Politicians tend to favor authoritarianism over capitalism and monopoly over competition. They have directly created monopolies (and oligopolies) in all major industrial sectors by imposing policies favoring preferred corporations and preferred special interests.
The third weekend of November, as usual, saw the crowning of a champion in all three of NASCAR’s national touring series — the Camping World Truck Series, the Xfinity Series, and the Monster Energy Cup Series. The 2018 Xfinity Series champion went to Tyler Reddick, driver of the #9 Camaro, after a dominating performance at Homestead-Miami Speedway. This was the third championship in five seasons for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s team, JR Motorsports. Following this victory, Earnhardt Jr.
I want to make sure you saw the letter Lew Rockwell wrote a few days ago. Won’t you take a few minutes right now to respond and make a donation?
The foundation of any and every civilization, including our own, is private ownership of the means of production. Whoever wishes to criticize modern civilization, therefore, begins with private property.
—Ludwig von Mises.
Civility is the word of the moment.
When I met Ludwig von Mises, he was exactly as I had imagined him: kind, brilliant, dignified, beautifully mannered and dressed, a gentleman from what Murray Rothbard called “an older and better world.” His wife, Margit, had been an actress, and she had great beauty, intelligence, and presence as well.
One would get the impression, reading most of the discussions in today’s American newspapers and magazines, that no one had ever thought of doing anything for the poor until Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal in the 1930’s, or even until President Johnson’s “war on poverty” in the 1960’s. Yet private charity is as old as mankind; and the history of governmental poor relief, even if we ignore the ancient world, can be traced back more than four centuries.
It wasn’t that long ago (1987) that the entire budget of the federal government was “only” a trillion dollars. It reached the $2 trillion mark in 2002, and didn’t exceed $3 trillion until 2009. Even after a long series of budget deficits, the national debt didn’t exceed $1 trillion dollars until 1982 and $5 trillion until 1996.
Even before the new Congress has been seated, some emboldened progressives are pushing for votes to establish Medicare for all. Bernie Sanders argues that 70 percent of Americans favor it, so now is the time. Of course, that support plummets when people are told about its astronomical tax bill and its escalation in government control. But Sanders insists that it will happen because, as the Los Angeles Times described his argument, “the bottom line is that less money will come out of American pockets to pay for healthcare.”
