John Tamny

In the 1980s Circuit City was the top-performing American stock. That’s not nothing. The 1980s was a glorious, truly glamorous decade for stocks. Yet Circuit City came out...

If the Fed could actually increase credit, there would be very little credit to increase.

As what you’re presently reading is being typed, your typist is wearing a $9.99 pair of reading glasses purchased last week at Safeway. These are +1.25 glasses, after the +1.00...

What’s lucrative now arguably won’t be in the future.

“He has not been able to speak since 2003, when he was paralyzed at age 20 by a serious stroke after a terrible car crash.” “He” is Pancho, who chose to not...

Who knows if it will turn out to be true, but auteur Quentin Tarantino’s publicly-stated plan is to retire from filmmaking after his tenth movie. He counts the two Kill Bills...

When the rich get to keep what's theirs, we all benefit.

“Videos posted on social media showed security agents and groups of soldiers beating up demonstrators on Sunday. Protesters ripped up portraits of Fidel Castro, while others...

The original Xerox copier model was the legendary 914. One of them is in the Smithsonian today. It weighed 650 pounds, could make 100,000 copies a month, and 7 copies per minute. The...

Biden administration insiders plainly lack an understanding of business history.

There's a glaring flag on the field: pro athletes have enough on their minds without having to sweat being political mascots.

“If my son asks me for something and I can’t give it to him, I just can’t handle it.” Those are the words of Saad al-Din Dimasi of Lebanon, as spoken to Ben...

In his classic 1992 book about the Ronald Reagan 1980s (and so much more), The Seven Fat Years, Robert Bartley described the great Arthur Laffer describing the universality of...

The most effective way to reverse the Chinese Communist Party's errors vis-à-vis the Uighurs and Hong Kong would be to remain as economically and personally free as possible.

In the world of investing there’s a saying about “renting” Warren Buffett’s name. Since an investment by Buffett has a tendency to boost the share price of...

There's one immutable fact about Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos you'll all begrudgingly agree with: your life's easier with Amazon.

Seth Berenzweig and John Tamny discuss United Airlines order for supersonic jets from Boom Technologies

Does anyone outside the cushy world of policy really believe the Fed is powerful?

Leigh Perkins died last month. Most reading this likely weren’t aware of his passing, or who he was for that matter. But his story has broad relevance in consideration of the...

Seth Berenzweig & John Tamny discuss taxes on billionaires

Good money is a stable measure of value, and right now government money isn’t living up to its billing. Neither is Bitcoin.

It didn't take long after last year's start of the Covid panic for plenty of doctors, scientists, and other experts to call off the crisis. Before Tech engag...

Instead of Americans addressing our deficit and debt with doomsday language, how about the more practical take: investor optimism.

One of the most important truths about economics is also the most basic: all human action is a tradeoff. It’s ridiculous that something so obvious needs to be stated, but it...

The outcry for plutocrats 'paying a fair share' in taxes misses one point: sound private investment money ends up squandered by Washington.

There’s no such thing as a “punch bowl," or even a central-banking version of one. Serious people should stop pretending that there is.

The Senate passed the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, a $250 billion bill aimed at countering China’s technological ambitions.

How soon we forget. It was 24 years ago this summer that Steve Jobs was coaxed back to Apple. The only thing was that investors weren’t interested. Titans of tech at the time...

Recessions signal recovery on the way. In 2020 politicians simply asphyxiated the economy. Let's not insult recessions by pretending 2020 was recessionary. 

Growth spasms that will end the cruel currency devaluations that are as old as money is.

Oil as measured in dollars reached a multi-year high on Tuesday. Some are no doubt wondering how this could be. Fracking enthusiasts have assured us for years that innovative oil...

The Wuhan-lab leak theory refocuses the pandemic narrative, scapegoating China while letting Fauci and Congress shirk responsibility.

Last week USIAID head Anthony Fauci inched a bit more toward the possibility that the new coronavirus was perhaps a man-made virus released from a lab in Wuhan. Fauci’s hedge...

If the Fed were even a fraction as powerful as some believe, then the U.S. economy would be so small as to not rate attention.

Seth Berenzweig & John Tamny discuss John's latest article in Forbes in which we've seen this act before when the railroad industry changed the world and the...

At the Reagan Ranch Center in Santa Barbara, CA, one of the exhibits is a video loop that runs various vicious comments made about Ronald Reagan by left, right and center during his...

New York City can’t claim any farms, nor do you see herds of cows when you’re riding up Avenue of the Americas. Is the city “food insecure” as a consequence?...

If you want to act in movies or on television in Hollywood, you must be a member of the Screen Actors Guild. That’s why the accession of a “SAG” card is such a...

Regulated, protected marketplaces are ultimately yesterday’s marketplaces given the basic truth that what’s protected from market realities is ultimately blind to them.

From mainstream media to politicians, inflation continues to be mis-reported and misunderstood. Seth Berenzweig and John Tamny break it down.

