Have You Changed Your Mind About Intellectual Property?
It’s my impression that in the last 5-10 years, there has been a striking movement towards the anti-IP camp among libertarians and Austrians.
Belloc’s Puzzling Manifesto
The Servile State might have been adopted by all the anticapitalist intellectuals in the world. What saved it from that fate was the fact that with withering logic Belloc attacked also socialism.
Housing Upside Down
[In 1947, Arthur W. Binns, president of the National Home and Property Owners Foundation, wrote the following short essay for American Affairs, Vol. 9, No. 1, p. 37.]
Impoverisher of the Year
As readers of this blog know, in an astounding feat of oblivious irony, Time magazine has chosen the man who very likely just broke the world as “Person of the Year”. In my last post, I commented on the propaganda aspects of the choice. In this article, I would like to address the woeful economic content of Time’s corresponding hagiographic piece on Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve, line-by-line.
Avoiding Austro-Flamewars
It is often the “noobs” who are at the forefront of the flamewars, getting their feelings hurt and lashing out, creating a spiral to the bottom. Experienced users distinguish substantive discussions from personality clashes.
Michael Boldin on Randy Barnett and Federalism
I just recalled interesting article by Michael Boldin of the Tenth Amendment Center, Randy Barnett and the Destruction of Federalism. I had made some comments on it to someone in email, which are adapted below. I also commented on this previously in Randy Barnett’s Proposed “Federalism Amendment”. In my view, a better view is that amendments are pointless, as the state is construing its own limits.
Thomas Nagel: A Major Contemporary Philosopher
[Secular Philosophy and the Religious Temperament: Essays 2002–2008 • By Thomas Nagel • Oxford, 2010 • 171 pages]
“Aggression” versus “Harm” in Libertarianism
A discussion in the comments(archive) section of a post about blackmail brings up an issue about which many libertarians are confused. This concerns the idea of “harm.” Libertarians often condemn “harming” others, and this is fine so far as it goes, if it is kept in mind that “harm” here is loosely meant as a synonym for aggression. But “harm” is really a broader category.
The Trinity is Complete
“We Need a Housing Bubble” Krugman got a Nobel in Economics. “Let’s Ramp Up a Murderous, Useless War” Obama got a Nobel Peace Prize. So what do we give Helicopter Ben Bernanke, who has squandered much of whatever capital we had left after the housing bubble burst by pushing interest rates down to zero, and guaranteed (just wait for it) the worst depression in American history? Make him Time Person of the Year!
Krugman on the Minimum Wage
Paul Krugman suggests that cutting the minimum wage won’t help employment. My hope here is to uncover his errors.
First, Krugman makes the argument for cutting the minimum wage. He states:
