Write Tony Deden: “It seems that America has lost the monopoly on silly economic ideas. Here is some local vintage from the neighborhood–they’ll be many more to come. Confronted with a 3.5% year-on-year increase in consumer prices, the Austrians feel the need to discuss things. The ‘social minister’ suggests giving 100 euro to everyone with a low income to ‘counter inflation’ while at the same time raising compulsory fees for government TV by 9.1%. The ‘finance minister’ says that the inflation ‘cannot be explained with economic data’ and that therefore he ‘suspects that there are free riders in the economy, possibly in the energy sector.’ I am not making it up. Finally, the president of the Austrian National Bank (the only one who understands something about the subject) says that ‘countering inflation with higher wages or 100 euro payments is wrong’ and that ‘measures should address the causes, not the effects of inflation.’ So reports the authoritative Swiss daily NZZ.”

The Best of Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.