[Clipping Note no. 95, Foundation for Economic Education (1959). Excerpted from Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson.]

It is often sadly remarked that the bad economists present their errors to the public better than the good economists present their truths. The reason is that the bad economists are presenting half-truths. They are speaking only of the immediate effect of a proposed policy or its effect upon a single group. The answer consists in supplementing and correcting the half-truth with the other half.

The Secular Saints: And Why Morals Are Not Just Subjective. By Hunter Lewis. Axios Press, 2018. Vi + 435 pages.

Earlier this month, SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) which monitors global military spending, released its latest report. To no one’s surprise, the US topped the list, with more spending than the next seven biggest spenders combined. 

The term capitalism is highly confusing. The definition is clear enough: the private ownership of the means of production (capital). But the implications are very different depending on one’s political or economic perspective. Both are right and wrong. Let’s take a look at them.

Politically speaking, private ownership of the means of production provides owners with power. Why?

Ours is a politicized age from the college campus to the corporate boardroom, a situation in which things that once were personal now are utterly political. The hard left now controls not only higher education, but also much of scientific research upon which the future of humanity as we know it depends.

It has been often said that our future rests with the next generation. If that is true, then it is a scary prospect.

The millennial generation (ages 18-34) increasingly sees itself, politically, as socialist. I personally know a couple of young men who declare themselves Marxists! Although that is frightening enough, remember the context in which it occurs:

On May 11, 1998, at a formal ceremony, Economy Minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn activated the mint printing press and produced its first euro coin, making France the first of 11 nations participating in the launch of the single currency to strike the money. Taking a bite out of the coin, Strauss-Kahan declared that it’s “the real thing, it’s no copy.”

I almost feel guilty when I criticize the garbled economic thoughts of Pope Francis. After all, he was influenced by Peronist ideology as a youngster, so he was probably a lost cause from the beginning.

For eight years (2008–2016), the US liberal media touted the brilliant accomplishments of the liberal president, whilst the conservative media groused that nothing he did was of value.

Today, the conservative US media are touting the brilliant accomplishments of the conservative president, whilst the liberal media grouse that nothing he does is of value.

So, which is it? Who is correct here? Well actually, neither is correct.