Horwitz on the Green Police
Inspired by this ad
Steven Horwitz explains that every step toward government control, of anything, is a step toward politicizing private decisions.
Government Food Safety
A University of Georgia student passed himself off as a veterinarian. He managed to get a job with a private company, but was quickly discovered and dismissed. He then got a job as a supervisor of meat inspection with the US Department of Agriculture and lasted for four years! The USDA ignored tips that he was a fake and was only dismissed after the tipster went to the media and the story ran on local television.
Beware of Government Bonds
The government doesn’t create new goods by credit-financed spending. Debt financing allows the government to considerably increase its grip over scarce resources, diverting their use.
The Humanitarian War Fallacy
Many of today’s social theorists are utilitarians. Broadly speaking, a utilitarian is someone who believes justice can be arrived at through a cost-benefit analysis. For example, a utilitarian economist would tell you that, before considering a new law, one needs to determine the “social” costs and benefits of such a law. If these benefits exceed the costs, then the law is justified.
A Tale of Two Libertarianisms
Rothbard is the most entertaining of major libertarian thinkers — sharp, witty, mean, funny, and colloquial, and those virtues shine through these writings’ hortatory and practical purpose.
Austrian Economics and Classical Liberalism
Classical liberalism — which we shall call here simply liberalism — is based on the conception of civil society as, by and large, self-regulating when its members are free to act within very wide bounds of their individual rights.
Protectionist Nonsense
Thanks to complaints from U.S. ribbon companies, the United States has now imposed anti-dumping duties of up to 231.4 percent on gift-wrap ribbons imported from China. Duties of up to 4.54 percent were imposed on Taiwan. The difference was explained by the Commerce Department as due to China having a higher dumping margin of between 208.8 and 231.4 percent compared with Taiwan’s margin of 116.6 to 137.2 percent. Yet, some Chinese and Taiwanese firms were exempted from the duties.
Jim Rogers: Schlarbaum Prize 2010
The Schlarbaum Prize for the lifetime defense of liberty in 2010 goes to James Beeland Rogers. Jim Rogers has been a constant media presence for many years, accurately predicted the current boom-bust. He uses every opportunity to explain his economic rationale by his investment outlook, which is solidly rooted Misesian theory, not only of business cycles but of the costs of the welfare-warfare state.
There is Such a Thing as a Free Lunch!
A freely accessible Orwellian government program to Free Slave File:
Free File is the fast, easy, and free way to [fund the military-industrial complex while you] prepare [to serve] and e-file your federal taxes online [in order to pay for the warfare-welfare state you support].
Bimetallic Nightmare
Congress decreed that gold and silver dollars should be interchangeable and put upon the Treasury a mandate to keep them equal in value. How? By what magic? Why, by the magic of a phrase.
