Peter's Blog

As wealth inequality continues to rise, many are quick to blame billionaires for society’s ills. However, focusing on individual wealthy people obscures the underlying institutional factors that shape economic outcomes. Rather than vilifying the rich, we should examine how government policies and central bank interventions create perverse incentives that concentrate wealth and distort markets. The […]

The US tax system is often praised as a means of funding essential government services and redistributing wealth. A deeper analysis reveals that it is primarily driven by envy and resentment rather than a genuine concern for the common good. By pitting different groups against each other, the tax code fuels social division and undermines […]

Defenders of big government often argue that roads, courts, and national defense prove the state is indispensable to prosperity, but this reasoning contains a fatal flaw. The state has no independent source of wealth: it first expropriates resources from private producers through taxation, then provides services with those resources, and finally points to those same […]

The debate over taxing the rich has returned to the headlines, with progressives arguing that no one can legitimately earn a billion dollars and conservatives firing back that wealth at the top reflects risk-taking and value creation. Both sides, however, miss the deeper truth: a century of government intervention has so warped the economy that […]

With the latest 12 month CPI figure coming in at 3.3%, it’s clear that inflation is alive and well. What’s less clear to the public is the fact that inflation is a policy choice– an intentional political act meant to rob citizens of the benefits of falling prices. The following article was originally published by […]

If you listen to politicians in Washington, the Working Americans’ Tax Cut Act proposed by Virginia Representative Don Beyer sounds like a gift to the middle class. But by decreasing taxes for some by increasing them for others, it only robs Peter to pay Paul. A tax decrease that is financed by a simultaneous tax […]

People on the right and left are quick to complain that they are being taken advantage of by other groups. The raucous cries of victimhood never cease, whether targeted towards the influx of illegal immigrants or the cabal of billionaires. The victimhood is primarily of resources. People are very quick to recognize when resources taken […]

In 2016 when the measure C initiative to raise hotel taxes to benefit a new San Diego Chargers stadium failed, the Chargers left their hometown of many years to go to Los Angeles. A team expecting government aid as a prerequisite to be in a location is an exceedingly common story in the world of […]

Trump’s tariff regime has led to an extremely unique economic situation. While inflation for some goods is high, many other goods have little inflation, and new job creation is lagging. Any Keynesian economist could weasel their way around this, but it gives compelling evidence against the assumptions of their most revered models. The Phillips curve […]

Politicians on both sides have found a new mantra to address concerns about the economy: “affordability.” Economics shows us how these same politicians are responsible for inflation, taxation, and regulation– three forces that inevitably make goods and services less affordable. The following article was originally published by the Mises Institute. The opinions expressed do not […]