Bastiat in Yuma
Howard Blitz introduces Frederic Bastiat to residents of Yuma, Arizona, home of The Freedom Library, in a local paper’s opinion column. Up with local efforts!
The Rawlsitarian Paradox
[Free Market Fairness By John Tomasi • Princeton University Press, 2012 • Xxvii + 348 pages]
Misesians Testifying Before Congress
Our own Peter Klein and Jeffrey Herbener are testifying at today’s Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology hearing entitled “Improving the Federal Reserve System: Examining Legislation to Reform the Fed and Other Alternatives.” Click on their names here for the transcripts.
Baiting-and-Switching the Left
Many left-libertarians have wanted to redefine “capitalism” negatively for a while: basically to mean “corporatism.” Now self-styled bleeding heart libertarians want to redefine “social justice” positively: basically to mean “concern for the poor.”
Respect the French
It is nice to see Frédéric Bastiat cited in the Telegraph, and the “seen/unseen” point to be spreading more widely. But Tim Worstall couldn’t be more wrong in saying that Bastiat was “the only Frenchman who ever really understood economics.”
Dead-Tree Luddites
Anyone interested in the survival of a robust book industry must support the repeal of antitrust laws.
Bernanke’s Zero Rates: a Jelly Donut Scream
The Bernanke Fed’s Jelly Donut force-feeding of the economy isn’t making a dent in the unemployment rate, but it’s inspiring a scream at the art auction. Carol Vogel reports for The New York Times,
Profits
Although every businessman aims to earn a “profit,” he usually knows very little about the economic nature of his objective.
Want to Have Less of Something? Make its Provision a “Right”
John Tamny at Forbes cites Mises to explain how the Lone Path to Cheap Healthcare is Expensive Healthcare, and how the path to highly scarce healthcare is state-mandated “free” and “affordable” healthcare.
“Healthcare is not an inalienable right as the Left maintains. How could it be, considering it didn’t even exist until very recently and still doesn’t for much of the world?” – Bill Flax, The Courage To Do Nothing, p. 112
The 99 and the 1
[Free Market, January 2012. You can subscribe by becoming a member.]
“We are the 99%!” This slogan of the Occupy Wall Street protesters has been called the most memorable quote of the past year. Those who rally to its cry do so in opposition to the villainous 1%.
