Since 1978, a federal subsidy program (49 U.S.C. 5311) has funneled taxpayer money into intercity bus routes. Fast forward to today, and this initiative has failed. Instead of attracting riders, politicians have often crafted routes to win votes. As a result, subsidized bus routes have been squandering taxpayer money for 46 years.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is widely seen as a pillar of financial stability—a quiet assurance that bank deposits are safe, that the system is sound, and that the public need not worry. But this narrative conceals a deeper truth: deposit insurance is not an assurance of monetary integrity, it is a warning label that confirms systemic fragility.
One of the main allegations of “racism” made against the South is that white Southerners were historically against black suffrage. As the historian Eric Foner sees it, during the Reconstruction Era the federal government—guided by principles of racial justice and equality—forced a reluctant South to give black citizens the vote. Yet, during this era, roughly 1865 to 1877, black people in the North also did not have the right to vote. For example, in Connecticut,
It is popular in economics to employ metaphors in order to provide support to a particular idea. For example, concepts like “priming the pump” through expansionary monetary policy. In another case, Milton Friedman—the leader of the monetarist school of thought—employed a guitar string metaphor or the “plucking model.” By this metaphor, the stronger one pulls the string down, the stronger the string will go up.
The importance of hierarchies lies in the fact that not all individuals possess the same abilities or interests, and there exists a natural elite with a greater capacity to lead. Just as within a firm there are different levels of responsibility, there is no reason to believe that social order should not reflect a similar structure.
“If human equality is to be forever averted—if the High, as we have called them, are to keep their places permanently—then the prevailing mental condition must be controlled insanity.”—George Orwell, 1984
In recent times, there have been widespread attacks on algorithmic rent pricing tools, accused of being a means to enable landlords to conspire with each other to harm renters. Not only has the DOJ brought such a suit, but numerous states and cities have jumped on the bandwagon, along with class action lawsuits.
The news that the Reconciliation Monument will be restored to the Arlington National Cemetery should be welcomed as an opportunity to reiterate the importance of peace, and to set aside historical grievances. The monument signifies steps towards reconciliation between North and South that were taken at the turn of the twentieth century, when both sides set out to move beyond the previous era of sectional hatred and fratricidal war.
