The release of the 2009 Social Security Trustees Report indicates that the current economic crisis has negatively impacted the Social Security budget. It’s now projected that by 2016 Social Security spending will exceed revenues. According to the report, the financial condition of the Social Security program “remains challenging” and “need(s) to
[An MP3 audio file of this article, narrated by Steven Ng, is available for download .] In my recent “How to Win an Election,” I made the point that “your vote doesn’t matter.” Given some of the responses to this statement, I would like to provide further explanation. Consider what it means to say “your vote doesn’t matter.” Your vote does
Rocketing gasoline prices are causing consumer unrest. Government officials blame oil speculators, corporate greed, and OPEC, anyone but themselves. However, the US government has spent decades implementing policies that drive up gasoline and oil prices. From the oil-price controls of the 1970s to the windfall-profits tax of the 1980s to George W.
The Free Market 14, no. 5 (May 1996) To the outside world, it appears that all economists agree: free trade can never be compromised. Inside, the picture is far more complicated. Good economists, preeminently the Austrian School, favor liberty across the board. Yet among the mainstream, economists who favor big government at home likely reject
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.