Politics creates a setting where, in the words of Longfellow, “man must either be anvil or hammer.” Thus, a vast array of political machinery is created to represent a wide variety of interests and to further those interests at the expense of the other groups.
“Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else,” writes Frederic Bastiat in his 1848 essay, Government, which may be the most insightful critique of America’s government available today.
Drug war-related injuries are bound to dominate the emergency room services of virtually all inner-city hospitals. And, although this incredible violence in America’s inner cities is almost exclusively the result of the war on drugs, none of it should come as a surprise.
Instead of incorporating the agenda of those who would malign free enterprise, business schools should do more to educate tomorrow’s corporate executives about the myriad ways in which business advances social progress.
The government’s releases of various economic indicators such as GDP, the CPI, and unemployment receive wide coverage in popular media such as TV networks and newspapers. In a measured and authoritative voice, various economists and other experts who are interviewed discuss their views regarding the health of the economy. Thus, a rise in an indicator like GDP is interpreted as good news while its decline is seen as pointing to trouble ahead.
