[Adapted from “Landlordism and Liberty: Aristocratic Misrule And the Anti-Corn-Law League“ by Richard F. Spall in the Journal of Libertarian Studies.]

Rape, violence, and drugs are ubiquitous in prisons, so it is not surprising that recidivists commit a hugely disproportionate share of crime. Government prisons and so-called private prisons have no incentive to rehabilitate prisoners or improve prison conditions because taxes are their source of revenue, which is guaranteed regardless of performance.

“One of the amazing phenomena of the present election campaign is the way in which speakers and writers refer to the state of business and to the economic condition of the nation. They praise the administration for the prosperity and for the high standard of living of the average citizen ‘You never had it so good,’ they say, and, ‘Don’t let them take it away.’”

Since the outbreak of the global financial and debt crisis, real estate prices and rents, in particular in large cities around the world, have risen considerably. The monetary overinvestment theory of Friedrich August von Hayek helps to explain why large central banks have driven up real estate prices and rents, albeit with focus on economic centers.1

The enviro-socialist “climate emergency” crowd was busy earlier this month trying to launch the human equivalent of a cattle stampede by getting people to plunge into socialism to avoid bad weather.

There were headlines such as “Greenland is on track to lose most ice on record this year and has already shed 250 billion tons.”

The Walton family (the owners of Walmart) is currently worth about $190 billion. The Koch Brothers and Mars families (candy bars) are both worth over $100 billion. Such facts are intolerable to socialists, communists, “progressives,” and, sad to say, today’s Democrats.

Senator Bernie Sanders wants a tax of 77% on estates over $1 billion. He relishes the prospect of the Waltons having to pay $147 billion in estate taxes.

One of the Ten Commandments is “thou shalt not steal,” and theft is generally condemned in most religions, yet our religious leaders and followers have essentially turned a blind eye to government theft.

Based on a policy of envy, Bernie Sanders, for example, has bluntly stated he intends to tax the rich to fund his programs, as though the word rich itself justifies theft. The current crop of other democratic candidates is offering a beehive of free programs without any real discussion on how to pay for them.

At least since the time of Socrates, teachers have asked questions of students to elicit critical thought, evoke ideas and expose presuppositions. That has been part of my professor toolkit as well. But with the current political environment, particularly the Democratic nomination follies, reminding me of Will Rogers’s quip that “If we got one-tenth of what was promised to us … there wouldn’t be any inducement to go to heaven,” I have found that asking one of my favorite public finance (economics of government) questions has become even more important.

September 2019 marks 70 years since the appearance of Ludwig von Mises’s Human Action: A Treatise on Economics, one of the truly great “classics” of modern economics. Too often a “classic” means a famous book considered to have made important contributions to some field of study and that is reverentially referred to but is unfortunately rarely ever read any-more.