Real Titanic Story, The

The Free Market 17, no. 8 (August 1999)

 

In 1997, a stupendously expensive film was made about the sinking of the Titanic, and the film was stupendously popular. Its success was hardly surprising. Eighty-seven years after the Titanic’s fatal encounter with an iceberg, her story remains intensely interesting--and deservedly so. It is one of the great stories of the world.

Why Keynes Lives

The Free Market 17, no. 9 (September 1999)

 

Keynesian economics continues to infect much public debate, despite being debunked for decades by Austrian economists, some mainstream economists, and reality itself.

Consider the standard public debate over the question: Is the economy growing too fast? The leading answers offered in the debate always are: (a) Yes, the Fed must tighten to prevent inflation; (b) No, the economy still has room to grow before there’s inflation; and (c) Yes, but reducing inflation is not worth the price of high unemployment.

Drugs for All

The Free Market 17, no. 9 (September 1999)

 

As the bureaucrats pursue their Draconian war on drugs, the Clinton administration is conspiring with the pharmaceutical industry to provide drugs at taxpayer expense. Under the guise of expanding Medicare—already a massive wealth transfer from young to old—prescription drugs will be included among the benefits the feds use to further rope senior citizens into the government orbit.

Government Attacks the Family

The Free Market 17, no. 9 (September 1999)

 

Making splashy headlines, the National Marriage Project of Rutgers University reported this summer that marriage rates are at an historic low. Americans are waiting longer to get married and are choosing alternative arrangements to marriage. Data showing that divorce is on the decline turn out to be more complicated: people are taking fewer risks with marriage in the first place. In thirty years, the percentage of adults living as a partner in marriage has slipped from 68 to 56.

To Jail You Go

The Free Market 17, no. 9 (September 1999)

 

America’s “War on Drugs” has become primarily a war on marijuana smokers. Federal data released this year reveals almost half of all drug arrests are for marijuana, and that approximately one in seven drug prisoners is now behind bars for marijuana offenses. Research reported by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) in June found that 59,300 Americans are sitting behind bars on marijuana charges.

Postwar Home Front, The

The Free Market 17, no. 10 (October 1999)

 

Although it went unobserved in media accounts, there was something for everyone in Mrs. Albright’s splendid little war: the left can toast their humanitarianism, right-militarists can justify more “defense” spending, Nato has a new lease on life, the Serbs were rid of the Kosovars, and 10,000 ethnic Albanians received free passage and the option of permanent residency in the US. “Only in America!” as the saying goes.

Goethe on National Greatness

The Free Market 17, no. 10 (October 1999)

 

This year marks the 250th birthday of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the greatest of all German writers and poets and one of the giants of world literature. In his political outlook, he was also a thorough-going classical liberal, arguing that free trade and free cultural exchange are the keys to authentic national and international integration. He argued and fought against the expansion, centralization, and unification of government on grounds that these trends can only hinder prosperity and true cultural development.

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