A very readable look back to the days when movies and their stars with big.

People didn’t need government, or entities created by government. They also didn't require force to protect themselves. Let’s never forget this. Better yet, let’s...

"If one-half of the commodities in the market rise in exchange value, the very terms imply a fall of the other half; and reciprocally, the fall implies a rise." – John...

There’s no purer - and more bullish - market signal than voluntary human action.

Washington, D.C.'s latest lapse in reason highlights how it’s necessary for those with common sense to get back to living their lives as they wish.

John Tamny remarks on the stupidity of making the restriction of personal freedom the primary tool to fight COVID-19.

In a more rational world away from academic theory, investment bankers will continue to run roughshod over the central-planning fantasies of economists.

When New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo looks at Cuomo he sees genius. And that’s the problem.

Seth Berenzweig and John Tamny discuss the Biden's administration's support of the WTO's vaccines patent waivers.

Last Thursday the New York Times reported what should be obvious, but that eludes most in our midst: the rich pay the vast majority of taxes collected. By far. This is a statement of...

Honoring Ed Crane at Restore Liberty 2021.

To pretend that credit issuance is inflationary is to reject Say's Law.

President Biden goes before Congress: Rhetoric or reality?

On May 15, 1997 Amazon floated its shares to the public at $18. If you purchased $10,000 worth of the stock on IPO day you’d have holdings worth roughly $12 million now. That...

Left and right arguably contradict past stances on corporate speak as is, at which point it's arguable that there's a powerful capitalistic motive underneath the embrace of snowflake...

With Anthony Fauci, it’s interesting to think about what might have been. In particular, what might have been had he worked in the market-disciplined private sector as an...

Government spending is always and everywhere a consequence of economic growth, not an instigator of same.

How did we get to the explosion of private money?

For over a year well-to-do Americans have quite literally been “quarantining” packages shipped to them,  and that were dropped off at their residences by...

Imagine a future defined by the past. For the purpose of When Politicians Panicked, imagine a future of laughing, cheering, joyous crowds at amusement

Keep the massive container ship in mind the next time some self-serious economist starts drooling about output gaps, overheating, and other fallacious notions so popular inside the...

Should companies mix politics with business? We take a deep dive on the new Georgia Voting Law and Coca Cola, Delta Airlines, Major League Baseball and other...

What’s the most common "people" sight in any public place, anywhere? At this point in our evolution the answer is easy: hunched over individuals tapping away on smartphones. It...

Imagine if one year ago U.S. states had been left free to craft fifty different responses to the rapidly spreading coronavirus. If so, it’s not unreasonable to speculate that...

Imports relentlessly strengthen those who import, which means China's economic rise will serve as rocket fuel for the U.S. economy.

“While my advisers tell me that the response to this new virus will be different in all fifty states because of something about “states’ rights” in the...

Centuries ago John Stuart Mill made the essential point that no act of saving ever shrinks demand. And for centuries demand-side economic thinkers have been ignoring this basic...

A very real reminder of how cruelly bankrupt the run-and-hide strategy is as a broad form of virus mitigation.

Since money is an effect of production, attempts to plan its supply would be as successful as conceited efforts to plan production. Meaning, not at all. Which means focusing the Fed...

On this edition Seth Berenzweig of Berenzweig Leonard Law and John Tamny of Real Clear Markets discuss Big Tech back on Capitol Hill to discuss censorship. W...

“I never thought I would be standing in a food line for hours. Just the degradation of it. You say to yourself, ‘Wow. I am really at this point.’” So said...

Imagine a politician running for local or national office with a promise to shrink economic growth. It’s a waste of words to say that such a politician would face long election...

Can we at least not insult intelligence by pretending we don't know why people are discreetly or not-so-discreetly wiping away tears?

On this edition Seth Berenzweig of Berenzweig Leonard Law and John Tamny of Real Clear Markets discuss the government's recently passed relief bill. Does government spending save us...

“Besides,” added Papa, “sometimes the price of things goes up, like gas. The price of gas for our car went up twenty cents just last week! Maybe the same thing...

Nicholas Kristof is elated. Of course, there lies the problem with elation found in the overly emotional. It’s not always grounded in reality. To see why, consider what has the...

An attempt to understand why some might prefer that the indefensible remain. One possibility is that a lack of competition is comfort for those who would prefer not to compete.

A look into the economy as Biden tries to shape it. 

“Because a strong dollar lowers the price of imports and raises the price of exports, it gives foreign companies an advantage over American competitors and can drag down U.S....

Prices are how a market economy organizes itself. Without real prices arrived at by freely operating individuals, you have chaos. As P.J. O’Rourke long ago quipped, tragically...

Economists, like politicians, yearn for cushy retirements too.

“His future seemed limitless. En route to their home in Fort Worth, Texas, they were on a narrow highway when a Greyhound bus coming from the other direction tried to pass a...

“I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.” – Mother Teresa Imagine 100 people on a wholly deserted, seemingly...

