When something goes wrong, the natural tendency is to say, "By God, we need to pass a law and do something."

Is it really true that political self-interest is nobler somehow than economic self-interest?

Political freedom means the absence of coercion of a man by his fellow men.

There is likely to be a lag between the need for action and government ["an individual's" or "a team's"] recognition of the need; a further lag between recognition of the need for action and the taking of action; and a still further lag between the action and its effects

The central banks cannot control interest rates. That's a mistake. They can control a particular rate, such as the Federal Funds rate, if they want to, but they can't control interest rates.

Congress can raise taxes because it can persuade a sizable fraction of the populace that somebody else will pay

History suggests that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom. Clearly it is not a sufficient condition.