Peter's Blog

On a recent podcast with Theo Von, New York mayor Zohran Mamdani defined socialism as “everyone having access to the things necessary for a dignified life.” Theo Von seemed to empathize with him, talking about how at a certain point economic issues are bigger than politics, and that incumbents can be challenged by longshot socialist […]

Socialism’s historical record includes well over 100 million civilians killed by socialist regimes over the past century, yet the ideology has seen a resurgence in popularity, particularly among recent college graduates. Its persistence and appeal lies in exploiting contempt, envy, and a fear of personal responsibility rather than in any coherent economic case against private […]

Democratic socialists routinely accuse capitalism of producing harmful monopolies, yet their preferred remedy, turning industries into public utilities, simply hands one single entity, the state, total and coercive control instead. Interventionists of all stripes don’t realize that monopoly is enabled and created by government policy, not inherent features of free markets. The following article was […]

Rather than being a radical antidote to the perceived errors of market capitalism, socialism is actually very similar to capitalism, but with some extra steps of inefficiency. Capitalism often consolidates the means of production through increasing returns to scale, and sorts people through the pice system into the roles where they would add the most […]

Socialists rarely abandon their ideology no matter how badly socialist economies perform, and that persistence makes sense once the goal is understood as the establishment of state control rather than genuine prosperity. Even the collapse of the Soviet Union and the ongoing crisis in Venezuela have failed to move true believers, who simply argue that […]

California’s housing shortage did not emerge from free markets failing, but from decades of policy that let neighborhood groups and environmental regulators substitute their preferences for property owners’ rights to build. Discretionary permitting, CEQA lawsuits, and a no-growth ideology born from the 1960s effectively socialized private property, and sky-high home prices in cities like San […]

As Trump’s crony capitalism and socialist inroads in the Democratic Party crowd out defenders of free markets, many assume the only choice is between capitalism and socialism. But a third danger lurks — the possibility that rejecting both leads not to liberty, but to feudalism or primitivism, systems where rights collapse and poverty reigns just […]

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 […]

Socialism seems to be on the rise, with jurisdictions like New York City electing avowed socialists to “fix the economy.” Whether it’s state control of the money supply or intervention in capital and labor markets, sound economics demonstrates that central planning never works. The following article was originally published by the Mises Institute. The opinions […]

While in the last article, the extremes of two completely different ideas regarding human nature were considered. This article will examine the pros and cons of both systems of government when dealing with the reality, which is a wide continuum of various dispositions with regards to selfishness. Some people are extremely benevolent to the point […]