In the escalating negativity in American politics, each side of every battle constantly unearths arcane new details that attack the other sides, which partisans quickly incorporate into dueling character assassinations. As a result, we are inundated with stories about ministers with controversial statements, supposed examples of corruption,
Wifredo Lam (1902–1982), “The Jungle” Museum of Modern Art, NY Opponents of private-property rights and the market mechanisms they give rise to routinely appeal to emotional reflexes in their condemnation of capitalism. As Murray Rothbard described one of their favorite lines of attack, The free-market economy, they charge, is “the rule of the
At its heart, liberty means renouncing the use of coercion against others. That is why those who would employ coercion against others must invent arguments to defend their actions as consistent with liberty. That is also why slavery — the opposite of liberty — is a useful touchstone in evaluating defenses that coercion is consistent with liberty,
In a world of scarcity, every choice requires that something else of value must be given up, and the highest-valued alternative given up is the opportunity cost. That opportunity-cost emphasis focuses on the question of what is actually being given up when a choice is made. Its purpose is to ensure that we don’t mislead ourselves with basic
Ron Paul’s bid for the U.S. presidency ranks among the most heroic anyone has ever undertaken. We live in emergency times, with a choice between forms of socialism or fascism. The parties’ leadership have embraced this decrepit old model, despite all evidence of the bankruptcy of statism. Ron alone dared pose a challenge. His bid has also been the
Americans have given up celebrating George Washington’s birthday in exchange for a 3-day weekend. The price includes overlooking the wisdom he has to offer us. That is particularly unfortunate at a time of intense political partisanship, illustrated by the Presidential campaigns, because he had plenty to say about such factionalism. The danger of
Pyramid scams collapse when they run out of enough new “investors” to pay earlier promises. Some use this fact to deny that Social Security is really a massive redistribution scheme, since it has lasted over 70 years. That assertion misses two substantial differences between Social Security and other Ponzi schemes however: Social Security involves
Despite being “virtually an asterisk in history books today,” in one writer’s words, John Adams is the subject of a new $100 million HBO miniseries. Given his leading role in America’s Revolution and the beginnings of Constitutional government, Adams deserves the renewed attention. John Adams wrote a Stamp Act protest that became a model for other
Remember the president’s scheme to “privatize” Social Security? (I put the word in quotes to point out that the plan was never actual privatization.) Let’s say Bush had actually achieved his goal of creating private accounts that you are forced to contribute to, and a sizable swath of the American public had invested in safe mutual funds spread
Economists emphasize the importance of the concept of opportunity cost. TANSTAAFL — “there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch” — pervades the discipline. In a world of scarcity, every choice requires that something else of value must be given up, and the highest-valued alternative given up is the opportunity cost. That opportunity-cost emphasis
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.