There are signs of increasing awareness among economists that what they have been discussing in recent years under the name of “competition” is not the same thing as what is thus called in ordinary language.

One of the oldest and most widespread methods of government regulation is to prohibit specified activities without the express permission of the government.

Man’s quest for the great mysteries of the universe began long before philosophy proper is thought to have begun, with the life and thought of Thales of Miletus. In fact the calling of the philosopher was anticipated by, and perhaps grew out of, the callings of the Sage, the Poet, the Singer, the Prophet, and even the Priest.

Let us meet one of these classes of proto-philosopher through visiting a scene from the Iliad of Homer.

A thinker’s journey is never done. But at this stage in mine, to me it seems evident that the thought of Ludwig von Mises is, thus far, the apogee of man’s age-old quest for soundness of thought. In the blog posts that follow, I will put that impression to the test in reflections on the history of “big ideas”, viewed through the lens of Mises’ thought.

Thomas L. Friedman notes that, “Sridhar, Bloom’s co-founder and C.E.O., said his fuel cells, which can run on natural gas or biogas, can generate electricity at 8 to 10 cents a kilowatt hour, with today’s subsidies.” (emphasis mine)

Today’s subsidies?!? What is the price absent handouts? That’s what I want to know.

I cheer folks like Sridhar as long as they keep their hands out of my pocket and off my carbon footprint, which Friedman so desperately wants to tax.

[A paper given at the “Birth and Death of the Fed” conference, Jekyll Island, Georgia, February 26–27, 2010. An MP3 audio file of this article, read by Floy Lilley, is available for download.]

Sports bore me but I can’t get enough of the great burger battle. McDonald’s reported sales increases of 4.8 last month. Most of the increases are overseas but it is no surprise that its domestic sales are solid as can be.