Every so often a book comes along that truly makes you appreciate writing as a subject; one that truly captures the imagery that we see and feel in our lives when we so often lack the time for reflection.
Wĭthûr Wē is such a book. Yet, such a recommendation doesn’t quite do it justice because its beautiful imagery is only a backdrop for a rich libertarian narrative and struggle of ideas.
As the economy attempts to cleanse itself of the malinvestments of the decade-long bubble, jobs dominated by men have been sacrificed: construction, finance, and manufacturing. Hanna Rosin writes in the Atlantic, “The recession merely revealed—and accelerated—a profound economic shift that has been going on for at least 30 years, and in some respects even longer.”
Back in 1999, when Krugman wrote
Youth unemployment is terribly high. More than half of kids age 16 to 19 do not engage in any gainful labor, a higher percentage than since World War II. The reason has to do with the combination of recession, the wicked minimum wage, and child labor laws that give kids too late a start in the workforce.
I was struck by the passing comment from a student I met over the week that his brother, a physician, was moving his practice from the U.S. to Costa Rica. His brother is driven by the desire to provide medical care to people who need it but enterprise is at the core of the decision. It seems that medical tourism is dramatically on the increase: Americans are going to Costa Rica for dentistry, cosmetic surgery, and other forms of medical service that are not typically covered by insurance in the U.S..
[This article is excerpted from chapter 20 of Human Action: The Scholar’s Edition and is read by Jeff Riggenbach.]
A mere ten days ago, public awareness of Hayek’s classic, The Road to Serfdom, exploded. The Mises Academy, with the reflexes and nimbleness that you’ll only find with an online, consumer-driven university, has turned on a dime to seize the moment.
In my last Plumb Line (February 1979), I wrote of the problem that the space cadet wing of the Libertarian Party poses to the party’s continued growth and development. Looking at the problem more analytically, we find that this syndrome is part of a broader phenomenon.
