Buried inside this BBC News story about the problems associated with illegal immigration in Malaysia is the story of the effects of Malaysia’s affirmative action program.

From the Wall Street Journal today ($): “Administration aides yesterday also didn’t rule out expanding the amount of wages subject to the payroll tax.... The administration is aiming to require people reaching retirement age to use their account assets to buy annuities.... Only the assets above and beyond that level could be passed on to heirs or withdrawn... it would push back the start date to 2009, when Mr.

As was noted by Roderick Long, Ayn Rand used to hold Mises to be the best economist and promote his work , as was reflected in her ideal curriculum of “Aristotle in philosophy, von Mises in economics, Montessori in education, Hugo in literature”.

Today though, the orthodox randian movement represented by ARI has abandoned Mises, even though they otherwise hold every word of Rand to be the final truth. Rather typical that they would choose to deviate in one area where Rand was right.

Just as you thought the SocSec “privatization” couldn’t get any worse, The Washington Post reports more grim truths: they won’t be private, they won’t be managed by individuals, and you won’t withdraw these funds at retirement. (Pointer from FEE). As for Bush’s promise of no tax increases, that depends on what the meaning of tax is....

America’s prosperity requires restraining the spending appetite of the federal government.

Detroit News: “Economist Keeps Vested Interests Honest”: “Detroit got a little safer for the vested interests on Monday. That’s the day David Littmann, Comerica’s irrepressible economist, retired after nearly 35 years. His official job was to advise his bank about future economic trends, but sometimes it seemed his real job was speaking the truth to power....

• William Graham Sumner: Against Democracy, Plutocracy, and Imperialism, by H.A. Scott Trask. Sumner was a prolific and astute historian of the early American republic whose work is informed by both his classical liberalism and his understanding of economics. Although not an anarchist, Sumner argued that even the best governments posed a constant threat to the liberty of individuals.