A gasoline-powered truck just towed an electric Ecostar out of my driveway. Built by Ford Motor Co. under pressure from the federal government, the "state-of-the-art" vehicle was loaned to me for the day. It was supposed to recharge overnight, but the lights on the panel display, flashing wildly, said it would not.
The period between the World Wars was a golden age for the Austrian School of economics. Led by Ludwig von Mises, a group of scholars writing in the tradition of Carl Menger broke new ground in economic science. Their studies showed the superiority of free markets and sound money over all forms of government control. A top theorist in that Mises Circle of thinkers was Gottfried Haberler, who died in Washington, D.C., at the age of 94 on May 6, 1995.
"You ought to see...some things that are regularly said over the airwaves in America today," the indignant president announced. "There is nothing patriotic," Clinton preached, about "pretending that you can love your country but despise your government."
The Clinton administration, working with Republican leaders, wants to do for foreign governments what the Reagan administration did for the S&L industry. The idea, as discussed at the Halifax world economic meeting, is to create a global bankruptcy court. It would restructure government debt wherever it may be, so long as the nation is on the verge of defult. It would then lend ever more money to debt-ridden governments.
The lesson for everyone else is to be skeptical when the government claims it has a central plan to bring prosperity and joy to an entire hemisphere, and all we have to give up is money, power, and freedom.
Anyone who listens to the news hears a lot about failed policies. Conservative Republicans in Congress say they are seeking to overturn the failed policies enacted by liberal Democrats. Although the Democrats defend their deeds, they admit that certain policies may have failed and should be reviewed.
The cords that bind the Union together are weaker than they have been in more than a century. Many states are entering into political revolt against federal encroachment. But this situation is no departure from American tradition. Revolting against consolidated government has been a key to keeping the government in check.
A poll in March reported that most people would prefer "deficit reduction" to "tax cuts." Polls and the media lie all the time, but this one refutes itself. If people really wanted to be taxed, they would pay up without being threatened by audits, fines, special agents, and jail terms.
When discussing the secession of Quebec from the Rest of Canada (ROC), many Anglo-Canadian economists become doomsday preachers of apocalyptic scenarios. They predict social calamities such as poverty, mass unemployment, civil war, and mass exodus.
They should settle down, try to be rational, and focus on the only real issue: the long-term economic well-being of Quebecois and Canadians.
Steve Stockman, among the best of Washington's freshmen Congressmen, holds a daily prayer session that staff members attend voluntarily. Last year, nobody could have stopped it. But thanks to the "Contract With America," Congress now has to comply with the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
