Beware of trade restrictions, writes N. Joseph Potts; they are often followed by war. Iraq is only one case. The United States embargoed sales of scrap iron to Japan before the war with that country began in 1941, and probably worse, secretly colluded with Britain, China, and the Netherlands (which at the time controlled oilfields in Indonesia) to deny petroleum resources to Japan, a step still cited today in Japanese accounts of the causes of its war with the United States.
The Federal government, which sets the pace, reported a $555 million deficit for the 2003 fiscal year; its total debt is given at $6.783 trillion. For the next two years the budget deficits are estimated at $566 billion to $644 billion each, which should increase its total debt to more than $8 trillion, or some $27,000 for every man, woman, and child.
Laurence Vance offers a critique of John Merrifield's school voucher proposal. If the public school system were abolished, or even rendered irrelevant, what would be the point in collecting tax money from all citizens and redistributing it to those who have school-age children? How is this any different from a Great Society redistribution scheme? In short, Merrifield's "competition" and "choice" could, in practice, amount to vast wealth redistribution and another layer of educational central planning: not choice but market-based socialism.
The capture of Saddam unleashed so much euphoria that many people have forgotten that the original justification for the war was not merely
Modern arguments for tariffs smack of the same old mercantilist arguments that have been refuted by economists going back to Adam Smith.
The newest trade deals involving American corporations and the Chinese government look less like free trade and more like mafia thuggery, writes Jude Blanchette. Using the threat of trade sanctions, the U.S. government has bullied the Chinese into purchasing billions of dollars in goods from only a few corporations. Just as the mob would exact tribute, the U.S. government is now playing the part of the mob and the Chinese government playing the hapless storeowner.
When the Winter Olympics came to Salt Lake City last year, some of the dirt that visiting journalists dug up to soil Utah's good name was the issue of polygamy. Polygamy, the practice of having more than one spouse at the same time, especially wives, is against the law. But, should it be?
Politicians believe that the size of the economy is fixed and they only have to decide how to divide it up, writes Richard Teather. Austrian economists, with their focus on the real world and human nature, know better; wealth does not just exist, it has to be created, and the disincentive effects of government actions do not just distribute wealth—they actively destroy it.
When the employer paid portion of the tax is added, then the percentage of American households that pay more in payroll taxes than income taxes is 74%. This is robbery of an entire generation of workers--in the name of providing them security, no less--and yet hardly anyone wants to talk about it.
