We Need Medical Freedom

In a free society, people have the right to decide what to do with their own bodies. If you want to take something that “orthodox” medicine says you shouldn’t, this decision should be up to you. If the government can ban “dangerous drugs,” why not dangerous ideas too? As the great Ludwig von Mises points out, “Opium and morphine are certainly dangerous, habit-forming drugs. But once the principle is admitted that it is the duty of government to protect the individual against his own foolishness, no serious objections can be advanced against further encroachments.

The Customers and Their Enemies

There is an attack on the customer by its anti-market enemies. These enemies dislike market economies and private property and wish to see these institutions destroyed. The enemies want to see a new “king” to the throne—one that dislikes the customer. These enemies want to install a “king” that does not care about what you want to consume, but what they want you to consume.

An Unprecedented Monetary Destruction Is Coming

Global money supply has soared by $20.6 trillion since 2019, according to Bloomberg.

Additionally, global debt surged by over $15 trillion in 2023, reaching a new record high of $313 trillion. Around 55% of this rise came from developed economies, mainly the U.S., France, and Germany. Unfunded liabilities in the United States amount to $72 trillion, almost 300% of GDP. This may seem high until you look at Spain with 500% of GDP, France with close to 400%, or Germany with close to 350% of GDP.

Where Will All the Money Go?

The Federal Reserve seems to have finally committed to, but has not yet begun its “rate cutting cycle” of lower interest rates, specifically the Federal Funds Rate, or policy rate.

This lines up well with what I have been thinking and saying here and elsewhere; the Fed was not likely to cut rates until the fall of 2024 or later.

Privatize Federal Lands

Land in its natural state is not owned by anyone, argued John Locke in Two Treatises of Government, but after land is transformed by an individual’s labor, that person earns a right to own the land and any improvements. In the mid-1800s, the U.S. government put Locke’s property-rights theory into practice with the Homestead Act. Russia replicated the act in recent years. Today, America needs a modern version to create new opportunities.

Kristian Fors is a policy analyst with the Independent Institute in Oakland, Calif.

Understanding the Real Costs of Slavery: It’s Not Cheap labor

Slavery has existed throughout history in all places and cultures. It was not introduced by the political state yet, as with many things, slavery could not have had the scope or extent that it did in human history absent the coercive apparatus of the political state. Through cronyism, slaveholders consistently had to seek assistance from the legal system in order to socialize and enforce slavery. The enforcement costs for keeping slaves slaves would have been too high for the minority slaveholding elite to maintain slavery, beyond their own strength or what they could afford to hire.