The Free Market 18, no. 12 (December 2000)

One of the pillars of an interventionist US foreign policy is foreign aid. Since World War II, the United States has dispensed billions of dollars in foreign aid to virtually every country on the planet. Foreign aid was lavished on our friends and our foes during the cold war and a decade after. It is extended to both sides of military conflicts. It is even accorded to countries that regularly vote against the US in the UN. The recipient countries are less likely to reform their economies once they get on the US dole.

The Free Market 18, no. 12 (December 2000)

Rumor has it that the economics profession has finally been “won over” to a free-market view of the world. If the complimentary economics textbooks that cross my desk are a bellwether, however, it is not yet time to break out the champagne.

The Free Market 19, no. 1 (January 2001)

According to the dictionary, the word “wanton” means undisciplined or unruly, with connotations of self-indulgent, arrogant recklessness, and a disregard for justice or the rights of others. The word goes back to Middle English, being a combination of the words “wanting” or “wane,” meaning a lack of, and “towen,” which is related to education or upbringing. The idea is that “wanton” indicates being spoiled and self-centered. 

The Free Market 19, no. 1 (January 2001)

History frowns upon the belief that government protects children’s rights, and yet that is precisely the claim that undergirds child labor laws, now enforced in most parts of the world. Hardly anyone dares question their existence, much less the conventional history of child labor, no matter how many children and families continue to be victimized by government regulation of labor. 

The Free Market 19, no. 1 (January 2001)

A mathematician and an economist were asked, “What is the sum of two plus two?” The mathematician immediately answered, “It is four.” 

The economist, on the other hand, closed all windows and doors and asked quietly, “What do you want it to be?” 

The Free Market 19, no. 1 (January 2001)

Earlier last year (February 17) in testimony before the House Banking Committee, Alan Greenspan argued that increases in productivity tend to create greater increases in aggregate demand than in potential aggregate supply. His reasoning was that productivity increases stimulate optimistic corporate earnings forecasts, which stimulate stock price increases, which lead consumers to assume increased personal wealth, which increases consumption (and thus aggregate) expenditure.

The Free Market 19, no. 2 (February 2001)

There is a class of pundits that defends public confidence in big government, and trashes those who celebrate its undoing. These pundits had a fit following this year’ s election that revealed the least flattering side of the US system of government. If we thought the process of making laws was ugly, few were prepared to observe in slow motion the even more contemptible process of picking lawmakers.

The Free Market 19, no. 2 (February 2001)

While it did not make headway in this latest presidential campaign, events of the last year have weakened one of the longest-standing policies of the US government: the trade embargo with Cuba. Born in the cold war fervor of the early 1960s and further strengthened by the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962, the embargo has survived the Vietnam War, the Great Society, Woodstock, Watergate, the breakup of the USSR, Monica Lewinsky, and the 2000 presidential election crisis. 

The Free Market 19, no. 2 (February 2001)

I have come up with a brief list of films I’ve happened upon that I think are of particular interest to the cause of liberty. I am not vouching for ideological purity in any of these films, but they do underscore the case against managed societies and economics. Also, I have selected films that are generally high quality. 

The Free Market 19, no. 3 (March 2001)

Due to the weakening economy, the red-hot job market appears to be at an end. Employers are already handing out pink slips, giving rise to complaints about the “injustices” of the market system, particularly among younger workers whose careers have been furthered by an unusually long economic boom.