The main issue with the federal government’s attempts to regulate the environment is that—as with all things in which the federal government—there is a large degree of corruption, inefficiency, and overall impracticality inherent to their approaches. Take, as two examples, the current administration’s plan to make half of all vehicles on the road electric by 2030 and the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) hatred of nuclear power plants.

One of the first major actions President Donald Trump’s team took as he began his second term was to freeze government spending on various domestic “assistance” programs as well as on foreign aid administered by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

[Editor’s note: This article first appeared in the May/June 1955 issue of Faith and Freedom under Rothbard’s pseudonym, Aubrey Herbert. Rothbard is responding to an article by the Buckleyite conservative Willi Schlamm who advocates for military intervention against China. The Schlamm article is printed in full at the bottom of this page.

Our new president’s policies for the Middle East, are, I’m sorry to say, a disaster for those of us who support a non-interventionist foreign policy. A war between Israel and Hamas has been going on for over a year. A fragile truce is in place as I write, but who knows how long it will last? Gaza is now a desolated area, because in its ruthless campaign to destroy Hamas, Israel has killed many civilians, destroyed their homes, and reduced others to starvation. Disease is rampant, but hospitals have been bombed, impeding a medical response to the outbreak of disease.

For better or worse, Elon Musk has taken a liking to old Milton Friedman videos. On the good side, Musk has embraced Friedman’s distrust of government and money printing. Friedman, however, was no Rothbard regarding the consistent application of ethical and economic principles to the actions of the state. Despite Friedman’s compromises and error-ridden macroeconomic theorizing, there’s no denying that he was a great popularizer and eloquent defender of laissez-faire.

As of this writing, when you attempt to access the US Agency for International Development (USAID) website or social media pages you are informed that, “This site can’t be reached.” The media reports that the new Trump Administration has not only frozen USAID activities but may be planning on bringing it back under control of the US State Department.  Other reports, including statements by Elon Musk, suggest that it will be closed completely.

It’s become fashionable among economists to refer to knowledge as a silver-bullet explanation for all kinds of phenomena and processes. Whereas Hayek (and Hayekians) is known for the “knowledge problem,” mainstreamers, too, rely on a vague conceptualization of knowledge (specifically, the lack thereof) to explain important economic processes. Both exogenous and endogenous growth theories, for example, suggest “knowledge” explains an economy’s growth and, thus, society’s prosperity.

In his review essay titled “Law on Shifting Sand,” David Gordon exposes a “pernicious” claim, advanced under “false pretenses,” that the case law promulgated by the United States Supreme Court represents the true meaning of the Constitution.