By the Dawn’s Early Light

Posted on July 4, 2025 by MN Gordon

[Editor’s Note: This edition of the Economic Prism has been published in years past to recognize the Independence Day holiday. The themes explored within grow more relevant with each passing year. We are republishing it today with several light updates. Enjoy!]

“You’re never going to beat the big guys out there today at their own game. They will see you coming from miles away. You need to think outside the box, disregard the rules and do things unlike anyone has done them before. Let your inner child run free.”

– Steve Rocco

Star-Spangled Day

The days are long and hot in the Northern Hemisphere when real American patriots spit upon their hands and hoist the red, white, and blue. On July 4th, the free and brave, with duty and self-sacrifice, begrudgingly accept federal holiday pay to stand tall upon their own two feet. Rugged individualism and uncompromising independence are essential to their character.

With purpose and intent, they assemble as merry mobs along the shoreline to celebrate American Independence. Freedom lovers – descendants of Andrew Jackson – gather to eat hotdogs and pitch horseshoes while downing tipples of corn syrup and fermented grain. When the sun slips beyond the western horizon and the stars twinkle bright, they hoot and holler at the brilliance of fireworks and sparkling pyrotechnics. Continue reading →

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How to Make a Government Disappear Completely

Posted on June 30, 2025 by MN Gordon

Today we bring you a special treat. A guest article from Joel Bowman, founder and author of the exceptional Notes from the End of the World publication.

We’ve followed Mr. Bowman’s work for nearly 20 years as it has taken him to countless countries across the Americas, Europe, and the Middle and Far East. When he’s not traveling the world with his family, he spends part of the year in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Last year we caught up with Bowman while deep in the mountains of southern Appalachia. There he filled us in on president Javier Milei’s ongoing experiment with libertarianism in Argentina.

From cutting debt and deficits to reducing taxes and inflation by taking a chainsaw to administrative rule, Milei is delivering a prototype other countries, including the United States, can follow to extract themselves from the failings of bankrupt, and corrupt big government. It’s a story that’s both fascinating and important to individuals – like you – who care about freedom and liberty. Continue reading →

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Be Careful What You Wish For

Posted on June 27, 2025 by MN Gordon

The U.S. national debt recently topped $37 trillion. This comes to over $323,000 for every U.S. taxpayer.

What’s more, $37 trillion amounts to a debt to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio of over 123 percent. For perspective, the debt to GDP ratio was just 57 percent in the year 2000. Less than half of today.

Back then, the federal budget deficit was practically a non-issue. Washington, for a brief moment, even ran a budget surplus. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) was so excited by this that it forecast continuous surpluses for years to come.

But, alas, it was not to be. Today, a quarter century into the new millennium, we’re facing record debt and runaway deficits. In fact, the monthly Treasury statement for the 2025 fiscal year through May 31, shows a deficit of $1.365 trillion. Yet there’s still four months left in the 2025 fiscal year to go.

This means the U.S. government will likely run a $2 trillion deficit for this fiscal year, which would be somewhere between 6 and 7 percent of GDP. And that’s assuming there isn’t a major war or recession to really blow out the budget. Continue reading →

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LALA Land is Coming to a Town Near You

Posted on June 20, 2025 by MN Gordon

“I guess I just wasn’t made for these times.” – Brian Wilson, R.I.P.

California Dreamin’ in LALA Land

Southern California has wonderful weather. Within the coastal zone it’s especially wonderful. The sun shines brightly every day, there’s low humidity, and a cool breeze wafts off the Pacific Ocean making things perfectly pleasant. You just can’t beat it.

But for every sweet smelling rose there’s a stem full of jagged thorns. In Southern California, the traffic, cost of living, state and local government taxes, and the large swaths of urban blight and homeless encampments fall far short of perfection.

The remnant luster of Hollywood’s golden age was irreversibly corroded with the slaying of Sharon Tate and her unborn baby by the Manson Family in the early morning hours of August 9, 1969. By then, the cultural decline of Los Angeles was already well underway.

Brian Wilson lost his mind in 1964. The Watts Riots burned hot in 1965. And by 1967, Pacific Ocean Park – a rival to Disneyland – had fallen to terminal disrepair.

The inflation of the 1970s blighted the expansive boulevards and urban sprawl. By the 1980s kids like Jordan Hiller were overdosing on doors and fours. Others found joy in bashing their heads in. Filmmaker Penelope Spheeris captured the aesthetic in the documentary, The Decline of Western Civilization. Continue reading →

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