Too many anecdotes have come my way that suggest a serious social-cultural crisis is brewing. The symptoms include feeling overwhelmed and behind the times; friends and family offended by one person’s unresponsiveness; tasks dropped or not completed; seething anger brewing over your or someone’s irresponsibility. You or someone you know is developing a reputation for uncharacteristic flakiness or a tendency to forget. You or someone you know doesn’t do what he says he will do.

Economists of the Austrian School of economics define inflation differently than much of the mainstream of the economics profession, writes By Gary Danelishen. The typical mainstream intermediate macroeconomics textbook defines inflation as “an increase in the overall level of prices.” Ludwig von Mises, suggested otherwise. A recent exchange between Congressman Ron Paul and Ben Bernanke took place during Bernanke’s testimony before the Congressional Joint Economic Committee on November 8, 2007.

Internet access is one of the main drivers for economic and social development. No wonder that the wide availability of broadband access, as one of the main indicators of technology advancement of the economy, is shaping the agenda of governments. Everyone demands broadband access. However, Europe is lagging behind other developed countries and is barely above OECD average. And the proposed liberalization could actually make matters worse by failing to completely privatize providers—turning over both ownership and control to free enterprise—at all levels.

Murray Rothbard, writing in the 1950s under the name “Aubrey Herbert,” offers a profound reflection on a core dilemma of libertarianism: whether the state can be justified at all. The libertarian who is happily engaged expounding his political philosophy in the full glory of his convictions is almost sure to be brought short by one unfailing gambit of the statist. As the libertarian is denouncing public education or the Post Office, or refers to taxation as legalized robbery, the statist invariably challenges. “Well, then are you an anarchist?” The libertarian is reduced to sputtering “No, no, of course I’m not an anarchist.” “Well, then, what governmental measures do you favor? What type of taxes do you wish to impose?” The statist has irretrievably gained the offensive, and, having no answer to the first question, the libertarian finds himself surrendering his case.

A sign of our time is the split-personality of the conservatives, wrote Rothbard in 1954. Many to the right of center are off on a schizophrenic pursuit of both liberty and collectivism. In domestic affairs this regrettable condition is gradually being recognized for what it is. But the time is nigh for conservative foreign policy, as well, to be psychoanalyzed in hope of a cure! Conservatives call for free trade and free enterprise, yet also clamor for absolute embargoes on trade with Communist nations. Have they forgotten that both parties to free exchange benefit from trade? For our government or any others to prohibit trade is a vicious example of socialistic policy; it injures the Communist countries to be sure; it also injures us.