Aier.org

Bud Light’s Sales Implosion, Explained (by Mises)
aier.org > article...I stopped drinking Bud Light decades ago, so when the Dylan Mulvaney controversy exploded last month, I didn't need to consider if I'd stop drinking... ...Anheuser-Busch"s most popular product. ... ...Endless ink has been spilled over the controversy, which was fueled by celebrities like Travis Tritt and Kid Rock, who shot up several cases of Bud... ...“Remember the Great Keurig Boycott of 2017? Or Frito-Lay in 2021? Or, more recently, when people were mad because M&Ms were girls?” ...

Has the Disinflation Process Stalled?
aier.org > article...The latest inflation data is not what Federal Reserve officials were hoping for.... ...Prices today are 7.7 percentage points higher than they would have been had the Fed hit its 2 percent target over the period.... ...The Federal Open Market Committee raised its federal funds rate target range to 5.0 – 5.25 percent earlier this month, the tenth hike in fifteen... ...Some FOMC members, including Chair Powell, continue to suggest a pause may be in order....

What accounts for America’s life expectancy gap?
aier.org > article...To some degree this is clearly true, as the Financial Times"s John Burn-Murdoch showed earlier this month.... ...After all, the United States has a higher homicide rate than most other rich nations.... ...From this, the justification to adopt health care reforms that would make the United States more like Canada is advanced....

The (Big Labor) Empire Strikes Back in Michigan
aier.org > article...In 2022, the Democratic Party was swept into complete control in Michigan, winning the state Senate, House, and the governorship.... ...Organized labor has always been the backbone of the Democrats in Michigan and, upon getting their allies into power, it demanded and got two key... ...In short, prevailing wage laws are legal price fixing schemes.... ...As I argued in this 2010 paper for Cato Journal, prevailing wage laws are special interest legislation that are contrary to the public interest. ...

How Arrogance Threatens Freedom
aier.org > article...In his 1962 book Capitalism and Freedom, Milton Friedman asserted, “Humility is the distinguishing virtue of the believer in freedom; arrogance,... ...As Friedman wrote, the belief system from which the arrogant live is a grave threat to freedom.... ...In a 1977 speech, Milton Friedman argued, “The two greatest enemies of free enterprise in the United States, in my opinion, have been, on the one... ...“Every intellectual,” Friedman offered, “is in favor of freedom for himself and against freedom for anybody else.”...

A Sick (Pay) Policy that Redefines Work
aier.org > article...Thanks to the Seattle City Council, we may soon have answers to these questions. ... ...While Washington State already mandated sick pay for Uber and Lyft drivers, Seattle extended this provision to those folks who deliver groceries... ...But the Seattle City Council transforms them into just that, and that has important consequences for drivers and consumers.... ...Hedda Lettis to the airport or delivering a head of lettuce to your home? Nothing really, other than the actual thing transported. ...

Why Intellectuals Hate Al Czervik
aier.org > article...Thirty-five percent of respondents with high school, or some college, said they had “favorable” views of socialism, according to Pew Research Center... ...In Germany this stage had been reached toward the end of the last century; in England and France, about the time of the first World War.... ...To the casual observer it would seem as if the United States had reached this phase after World War II and that the attraction of a planned and directed...

Eliminating the Debt Ceiling: Is There Anything the 14th Amendment Can’t Do?
aier.org > article...Although largely responsible for the modern debt ceiling, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) would be proud.... ...According to Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe (or perhaps some yet-unidentified person he plagiarized), the federal debt ceiling is unconstitutional... ...As I argued in The Daily Caller two weeks ago, and as the Wall Street Journal just argued, the US government cannot lawfully repudiate its debts... ...Section 4 means that the Treasury has to service all the government's bonds and pay Social Security and certain other debt-like obligations before...