There is considerable evidence that the entire concept of “social Darwinism” as we know it today was virtually invented by Richard Hofstadter. It certainly didn’t apply to Sumner, who was a great libertarian. The description “social Darwinist” was never made of his views during his lifetime.

[Who Owns the Sky? The Struggle to Control Airspace from the Wright Brothers On • By Stuart Banner • Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2008 • 192 pages]

In my post The Origins of Libertarian IP Abolitionism, I discussed the origins of the modern libertarian anti-IP movement. I’ve learned a lot more about the antecedents and history of all this from teaching the Mises Academy course “Rethinking Intellectual Property: History, Theory, and Economics.” This history is very interesting.

Lord Keynes was constantly worried that people were saving too much and consuming too little — thus the need for more and cheaper money to stimulate the economy. Mr. Bernanke is nothing if not a good Keynesian, and his low rates make even the savviest question whether to forgo consumption.

A new study by the Phoenix Center for the Advanced Study for Legal and Economic Policy Studies found that federal regulators cost taxpayers more than $200,000 each, but cost the economy over $6 million in jobs and productivity.

As reported on Wired, “The House of Representatives voted Friday to overturn net neutrality rules created by the FCC in December.” Obama said he will veto it.

Net Neutrality is complicated. It’s hard for some libertarians to figure out where to stand on it.

Here’s how I view it:

If you oppose IP and don’t want a patent–just don’t apply. Unfortunately, someone else might independently invent the same thing, patent it, and shut you down, since your having invented it first, or independently invented it, is no defense. So, you might also want to lower your knickers and reveal your idea publicly, to lower the chance someone else can patent it (this is called defensive patent publishing).