26

July 5, 2007

One of the greatest tragedies of intellectual property law is how it generates intellectual confusion among successful businesspeople. Many are under the impression, even when it is not true, that they owe their wealth to copyrights, trademarks, and patents, and not necessarily to their business savvy.

27

March 22, 2004

Many people find themselves mystified as to why the Mises Institute puts books online for free that it is also trying to sell. For example, here is Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.’s Speaking of Liberty. Here is Hans-Hermann Hoppe’s The Myth of National Defense (which you can also purchase). And the most accessed of all: Ludwig von Mises’s Human Action, in many different formats with an interactive index, even as the offline Scholar’s Edition remains a bestseller on Mises.org.

28

October 26, 2009

[This speech was given on October 24, 2009, at the Birthplace of Economic Theory conference in Salamanca, Spain.]

Standup comedian Louis C.K. has a routine called “everything’s amazing, nobody’s happy.” The gag has people on an airplane, sitting on comfy chairs and flying through clouds. They are complaining that the wireless connection is too slow.

There is truth here. Capitalism has made everything amazing, and yet everyone these days seems to hate capitalism.

29

June 17, 2005

Pundits and bloggers are addicted to decrying the supposed cell-phone addiction of Americans. Calls for government to do something about it can’t be far behind, especially considering the other claims that cell phones give us tumors, gut our memories, and jackhammer our brains. There are even reports of second-hand damage from others’ cell phone use.

30

December 31, 2002

For at least two decades, the conservative wing of education experts has touted one magic bullet (apart from vouchers): high-stakes testing. The idea is to subject students (and teachers too) to a standardized test that would create incentives to learn the basics, compel curriculum committees to toss out the fluff, yield reliable data for assessing performance, and inspire students and teachers to keep their noses to the grindstone.

31

January 20, 2006

If you want to make a geek laugh derisively, suggest that responsibility for computer security be turned over to the government. This reaction is guaranteed, regardless of ideology. Everyone knows that this is not possible, but rarely are the implications for political economy noted.

32

April 10, 2006

“What are you in for?” the inmate of Lee County jail asked the new prisoner. “Rolling through a stop sign in my subdivision,” answered the new inmate, to gales of laughter from others languishing in the same cell.

33

December 17, 2007

It is inherently implausible, if you think about it, that the state could be an effective administrator of justice, for which there is a supply and demand like any other good. Shortages, inefficiencies, arbitrariness, and high costs will be main features of such a system. And because we are dealing here with the meting out of coercion, we can add the presence of inhumane treatment and outright cruelty.

34

September 9, 2008

35

August 29, 2003

During the airport-security reform debate of 2001, Congress had the option of permitting the airlines more discretion in securing themselves from the threat of hijacking. Airline security had been imperfect—Federal Aviation Administration regulations prohibited commercial pilots from carrying guns, for example—but airlines themselves were capable of improving, and had every incentive to do so.