My wife and I comprised an “Oreo family” at one time. We were the filling between raising children and helping parents age. The Kids are good, they are happy, and have satisfying careers that fit their talents. All our parents have passed.
A quotation from Die Transvaler in 1958, cited by Walter E. Williams in his book “South Africa’s War Against Capitalism,” illustrates a widespread misunderstanding about the nature and purpose of the laws of economics.
In a previous article, I explored the absurdity of intellectual property, the unfair and inefficient monopoly privilege it confers on those savvy enough to play the legal system well. By being nonscarce, nonrivalrous objects like ideas or sound waves strung together in a specific order, they can’t be property economically speaking. Nobody can “own” vibrations or reasonably punish me for using your grandmother’s recipe for meat stew.
A prominent topic that economics students anywhere cannot avoid is market failure. Students everywhere are taught that the free market is inherently unstable and causes problems that can only be fixed through legislation and regulation. As a result, most of those who take an economics class come out of it believing that the state helps counter the shortcomings of the free market.
