A society that values individual rights should not give liable parties a free pass. But a hostile federal takeover of BP would send a message to every other firm in the oil industry that their assets aren't safe from plunder.
"How can any human being learn autonomy, initiative, and personal responsibility when the decision of when, where, and whether he may eat his own food is not his to make?"
It is true that there is such a thing as the corn-hog cycle and analogous happenings in the production of other farm products. But the recurrence of such cycles is due to the fact that the penalties which the market applies against inefficient and clumsy entrepreneurs do not affect a great part of the farmers. These farmers are not answerable for their actions because they are the pet children of governments and politicians. If it were not so, they would long since have gone bankrupt and their former farms would be operated by more intelligent people.
What ultimately matters for the well-being of society is the degree to which our wants are satisfied, and therefore the actual usefulness of goods.
While his major practical interest had not been domestic or economic affairs, he had helped build up the absolutism of the French state.
"Meanwhile, states that do not reward being poor find poverty levels falling."
If we consciously specialize in one kind of activity, we can do so only because we count upon other individuals being ready to serve us just as we are prepared to serve them. It is here that the great principle of solidarity, which govern society, comes into play.
"By anticipating the future, speculators may bring about events earlier and reduce their potential harm."
Keynesianism ignores the fact that government spending must come either from tax dollars or from the printing presses, both of which harm the common man. Instead, Keynesianism promises that we can all pick one another's pockets — and all get rich doing it!
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor made war inevitable. But the attack was not Roosevelt's reason for going to war. It was his excuse.
