Just when the market cleans the air, in steps the regulators . The e-cigarette solves the smoke issue by atomizing a nicotine solution in a pen-size device. Pretty slick. But, wait. The feds consider the e-cigarette a nicotine delivery system. Sure, and Mountain Dew is a caffeine delivery system, just as Ho-Hos are a sugar and fat delivery system.
Another Earth Hour has come and gone. So what can we learn from the fourth iteration of this event? Earth Hour is a drain on resources. This is true since, if it were otherwise, companies that participated in the event would continue the practice of lights off after the event. So, clearly, the tangible costs of switching off lights are greater
I guess the cat is out of the bag, so to speak. Now that the FDA has effectively banned caffeine-laced alcoholic beverages , to be consistent, it will have to take the next logical step of banning the concurrent consumption of caffeine and alcohol, regardless of how the two are mixed. If indeed “combinations of caffeine and alcohol pose a
It looks like the state of Ohio is going to “privatize” the development functions of its Department of Development. Gone will be the bureaucracy that is the state, to be replaced by something else. But what is the right name for this something else, this new beast? Ohio’s new Republican governor John Kasich plans “ to dismantle the Ohio Department
Scott Baker over at OpEdNews recently posted an article under this title: “Ludwig von Mises and the Austrian School are morons, China is full of Geniuses.” Ouch. According to Baker, China’s managed economy is the future, “China is miles ahead of the U.S. in economic management. It is an economy run by serious economists who learn from their
In her latest op-ed piece, Trudy Rubin expresses concern that WikiLeaks may lead to a downgrade in the “hard-won trust between the United States and the leaders of Russia, China and Arab countries.” Hard-won trust? Downgraded by publishing an exposé of backstabbing behavior? Isn’t that the same as the philanderer blaming the private eye for the
Death panels? Of course there will be death panels when the deal is done. Not in iterations one or two, when legal alternatives exists. But in the end, under total state control, death panels will exist — they must exist. A death panel implies an agency that functions as the final arbiter of life and death. Such a panel can only exist where no
A friend sent me a circulating email (see below) that reads as a veiled promotion of neomercantalism. I accused my friend of promoting ideas opposed to liberty, as he had forwarded the email to many under his name. I replied, “Hmmm. So you are a neomercantalist – desiring closed borders as a means to promote war?” He responded, “How do closed
One year ago today a major earthquake devastated Haiti’s capital city of Port-au-Prince. One year ago and one million people remain homeless, with less than 5 percent of the debris cleared from city streets. One year ago today. Why the lack of meaningful progress with rebuilding efforts? Before you draw any conclusion, let me provide some
Nicholas D. Kristof wants to improve our lot by attracting top talent to public education. And he has the proof that an excellent teacher will result in students earning an additional $500 per year. But his proof only works because he ignores the potential productivity lost when talent is drawn from other fields by his proposed $65,000 starting
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.