- Much of what central banks do consists of making things happen today that otherwise would happen sometime in the future.
[Central banks] can help to prevent a complete financial meltdown and the negative economy-wide externalities associated with a financial collapse.
- Sainty Marine, China’s first listed company to file for bankruptcy
- But when a state-owned bank lends money to a state-owned shipbuilder, who’s making business-like decisions?
The point is that mistakes like overbuilding are always possible – but they’re much more likely to occur if no one’s making decisions on an economic basis.
When the parties involved aren’t motivated by profit or worried about loss, good economic decisions are unlikely to be made.
- Governments and regulations can’t produce prosperity.
- The U.S. is one of only a tiny number of countries whose citizens are taxed on all their worldwide income, regardless of where they live or where their income is earned.
- Inflation is a mysterious (and, I think, largely psychological) phenomenon. The U.S. government couldn’t figure out how to stop it in the 1970s, and the nations of the world can’t find a way to start it today.
- geographic inequalities are dependent on the immobility of resources.
- The quality of foreign cars was initially the subject of skepticism, but over time quality improved, the superior price/value bargain overcame cultural resistance, and the share of car sales going to imports grew.
- Ex-McDonald’s CEO says raising the minimum wage will help robots take jobs”) Some workers may lose their jobs or fail to get jobs. Remember, governments and regulators don’t create wealth, they only redistribute it. Their impact is largely a zero-sum game except in the longest-term sense.
- Short-term fixes simply cannot create wealth out of thin air.