Paul Marks’s A Critique of a Critique: An Examination of Kevin Carson’s Contract Feudalism, published in the Libertarian Alliance’s Economic Notes No. 108, is, to my mind, a brilliant, solid, and interesting analysis of Kevin Carson’s Contract Feudalism: A Critique of Employer Power over Employees.
Contrary to its “do no evil” pledge, Google has used evil federal anti-trust law as leverage to force Microsoft to change Windows Vista to permit consumers to choose which desktop search program will be used. Shame on Google. On the other hand, Microsoft does not have clean hands—it’s attempting to use antitrust law to block Google’s acquisition of Double-Click.
Rothbard got a favorable mention on a National Review Online blog called The Corner. Ron Paul got a mention in the same post as well, in connection with Rothbard.
According the Anniston Star, the presence of the Mises Institute is symptomatic of a larger problem: Alabama has no regulation on barbers.
From the University of Oregon comes this: A psychologist and two economists have conducted a study that proves that we, as good little citizens of the regime, are made happy by the extraction of our wealth in the form of taxes. In fact, this particular form of theft sets off the firing of the little happy centers in our brains.
[This essay is taken from chapter 19 of Spencer’s first major work of political philosophy—Social Statics: or, The Conditions essential to Happiness specified, and the First of them Developed (1851)—in which his first principle is equal liberty: “that every man may claim the fullest liberty to exercise his faculties compatible with the possession of like liberty by every other man.”]
How is it that the law enforcer itself does not have to keep the law? How is it that the law permits the state to lawfully engage in actions which, if undertaken by individuals, would land them in jail?
These are among most intriguing issues in political and economic philosophy. More specifically, the problem of law that itself violates law is an insurmountable conundrum of all statist philosophies.
In 1912, Ludwig von Mises wrote,
“[T]he sound-money principle has two aspects. It is affirmative in approving the market’s choice of a commonly used medium of exchange. It is negative in obstructing the government’s propensity to meddle with the currency system.”1
And further:
Over the weekend I watched “Flags of our Fathers“ and one quote stuck out (among others). It comes from a Treasury Department official (Bud Gerber) who is trying to convince the flag raisers of Iwo Jima to use their celebrity status in assisting him in a new bond drive.
He laments:
The Supreme Court has just made this term’s biggest union decision. Unfortunately, though characterized as a setback for unions, it did little for those coerced by them. It did reveal, however, how limited is government protection for non-union members’ rights.