Cato Institute co-founder Ed Crane has long argued that it’s hard to be informed about politics and economics without reading the Washington Post and New York Times....

During the media promotion for Big Russ & Me, the late Tim Russert’s much-loved tribute to a father whom he very much venerated, Russert the son talked with bursting pride...

It doesn?t matter what the Fed does. Capital flows to where it?s well treated. If investors don?t agree with the Fed, they'll 'tighten' with a click of a mouse and there's nothing...

Seth and John talk about the meaning of what shouldn't be a war. 

Is it a horror show of rules, or a revival of reason?

He was the one everyone wanted to sit next to at dinner. Though Joseph Epstein didn’t mention him in his excellent book Charm: The Elusive Enchantment, it’s not...

To visit China as an American is to very much feel at home. In some ways, Americans feel more at home in China than the Chinese do. And that’s not just because street signs...

When it comes to inflation, there are no battles engaged in to fight it. Inflation is currency devaluation. Meaning it's a bad policy choice. The simple answer is to not make this...

It was the summer of 1989, and I was working a job that robbed the season of all the joy that so many associate with the months in between school. I was selling door to door 1,500...

Back in the early 1990s it was assumed by some of the deep in thought that the dissolution of the Soviet Union signaled the “end of history” of sorts. Supposedly small l...

Fox Business Channel anchor David Asman was a columnist for the Wall Street Journal’s legendary editorial page back in the early 1990s. This was when the old Soviet Union...

In June of 2019 basketball great Kevin Durant tore his Achilles tendon. In the words of the Wall Street Journal’s Ben Cohen, what Durant suffered was “basketball’s...

If you?re doing something special, global sources of finance will find you.

Politicians always fight yesteray's battles. 

There’s a new television show that’s coming out or already out. The name of it escapes, but that's really not the point. The point is that it’s about a pandemic....

Not long before he passed, John Maynard Keynes referred to his disciples as “fools.” With good reason. Their attempted articulation of the ideas of their hero only served...

Federal loans for college students should be abolished. Period. There’s certain things the feds shouldn't do, and aren't empowered to do. This includes subsidizing education....

Let's consign a word that's unsophisticated and lazy to the dustbin of history.

Among those who’ve watched the tragic and needless lockdowns unfold over the last 11 months, a frequent question has come up: what if the coronavirus had spread, but had never...

“There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” This colloquialism is arguably the one most frequently repeated in the economics space. Nothing’s free. Even the...

Amid all the overdone excitement about GameStop, AMC et al last week, the trading platform that some think enabled the overdone excitement, Robinhood, began to receive a lot of...

Short sellers are corporate watchdogs. They protect consumers and shareholders alike from laziness inside the C-suite.

Back around 2007, investor John Paulson began to feel skeptical about the viability of mortgage securities. Though demand for them was much greater than supply, Paulson sensed that...

People drive economic growth. Always people. There's always growth where people care, and who are enterprising. Read this spectacular book to see why.

“An inflation always creates winners and losers, redistributing wealth.” – Robert L. Bartley, The Seven Fat Years By John Tamny In 1819, England’s debt-to-GDP...

On January 26, 1995 heavily recruited Rich East (Illinois) High School quarterback Quincy Woods signed a letter of intent to play for John Robinson and the USC Trojans. Almost 26...

On January 26, 1995 heavily recruited Rich East (Illinois) High School quarterback Quincy Woods signed a letter of intent to play for John Robinson and the USC Trojans. Almost 26...

There are some staggering, life-improving and life-saving advances in the billions corporations put to work annually.

“I’m not willing to give up without a fight — I’m just not.” – Annie Rammel, Carlsbad, CA restaurant owner. It’s been said off and on over...

Nancy Bush Ellis passed away at an assisted living facility the Sunday before last. Sister of George H.W. Bush, and aunt of George W. Bush, the New York Times obituary indicated the...

It’s a correct article of faith among conservatives that humans aren’t static creatures. They constantly evolve, improve, and in particular they respond to...

The untaxed Adelson was the personification of economic growth

Nick Saban added yet another national championship to his resume on Monday night. College football coaches, assistants, and agents everywhere celebrated. Why’s that? The answer...

Decades ago the inside accountants at Royal Dutch Shell would play a game, Ahead of each earnings announcement, those privy to the numbers would make friendly bets on which direction...

A non-dollar dollar that magnifies the greenback's worst qualities

Republicans are better than this. It’s that simple. No moral authority here, and with no presumed heft within the GOP, I still never imagined Republicans would act the way they...

In a Wall Street Journal front page story from last week, it was reported that the boom in Austin, TX continues. Tall buildings and fancy clubs sit where auto repair garages, head...

If he sticks to his campaign promises, president-elect Joe Biden will soon pursue tax increases on top earners. Unknown is how helpful a near-evenly divided Congress will be when it...

The economic similarities between the U.S. and China are greater than many conservatives think.