Human Action at Sixty
[Presented at a session on “Human Action After Sixty Years” at the Eastern Economic Association in New York City, February 26-March 1, 2009.]
Love the State, Says Madrick
[Book Review: The Case for Big Government. By Jeff Madrick. Princeton University Press, 2009. 205 pages.]
The End of American Dominance
[Book Review: The Post-American World. By Fareed Zakaria. Norton, 2008. 292 pages.]
Is Foreclosure Resistance Libertarian?
Here we have a left-libertarian hailing the leftist group ACORN’s campaign promoting civil disobedience to resist home foreclosures–that is, they support mortgagees squatting on property owned by the mortgage holder. Argues our left-libertarian:
The Phony History of the Right
The astute Brian Doherty reviews a new book on the history of right-wing victories, this one by a leftwinger but it tells essentially the same story as the right-wing books: how the movement when from success to success in dismantling the New Deal and big government. Telling the tale again and again doesn’t make it true.
The WSJ on Hayek on Class Envy
In the Wall Street Journal‘s Notable & Quotable:
Friedrich A. Hayek in “The Constitution of Liberty” (1960), on the myth that progressive tax rates are necessary to fund large increases in government spending, lest an intolerable burden be placed on the poor:
Uncle Sam empties the barn
The nature of man being what it is, the desire for fun and leisure is limitless. After a hard week of working and saving, Friday night is enough reason to open the barn door for music and celebration.
Jim Cramer: “Buffett is Selling America”
I find this interesting, if only because of that horrible New York Times piece Warren Buffett wrote telling average Americans to “buy American.” Although I reject the “buy American” expression, Cramer is exactly right in saying that Buffett is selling America just four months after telling others to buy.
Eddie Lampert Tells Sears Stockholders — “Read Hayek”
In a 15 page letter defending capitalism and analyzing the mistakes of the government during the current crisis the chairman of Sears Holdings added a recommendation to Sears stockholders that they take time out to read some Hayek during the current crisis.
Stimulation by Government
The great failing of the Obama administration is that it is packed with people who show no apparent knowledge of the essential truths of liberal theory. That theory — which is the core of the American political contribution to, and the driving force of, modernity itself — is that freedom is the foundation of and the reason for social and economic flourishing. All evidence suggests they know nothing of this.
