A Policy of Unrelenting Force

George Bush, famous for outlandish claims that have no bearing on reality, has outdone himself by claiming that the problem with Vietnam was that the U.S. withdrew its troops rather than fighting harder and longer.

In a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, he didn’t say how long the U.S. should have stayed, but he did claim that the reason for the bloodshed in Cambodia, and the prison camps in Vietnam following withdrawal, was not the war itself, but the failure to continue the war without end.

Does the Minimum Wage Boost Innovation?

The main argument for government legislation has traditionally been the protection of the people at the bottom of the pay scale. But now a new reason for the minimum wage has seen the light of day. It is espoused by Alfred Kleinknecht, a professor in the Economics of Innovation Department at Delft University of Technology. According to Kleinknecht (1998), removing labor market rigidities — and a free market does this — may indeed be advantageous for firms in the short run. Yet it in the long run it is harmful, since removing institutional rigidities in the labor market discourages product and process innovation, which in turn reduces productivity growth.

No More Legislation

Will Rogers wrote: “This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when a baby gets hold of a hammer.” Americans can breathe a sigh of relief that no new legislation is imposed upon them during Congress’s summer break. Unfortunately, that relief is very temporary, since much of break time is used to promise constituents new legislative “solutions” at others’ expense in exchange for votes. And then Congress returns. Bruno Leoni explains how it all works.

Rockwell’s Thirty-Day Plan

When Eastern Europe broke free in 1989, we all realized just how little thought had been given to the transition from socialism to capitalism. Mises had told us the collapse was coming, and we should have been prepared.

As America comes to resemble a command economy, we need a transition plan here too. Yuri Maltsev proposed a “One-Day Plan” for the U. S. S. R. We’re not in that bad a shape (yet), so we could do it in 30 days.

Guilty Until Proven Innocent

A trucker has sued the Drug Enforcement Administration, seeking to get back nearly $24,000 seized by DEA agents earlier this month at a weigh station on U.S. 54 in New Mexico north of El Paso, Texas.

Anastasio Prieto of El Paso gave a state police officer at the weigh station permission to search the truck to see if it contained “needles or cash in excess of $10,000,” according to the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the federal lawsuit Thursday.

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