The Wrong Way to Shorten the Work Week
The term “overworked” can be highly subjective, writes Carl Horowitz. Even a classic workaholic has a point at which he says “enough!”
Jonah Goldberg and the effects of interventionism
Neocon Jonah Goldberg writes about how government intervention to solve problems creates new unintended problems, in these cases campaign-finance laws and how obesity has been increased by the anti-tobacco crusade and feminism. He attributes it to late Senator Patrick Moynihan, but he could have mentioned Mises as well. He of course do not want to apply this to neocon foreign policy, but he is still unusually insightful.
The Case Against All Antitrust Legislation (lecture 31 of 32)
These notes are from the lecture The Case Against All Antitrust Legislation, given at the Mises University. Any errors are mine, feel free to point them out so that I can correct them. This lecture was given by Prof. DiLorenzo.
History
- Railroads coming together in 1800s.
- Centralized meat packing in Chicago.
- Shipped dressed beef long distances from all over.
- All of the sudden, had all kinds of competition.
On Broken Promises
Fed chairman Alan Greenspan says the government may not be able to make all the Social Security and Medicare payments it has long promised the baby-boomers: “If we have promised more than our economy has the ability to deliver to retirees without unduly diminishing real income gains of workers, as I fear we may have, we must recalibrate our programs.” Recalibrate is a euphemism for breaking promises
Will this be the beginning of mass disillusionment with government?
transportation costs
Russ Roberts, in a recent blog on the wonders of saran wrap refers us to his cheers for the virtues of cardboard boxes and their tremendous lowering of transportation costs. In the same vein, Thomas Sowell points out in his book Race and Culture:
Locke’s Birthday on Sunday
Each July 4th, Americans celebrate the “birthday” of the Declaration of Independence. But little is ever said on August 29th about another birthday--that of John Locke, in 1632, without whom the Declaration of Independence as we know it would not exist. Locke’s 1689 Second Treatise on Government was the origin of so much of the reasoning and language in our founding document that Thomas Jefferson was accused of plagiarizing from him.
More of the same from Krugman
Paul Krugman’s latest column is an economic, historical and ethical mess. While his diagnosis of the problem is partially true (rising insurance premiums in employment-based health care have stifled job growth), his answer is more of the same: increased government intervention.
He does not address government mandates, such as community rating, and their role in making health care unaffordable.
Thwarting efficient democracy
Karen DeCoster blogs about this article at LRC. Post-contractual opportunism may rear its ugly head, but it would be nice to see candidates campaign with their money instead of their mouths. Living in a key “battleground” state like Missouri, I might be able to reap quite handsomely...hmmm...
Real Medical Freedom
Interventionism cannot be considered as an economic system destined to stay. It is a method for the transformation of capitalism into socialism by a series of successive steps—Ludwig von Mises, “Middle of the Road Policy Leads to Socialism,” April 18, 1950.
Do only sellers benefit from exchange?
Pat Buchanan’s new book (Where the Right Went Wrong, NY: St. Martin’s, 2004) landed on my desk, and flipping past the fine attacks on the Iraq War and the not-so-fine praise of Hamiltonian autarky, I bumped into this plan for dealing with China, which is presented as the most pressing threat to America.
