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New Deal Utopianism

by George Leef June 19, 2013

Back to the Land: Arthurdale, FDR’s New Deal, and the Costs of Economic Planning by C.J. Maloney (Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, 2011), 292 pages. Drive south from Morgantown, West Virginia, and you soon come to the little town of Arthurdale. At the outskirts of town, there is a roadside plaque informing those who stop to read it that Arthurdale was ... [click for more]

Motives Aside, the NSA Should Not Spy on Us

by Sheldon Richman June 18, 2013

You need not suspect the motives of those responsible for NSA surveillance to detest what they are doing. In fact, we may have more to fear from spies acting out of patriotic zeal than those acting out of power lust or economic interest: Zealots are more likely to eschew restraints that might compromise their righteous cause. For the sake of ... [click for more]

The Libertarian Angle: NSA and Syria (video)

by Future of Freedom Foundation June 17, 2013

Jacob Hornberger and Sheldon Richman discuss the recent revelations about the NSA surveillance program and Obama's decision to arm the Syrian rebels. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly. Download audio here. Subscribe to the RSS feed. [click for more]

U.S. Military Admits Only 2.5 Percent of All Prisoners Ever Held at Guantánamo Will Be Tried

by Andy Worthington June 17, 2013

It’s official: Eleven and a half years after the “war on terror” prison opened at Guantánamo, the maximum number of prisoners that the U.S. military intends to prosecute, or has already prosecuted, is 20 — or just 2.5 percent of the 779 men held at the prison since it opened in January 2002. The news was announced on Monday, June ... [click for more]

TGIF: It’s Not Edward Snowden Who Betrayed Us

by Sheldon Richman June 14, 2013

When you cut through the fog, the NSA controversy is about whether we should trust people with institutional power. Edward Snowden’s courageous exposure of massive secret surveillance separates those who say yes from those who say, “Hell no!” The trusting attitude can be found among progressives and conservatives alike (with notable exceptions), and even some who have identified themselves ... [click for more]

Where Is the Conservative Outrage over the IRS?

by Laurence M. Vance June 13, 2013

The ongoing scandal concerning the IRS’s targeting conservative groups that applied for tax-exempt status shows just how close conservatives are to liberals and how far they are from libertarians. It has come to light that the IRS singled out conservative organizations that included the words “Tea Party” or “patriot” in their applications for 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status. Lois Lerner, ... [click for more]

The Fixed Economy and Central Banking

by Tim Kelly June 12, 2013

Last month Rolling Stone carried an article by investigative journalist Matt Taibbi with the provocative title “Everything Is Rigged: The Biggest Price-Fixing Scandal Ever.” Taibbi begins the piece by writing, Conspiracy theorists of the world, believers in the hidden hands of the Rothschilds and the Masons and the Illuminati, we skeptics owe you an apology. You were right. ... [click for more]

Obama Speaks with Forked Tongue on Surveillance

by Sheldon Richman June 11, 2013

It’s bad enough the federal government spies on us. Must it insult our intelligence too? The government’s response to Edward Snowden’s leaks about the National Security Agency’s secret monitoring of the Internet and collection of our telephone logs is a mass of contradictions. Officials have said the disclosures are (1) old news, (2) grossly inaccurate, and (3) a blow to ... [click for more]

Deflation, Liquidation, and Necessary Revisionism

by Tim Kelly June 11, 2013

During his ill-fated 1932 reelection campaign Herbert Hoover delivered a speech in which he said, In the midst of this hurricane the Republican administration kept a cool head, and it rejected every counsel of weakness and cowardice. Some of the reactionary economists urged that we should allow the liquidation to take its course until it had found its own bottom. ... [click for more]

The Libertarian Angle: Surveillance-State Tyranny

by Future of Freedom Foundation June 10, 2013

In this week's edition of The Libertarian Angle, Jacob Hornberger and Sheldon Richman discuss the recent disclosures about the National Security Agency's surveillance program. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly. Download the audio here. [click for more]

TGIF: The Lie Factory

by Sheldon Richman June 7, 2013

In his latest major address on foreign policy, President Obama said this: So after I took office … we pursued a new strategy in Afghanistan, and increased our training of Afghan forces.… In Afghanistan, we will complete our transition to Afghan responsibility for that country’s security. Our troops will come home. Our combat mission will come to an end. ... [click for more]

Taxi Tyranny

by Laurence M. Vance June 6, 2013

One of the most prevalent and persistent myths about the American economy is that it is based on the free market, or laissez-faire capitalism. True, when compared with much of the rest of the world, the United States appears to have a relatively free economy. The truth, however, is that in some sectors of the American economy, government intervention ... [click for more]