A debate swirls among those with interests in our financial and commodities markets: “The markets are rigged!” “Nay, the markets are broken!” “High-frequency trading (HFT) is a cancer!” “No, HFT is an invaluable liquidity source.” “Exchanges have prostituted themselves to attract algorithmic traders!” “We need a consolidated audit trail! We

Entrepreneurs seeking structural change in the corporate bond market should focus first on creating alternatives to corporate bond mutual funds. I first learned of a supposed, Dodd-Frank-induced liquidity problem in the corporate bond market about two years ago. A friend from an inter-dealer-brokerage firm who knew of my prior work

Commenting on the Spiegel Online report “NSA Snoops on 500 Million German Data Connections,” a writer identifying as “rightsreserved” puts NSA’s unlawful surveillance program in proper perspective: People don’t seem to be getting what this is all really about or the monumental implications of it. This information awareness

Federal Bureau of Investigation Deputy Director Sean M. Joyce mislead the American people last week when he testified before Congress that NSA’s various programs for warrantless surveillance of U.S. citizens had thwarted an Al Qaeda plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange. Joyce cited this supposed plot

As astounding as it is that anyone would accede to statutes criminalizing the raising of crops on one’s own land for personal consumption or invoking mythical creatures to justify the destruction of the free market, the brazen ease with which Leviathan’s handmaidens seduced the American people to acquiesce

The U.S. Congress contrived a fraudulent device in order to usurp the rights of the people to conduct their own affairs in the trading of securities. The U.S. Supreme Court abetted this unlawful act and served as accessory, both before and after the fact. Through their wrongdoing, these

Roscoe C. Filburn was a lawbreaker. His offense? He grew wheat on his own land, tended it by his own hand, and consumed it for his own satisfaction, rather than purchasing it from another, in violation of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 [PDF], as amended. Before Filburn’s death

Allowing no hearings or public comment on a law that abrogates the natural rights of all New Yorkers to keep and bear arms suitable for their defense, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo – exploiting the December 14, 2012 murders at Sandy Hook Elementary – led passage of the New York Safe Act,

Businesses in my former home of Redding, California have launched a campaign to encourage people to deny money to panhandlers and others asking for help on the streets of their city. The publisher of the leading, local paper supports this initiative. This is my response to the publisher, which is