Many have claimed the advantages of bigness in industry can be found in an increase in productivity and profitability. However, there is also a downside to bigness that is not often noted. History professor David Landes points out the disadvantages by saying: “We are often so impressed by the increase in productivity that results from … Read more
Commenting on the perils of the stock market in the nineteenth century, author Edward Chancellor notes how market operations presupposed inside information. In this period of great frenetic intemperance, operators like Daniel Drew in the early 1860’s learned the art of market manipulation. Not without its application to speculative schemes of our own days, Chancellor … Read more
Although the book, Return to Order: From a Frenzied Economy to an Organic Christian Society, was written with the American public in mind, its principles and concepts apply to the modern world in general. If there was an ideal place where the book’s universal appeal could be tested, it could be found at the 2013 … Read more
By Kevin Ritchie. The fourth annual Western Conservative Summit was organized by the Centennial Institute and Colorado Christian University on July 26-28 at the Hyatt Regency Denver. The conference was well organized, self-contained and packed with wall-to-wall talks, workshops, and breakout sessions. It was a perfect place for our table promoting the book, Return to … Read more
Dublin’s Buswell Hotel seemed a fitting place to launch the book, Return to Order. The atmosphere inside the conference room that July 25, was restrained, somewhat formal yet also inviting. Buswell’s is a traditional hotel right in the city center with the Parliament building just across the street and Trinity College nearby. One could almost … Read more
“An economist is someone who sees something happen in practice and wonders if it could work in theory”— Ronald Reagan Quoted from the 2013 book, It Didn’t Have to Be This Way: Why Boom and Bust is Unnecessary—and How the Austrian School of Economics Breaks the Cycle, by Harry C. Veryster.
When I think of the debate around the “sequester,” I think of an amusement park. I know that this is no laughing matter, but there’s something so incredibly unreal about the situation that an amusement park is what comes into mind. This comes from observing how things like quantitative easing, derivative instruments and massive debt … Read more
“Return to Order is beautiful in its simplicity yet profound in its intellectual depth.” Jamie Johnson, State Central Committeeman of Republican Party of Iowa
Just how serious is the government debt of nations? Consider the following statistics. The International Monetary Fund’s 2012 figures find the gross government debt of Greece to be around 153 per cent of GDP. Other nations include Italy where the figure is 123, for Ireland 113, for Portugal 112 and for the United States 107. … Read more
Some believe that a simple solution to all our economic problems is to unfetter markets and everything will enter into order. Take away visible restraints and invisible hands will work their magic. The problem with such an outlook is that it has proven illusive. There have been relatively free sectors of modern economy. However, problems … Read more
