We tend to assume that without an interventionist government, life would fall into chaos. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In the nineteenth century, French economist Frédéric Bastiat remarked on the wonder of that phenomenon by exclaiming, “Paris gets fed!” The same can be said of New York, Tokyo, Mexico City, etc. It’s doesn’t take the
A philosophical divide between classic liberalism and the political forms now in vogue is manifest in the phrase, “Let’s agree to disagree.” To the classic liberal, this means we agree to end our discussion, debate, or argument and go about our separate ways. The phrase is the end as such. Certainly the classic liberal may engage the next person
As immigration reform debates continue to heat up Washington and rankle the folks on talk radio and cable, in barber shops, and throughout the Web, we need to remember similar incidents throughout our history. As each new wave of immigrants entered the US, false crises were created and used to crackdown on the newcomers and expand government. My
AOL News is reporting that Daryl Hannah and others were arrested trying to stop a landowner from developing his Los Angeles property. Squatters have been using Ralph Horowitz’s 14 acres to grow crops while he “was paying $25,000 to $30,000 a month in mortgage and other land costs.” None of the protestors, including Hannah, Willie Nelson, or Danny
AOL News (AP) reports on a market solution to rising gas prices : buy gas now and store it for later. That’s right; create your own strategic oil reserve! One lucky prospector is tapping the 99 cents a gallon gas that he has stored in his private reserve. What a deal! What a solution! The market always creates solutions for economic issues. Saving
You hear it from them all the time; teachers just want a fair wage. Oh, well who doesn’t? This line of thought begs two questions: How are wage rates established in a free market? And, are market wage rates fair? How are wage rates established in a free market? The insights from the Austrian School of Economics show that workers earn their
The Rust Belt state of Ohio is hemorrhaging jobs. On one hand state officials claim that the state’s tax rate is not a hindrance to attracting companies to invest in the state, while on the other hand these very same officials cut taxes to entice DaimlerChrysler AG to build a plant near Toledo . The state’s tax system cannot be “neutral” when it
“It may sometimes be expedient for a man to heat the stove with his furniture. But if he does, he should know what the remoter effects will be. He should not delude himself by believing that he has discovered a wonderful new method of heating his premises.” from Human Action, Ludwig von Mises Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European Commissioner for
How ironic. Just days after Ohio citizens voted to restrain trade and reduce property rights by passing state issues 2 and 5 (an increase in the minimum wage and a statewide ban on smoking), Jeff Eschmeyer of the Ohio Farmers Union contends in a letter to the Columbus Dispatch that farmers and consumers have a right to sell and buy raw milk. Mr.
Will the indignities of the government never cease. Take your IRA for example - your savings for that stormy day when your earnings equal your bar bill - not including chips. Here’s the government still extending its open palm. YOUR IRA, YOUR money. And yet the state, backed by the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Marines demands that at 70
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.