of the necessities of life. Clear ownership frameworks and […]

War Is On, Oil is Up, Inflation is Coming

Wars always expose economic weaknesses that already exist. And now, as old patterns repeat themselves, we’re seeing higher energy prices, larger government deficits, and rising inflation catalyzed by the US campaign against Iran. The developing situation inIran has already sent shockwaves through global energy markets, pushing oil prices sharply higher and reigniting fears of inflation. […]

The State and the Death of The Small Town

In 1800, only 5% of the American population lived in cities, yet by 2020 that proportion had flipped dramatically and now only 20% live outside of them. This is not a result of mere preference or expediency, but rather a long process of natural momentum accelerated by regulatory overreach. Vast increases in agricultural productivity and […]

3 Regulatory Categories in Financial Innovation

As regulation seeks to enclose the rapidly expanding financial services sector, the freedom found in innovation proves that success for customer and business alike can be found best far from restrictive regulations. While regulation often inherently favors the businesses that already exist, regulators also try to keep up with recent business trends to prevent fraud, […]

The Deadly Tradeoff Between Learning and Safety

Although learning things the hard way is often seen as a benchmark of failure, it often might be the only way to learn. Particularly in situations of first time discovery, repeated failure is all but necessary to produce a meaningful new outcome. Learning things the hard way should only be seen as failure when one […]

CPI Stubbornly Resists 2% Goal; Gold Brushes $5,180 

Inflation’s embers refused to cool in February, with the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers edging 0.3 percent higher after January’s 0.2 percent bump. Headline prices now stand 2.4 percent above year-ago levels, still north of the Federal Reserve’s vaunted 2 percent target. Core inflation, which strips out the volatile food and energy categories […]