It’s no secret that economists and libertarians have developed a bad habit of assuming things about history and other societies on first principle without actually checking archaeological or anthropological findings. On occasion the divide can be quite stark. David Graeber’s Debt: The First 5000 Years gets a lot of momentum by attacking a widely circulated…

Om de zoveel maanden nadert de Amerikaanse overheid haar zelfopgelegde “schuldenplafond.” Om de zoveel maanden wordt het Amerikaanse publiek getrakteerd op een theaterstuk over de vraag of het plafond wel of niet moet worden “verhoogd,” inclusief hysterische doemscenario’s over wat er gebeurt als politici niet zoveel geld als ze willen mogen uitgeven aan wat ze…

Every few months, the US government closes in on its self-imposed “debt ceiling.” Every few months the American public gets treated to theatrics on whether or not that ceiling should be “raised,” complete with hysterical projections of doom if the politicians aren’t allowed to spend as much money as they want, on anything they might…

Thomas L. Knapp discusses why you wouldn’t want to even buy a used car from the U.S. government, let alone law and security.

Ecuador’s president announced in early December that his country would not be paying the interest on its foreign debt in 2009, repudiating it as “illegal” … As the Australians would say, good on them.