The Cross Section - RMB Blog

Mass immigration is a topic of intense controversy in the US today.  Donald Trump used it as an important pillar in all 3 of his election campaigns.  It is also one of the reasons that the Democratic Party has opposed him so vigorously.  The subject has also split the liberty movement in two.  Some libertarians have been at the forefront of conducting economic analyses to study possible economic benefits.  In many ways they follow the teachings of Ludwig Von Mises on the topic.  Afterall, he did write about the benefits of the free flow of labor, and how it improves economic efficiency.  On the opposite end of the spectrum there are libertarians like Hans Herman Hoppe and Lew Rockwell , who have written about the problems that mass immigration presents. To better understand the "proper libertarian view", it is important assess the topic using Austrian economic principles.  Specifically, Say's Law, the Cantillon Effect, and Ralph Raico's commentar...

  The purpose of this article is to solidify the conclusions from a previous article,  here .  In it, I discussed the earthly basis of Jesus' parables on the talents and minas in Matthew and Luke.  The fundamental conclusion is that Jesus assumes the general goodness of usury in those parables. However, you do see in other places of the Bible that usury, loaning and charging interest in repayment, can be immoral in certain situations.  Namely, you are not to charge interest as a way to oppress people.  Like any other technology it is a tool that can be used for benevolent or malevolent purposes.   In the Bible, the clearest instruction against usury is that interest should not be charged when the recipient uses that money to provide for the basic needs of life like food, clothing, shelter, or even taxes.  I think this list could include any good or service, including cars and houses, that a person uses for personal consumption.  That lis...

Jesus, as the Creator of the Earth and Mankind, completely understands how human beings should interact with each other.  In His parables, Jesus used what the normal people of the day understood to be true about the natural world to explain aspects of the kingdom of heaven.  In Matthew 20 in the Parable Of The Laborers In The Vineyard, Jesus uses parts of natural economic law like the legitimacy of private property, subjective value theory, and property based natural rights, in order to teach about God’s kingdom. Later in Matthew 25 and also Luke 19, He tells another parable where He uses natural economic law again to explain truth about God’s spiritual kingdom.  This parable is commonly called the Parable Of The Talents or Minas. Using the English word “talent” makes some think Jesus is talking about a person’s skills, capabilities, and expertise.  Anytime we see someone accomplish something great, it is normal to think, “wow, that person is so talented!”  Howe...

I preached this sermon at North Village Church on 7/13/2025 discussing 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18   Introduction Good morning everyone. I want to welcome everyone to North Village Church this morning. I am very glad to see you all. For those of you I don’t know my name is Rhesa, and I helped start the church back in the day. Also, I wanted to acknowledge Jerry Chou. He was scheduled to teach this morning but became sick at the start of the week, and I am filling in. I got notice on Tuesday so please bear with me, and thanks to Jerry for sending me his manuscript. Just know, if anything I say this morning sounds insightful or intelligent, most likely, that is from Jerry’s sermon. T his Sunday we are going to go through 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.  But before we go there, I would like to give a review of what we have learned so far in this book.  This will help us understand what Paul is teaching in this morning’s passage and why he is teaching it. When I studied 1 Thessal...

  “Enough Already” by Scott Horton is a must read for any American who wants to know the truth about what our government has been up to in the Middle East for the last 35 years.  Horton starts his expose with the terrible 9/11 tragedy, explaining who did this great evil and why they were motivated to do it.  Turns out that the U.S. had been causing major problems in the Middle East going all the way back to the Carter Administration's interventions in Iran in the 1970s. Among all the facts and figures Horton gives us ten important lessons about U.S. foreign policy. Each chapter focuses on a specific country, but these lessons are woven throughout each. Lesson 1 - The U.S. is not loyal to its allies                     “If you want to know who America’s next enemy is, look at who we are funding                     right now,” - Dave Smith (in his old Pa...