Free Markets

Again, this is not just about terminology. It is about the assumptions many people bring to the subject of economics as it affects ethics.

In sum, the real cause of continually rising food prices is the printing of money by world governments. And the real cause of actual food shortages is the prevention of profitable global trade in food by the ill-advised policies of the governments of the very people who are starving.

Such is not the stuff of shortages but of market prices coordinating the allocation of scarce resources exceptionally well — and in reality, not just theory.

In sum, the real cause of continually rising food prices is the printing of money by world governments. And the real cause of actual food shortages is the prevention of profitable global trade in food by the ill-advised policies of the governments of the very people who are starving.

There is a further problem: to concede that there are social problems that cannot be corrected without the state is to give up the entire argument over the future of liberty itself.

Reading about Katz's journey causes those of us at middle age to reflect, and think about packing our bags.

But even if you are not likely to be among them, consider the loss of privacy, the loss of liberty, the loss of independence, the loss of all that used to be considered truly American, in the course of building prison nation.

Let us not be swayed by politicians out for power or by reporters out to create news where none exists. Facts and economic logic should prevail rather than rhetoric.

Make fuel from corn, by all means, if the free market signals that this the most pressing need and, hence, the most lucrative use for the crop.

The problem here is that the original Friedman thesis was wrong.