The Bureau of Labor Statistics released new employment data today, and nonfarm payroll employment increased in May be the smallest amount seen in 28 months. 

For May 2016, there were 144,592,000 payroll jobs in the US, which was up 1.6 percent, or 2.3 million jobs, from May 2015. (These are all not-seasonally-adjusted numbers)

That’s the smallest year-over-year increase reported since February 2014, when payroll jobs increased by 1.57 percent. The largest year-over-year increase in recent years was reported during July 2015, when it was up 2.18 percent:

In the United States, Federal programs to relieve poverty and unemployment first went into effect on a large scale in the Great Depression. The argument was that they were needed only during the emergency. Since then the nation has enjoyed a return of prosperity, an enormous growth in national income, a fall of unemployment to record low levels, and a sharp decline (by any consistent definition) in the number and proportion of the poor. Yet relief, unemployment insurance, Social Security, and scores of other welfare programs have expanded at an accelerative rate.

The Journal of Libertarian Studies
An Interdisciplinary Review

Volume 16, Number 2, Fall 2002

Federalism, War, and Reconstruction: Antecedents and Consequences of the War Between the States Symposium

Thomas E. Woods, Jr.
Introduction

K.R. Constantine Gutzman
Paul to Jeremiah: Calhoun’s Abandonment of Nationalism

Florida’s Business Observer reports on one of our top scholars, Chris Westley: 

It’s only been a year since Florida Gulf Coast University tapped Christopher Westley to lead the Regional Economic Research Institute, but he’s blunt about the organization’s mission. “I want it to support the productive class of society,” he says. “The Regional Economic Research Institute should never be used to implicitly raise taxes.”

In this recent interview for the Strategic Investment Conference, Jim Grant spoke on the benefits of holding gold and cash right now, citing a myriad of problems related to the inability of Central Banks to understand the current economic situation. 

When asked about his position on gold, Grant responded:

Government regulation of property in the name of mandating “public accommodation” has become one of the easiest ways to expand state power into every enterprise, right down to the tiniest family business. 

The Journal of Libertarian Studies
An Interdisciplinary Review

Volume 13, Number 2, Summer 1998

Ralph Raico
Introduction

Julian Simon
Are There Grounds for Limiting Immigration?

John Hospers
A Libertarian Argument Against Open Borders

Bernie Sanders has brought up a lot of absurd things during this election season. Whether its increasing government spending by tens of trillions, or limiting the variety of deodorant Americans can find on store shelves, the Senator from Vermont has managed to come up with policy proposals that even writers at Slate were forced to dismiss as absurd.

Presidential elections in the United States spawn Really Bad Economic Policies, and 2016 is a vintage year. Bernie Sanders is resurrecting socialism, and others seek to outdo him. However, before leaping into the abyss of campaign rhetoric, I first note that none of the current candidates are doing what Ron Paul did during his presidential primary campaign four years ago: expose misdoings of the Federal Reserve System.