Peter's Blog

Even when we know what is right, we consistently fail to do it. The human mind is incredibly prepared to diverge from responsibility. The ability to recognize the world as it is, and hold the conclusions that one must necessarily draw from it, while not acting on those conclusions is both comfortable and easy. Because […]

Modern institutions have embraced the belief that more data, more regulation, and more centralized coordination will always produce better outcomes, but that assumption is increasingly running into its own limits. As bureaucracies drown in information they cannot meaningfully interpret, the very mechanisms built to improve performance begin producing the opposite result, a phenomenon that undermines […]

The vote to intent ratio is the proportion of total intentional government action that is driven by any voter filling their proportionate share of total government action. If the government can be crassly compared to a corporation, each citizen within that government would be a shareholder with an equal share of equity in the state. […]

Alexis de Tocqueville warned us of the dangers of paternalistic government in no uncertain terms. He visited America and was able to see the unique strengths and weaknesses of our Democratic system. He saw how much of our activity was controlled by the community, and the unique freedom that was possible in our country. While […]

Free market economists have demonstrated why socialism fails: without true market prices, economic calculation becomes impossible. Some, however, fail to realize that this limitation also applies to other institutions, like nonprofits, that typically don’t face market prices either. The following article was originally published by the Mises Institute. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect […]

Central planning– be it of regulation, banking, or security– never produces the correct incentives for efficient economic activity. When economic analysis is applied to the latest debacle with TSA, it’s obvious that such a failure of service would never occur in a free market. The following article was originally published by the Mises Institute. The […]

The recent examples of fraud in Minnesota are one of the greatest examples of government ineptitude and waste in recent memory. Billions of taxpayer dollars were sent directly into the hands of criminals. The weakest in society were taken advantage of those with no regard for human dignity and right or wrong. The fraud was […]

Regulation is already pernicious enough in its stifling effect on economic activity and entrepreneurship, but as regulations and bureaucratic control extend throughout the economy, they also cause the proliferation of “fake jobs” and promote lower job satisfaction for workers. The following article was originally published by the Mises Institute. The opinions expressed do not necessarily […]

In today’s interventionist economy, the Fed inflates away the dollar and congress and the presidency spend trillions on a whim. But according to Austrian economist Murray Rothbard, the modern bureaucracy– especially the civil service system– is arguably the greatest threat to American liberty. The following article was originally published by the Mises Institute. The opinions […]

Austrian economists are correct to point out the links between central banking, fiat currency, and the proliferation of bad and unnecessary debt.When society’s money is inflated to serve the interest of the ultimate debtor– the state– bad debt will abound, and the student loan crisis is no different. The following article was originally published by […]