This year's Nobel prize laureates in economics may have unwittingly laid the foundation for a retardation rather than an advancement of the economics discipline. There is not the slightest analogy between playing games and the conduct of business within a market society.
Will Rogers' sense of humor can help keep our spirit of liberty alive by openly ridiculing what is in fact ridiculous about how government really operates. His humor gave free rein to his First Amendment freedom to criticize our government--using his wit, and the threat of public embarrassment that went with it--to keep politicians and bureaucrats in their place.
The Moscow hostage crisis, unlike most actions that the Russian government blames on Chechens, was definitely of the Chechens's making. But the action, as appalling as it was, does not appear in a historical or political vacuum. Yuri N. Maltsev explains the history of Russia's cruelty toward Chechnya.
The U.S. Congress, divided almost evenly between the two political parties, is deadlocked on many issues, but the President and Congress surprisingly are in friendly accord in matters of government expenditures, writes Hans F. Sennholz. The boosts surpass even President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society spending initiatives some 30 years ago.
George Leef, in a review of Reassessing the Presidency, asks us to imagine the equivalent of the Academy Awards for American presidents. We have just gotten to the big moment. "And the Oscar for Greatest President goes to...Martin Van Buren?"
There are some things that a state just cannot do, no matter how much power it accumulates or employs. There has been no shortage of rhetoric. No expense is spared on arms escalation. There is no lack of will. The effort has the backing of plenty of smart people. It is backed by threats of massive bloodshed. But, in the end, the war on terror cannot work.
Most academics in the social sciences assume that civilization is saved by attacking such antiquated and anti-egalitarian notions as property rights and freedom of association, writes Chris Westley. This is notable because universities used to be concerned with the business of discovering and teaching the truth.
The Austrian School was born in a liberal-arts environment of the high middle ages, writes Jeffrey Herbener. In that tradition, what is needed is for the independence and devotion to the truth so evident in the the work of the Mises Institute to become the model for mainstream educational enterprises in which students receive their under-graduate degrees.
From admissions through prelims to dissertation, Art Carden recounts his own experience and mistakes, so far, on his way to obtaining an economics PhD. He offers advice for anyone interested in doing so while pursuing an Austrian-style research program.
If there is anything to be said for the difficult times in which we live, it is that they are a reminder that our mission is far from complete. The forces of destructionism are always waiting for an opportunity to rob us of the blessings of civilization. Mises believed that the best way to defeat them was to say what is true. Against the idea of liberty, he said, the fiercest sword of the despot is finally powerless.
