Independence Day comes and goes every year, but it’s never quite clear, now 250 years later, what exactly it is that most people are celebrating. Some tell us that it’s “America’s birthday,” while others say it’s the anniversary of “freedom.” Some people don’t really have much of an opinion about it at all. For many, it’s just a day to celebrate “America” and enjoy a day off from work.
The economist Thomas Sowell frequently reminds us that inequality is inherent in human nature. Rather than being puzzled by economic inequality, we should be concerned with understanding the causes of productivity. It is productivity that improves everyone’s material conditions and their material standard of living.
Contained within Rothbard’s multi-volume history of the American Revolution, Conceived in Liberty, is an extended argument against the conservative narrative on the American Revolution and the French Revolution.
It is common for commentators and economists to refer to something called the “economy,” which sometimes performs well and, at other times, poorly. The “economy” is presented as an entity apart from individuals. Within this framework, the “economy” is assigned paramount importance, while the role of individuals is barely mentioned. It must be realized that, at no stage, does the so-called “economy” have a life of its own, independent from individuals.
The commentary in a recent Wall Street Journal by Senator Phil Gramm and Representative Jeb Hensarling did the nation an immense service by dismantling the persistent myth that private market greed and financial deregulation caused the 2008 financial crisis.
Apple builds and sells iPhones. I happen to own one of the older models, for the same reason I own a last-legs older model car. What if Apple could skip the build part and sell only the phone? The money saved would be an enormous boost to its bottom line. And if Apple passed the savings onto customers I could conceivably afford to upgrade.
Where would the phones come from? From a bookkeeping entry, of course.
