Requiem for the Old Right
[Originally published in Inquiry (October 27, 1980), pp. 24–27.]
Science or Nonscience?
The black mark earned by alarmists during the 1970s, for predicting continued global cooling, may be replicated for global-warming alarmists. One day, scientists will cry wolf to a public that has learned to ignore them.
Where Is the US Economy Heading?
Economists are currently divided on the issue of how strong the US economic recovery is going to be. Some are of the view that as a result of the stimulus policies of the Fed and the Federal government, the recovery is going to be quite strong. Some others are more pessimistic given still-rising unemployment, which they believe will keep consumer spending subdued. In October the unemployment rate jumped to 10.2% from 9.8% in the previous month and 6.6% in October last year.
Most economists assess the so-called economy in terms of gross domestic product, or GDP.
The Starvation Brink, Victorian England, and the Santa Claus Principle
This post is one in a series entitled Posthumous Refutations. Previously in this series: Absolving with Faint Criticism: A Media and Real Estate Mogul Defends the Fed.
Absolving with Faint Criticism: A Media and Real Estate Mogul Defends the Fed
This post is one in a series entitled Posthumous Refutations. Previously in this series: Capitalism, Competition, Collaboration, and Kindness.
Capitalism, Competition, Collaboration, and Kindness
This post is one in a series entitled Posthumous Refutations.
The Law of Unintended Consequences
The law of unintended consequences surely isn’t universal. Government often seeks to destroy things and truly does succeed in doing just that (alternative medicine, unlicensed professionals, and the like). What it taxes in order to punish, it truly does punish (cigarettes, alcohol, imports that compete with powerful domestic industries). What it regulates to ban, it does often succeed in eventually banning (large-bowl toilets, insecticides that work, effective medicines that the FDA judges too dangerous).
The Roots of Messianic Communism
Anabaptist communism did not spring out of thin air at the advent of the Reformation. Its roots can be traced back to an extraordinarily influential late twelfth century Italian mystic, Joachim of Fiore (1145–1202). Joachim was an abbot and hermit in Calabria, in southern Italy. It was Joachim who launched the idea that hidden in the Bible for those who had the wit to see were prophecies foretelling world history.
Mises: His Importance and Relevance
Ludwig von Mises died in 1973. In light of the current recession, the intellectual history of the last two centuries, and what we know about the prerequisites for growth and prosperity, we can learn much by reading and studying Mises.
The Climate Scam: Did You Read It First Here?
Anthropogenic global warming has been a dubious proposition from the outset to anyone with the slightest understanding of social science as it pertains to coercive government, science “science,” and the nexus of the two. Even if you didn’t read about it elsewhere (and there were places where you could), you could (and should) have easily thought up the evil plot in the whole thing.
