What set in motion the explosive technological advance of the last 250 years was the world of ideas. Great thinkers began to understand the internal logic of the market economy and its potential for liberating mankind from poverty, dependency, and despotic rule.
While it is perfectly clear that an individual capitalist or speculator may make losses on the stock exchange, it is very doubtful whether "society" can make such losses. The question with which we are concerned here is whether an individual's losses from domestic stock exchange transactions represent a loss to the society to which that individual belongs.
Through it all, the libertarian theme was the same: liberty for everyone, legal privileges for no one. This is the essence of a free market, but even today it is a message that no faction within the apparatus of the ruling class wants to hear. No matter how divided the factions are among themselves, they form a united front against the libertarian idea, which is the one thing they find most intolerable.
Charging $4, $5, or even $100 for a gallon of gasoline is not a crime; rather, it is a logical response to what buyers and sellers perceive to be the current market situation.
Doctors and patients fed up with the current medical system are negotiating something entirely new, and the AMA is very unhappy.
A private rental-car company tries to protect its assets by enforcing speed limits. The state seriously objects.
Manuel Asensio is better than the SEC when it comes to ferreting out stock scams—and, therefore, performs a fabulous market function by selling short. Christopher Mayer explains.
Will the free market underproduce roads? Not a chance. Chris Westley explains how government intervention causes traffic congestion.
Just as the antitrust suit seems to be burning itself out, the enemies of Microsoft have launched another sneak attack, writes Lew Rockwell.
The dot-com shakeup reminds us that both profit and loss have social and economic merit and should be allowed to take their market-driven course, says Lew Rockwell.
