With Europe moving toward conflict in 1938, a number of economists and other intellectuals met in Paris to try to revitalize liberalism. Ludwig von Mises also was there as a lonely voice defending laissez-faire and the free market economy.
Contra Marx, the laws of economics are immutable and are the same no matter what historical epoch exists. Economies cannot flourish unless market prices, private property rights, and profits and losses are unhampered.
To rid ourselves of the state, we need institutions that can replace it. This is why the state always works to destroy competitors like families, churches, and private schools.
A recent fraudulent check-kiting scheme featured on TikTok bears resemblance to some of the "free money" schemes that have been coming from the Federal Reserve.
Democracy, or at least the “democracy” that ensures the “right people” are elected, is the religion of American progressives. Despite its obvious failures, however, progressives claim that democracy is the Holy Grail of governance. Why people believe this is another question.
Government education is a self-perpetuating monster and has been for a long time. While parents and organizations seek accountability, the dynamics driving government education point to a powerful and unaccountable bureaucracy that serves its own interests.
Storms like Helene and Milton ought to drive us to recommit to and expand the very institutions that have made natural disasters more survivable for so many, not to abandon them out of some false hope that bad weather can be eliminated.
Mussolini: “The fascist conception of life stresses the importance of the State and accepts the individual only in so far as his interests coincide with the State."
Frederic Bastiat was a well-known and eloquent defender of liberty and free-market economics. He also was a devout Catholic who looked to tie his faith to his economic and political beliefs.
As Murray Rothbard often noted, freedom of association is a fundamental right, what he called a “subset of private property rights.” Unfortunately, our modern cancel culture has taken aim at this right, taking away the voluntary nature of human interaction.
