Government: Creator of Uncertainty by Sheldon Richman July 1, 2000 THE STOCK MARKET tumbles of recent months are a reminder that when it comes to economic phenomena, subjectivism reigns. One of the pillars of the Austrian school of economics is the principle that in explaining economic events, objective entities and quantities in themselves dont count. What counts is what human beings make of them. As F.A. Hayek wrote, It is ...
Clinton’s Fair-Trade Fraud by James Bovard July 1, 2000 PRESIDENT CLINTON prides himself on calling for “free and fair trade” with foreigners every chance he gets. However, what is the Clinton administration’s idea of fair trade? Few things better illustrate the political corruption of the idea of fairness than the abuses of the U.S. anti-dumping laws. Clinton’s Commerce Department found pretexts to condemn foreigners for unfair trade in 98 ...
FDR — The Man, the Leader, the Legacy, Part 10 by Ralph Raico July 1, 2000 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Table of Contents When it comes to the question of money, mankind ...
Book Review: Trust on Trial by Richard M. Ebeling July 1, 2000 Trust on Trial: How the Microsoft Case Is Reframing the Rules of Competition by Richard B. McKenzie (Cambridge, Mass.: Perseus Publishing, 2000); 281 pages; $26. IN HIS 1942 BOOK, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, Joseph A. Schumpeter argued, “The fundamental impulse that set and keeps the capitalist engine in motion comes from the new consumers’ goods, the new methods of production or ...
The Rule of Terror by Jacob G. Hornberger June 1, 2000 THE HORRIFYING SEIZURE of Elián Gonzalez is one more reflection of the depths of depravity to which the U.S. government has plunged in our lifetime. The episode also reflects the extent to which all too many Americans continue to deny the reality that beneath the velvet glove of the benign welfare state lies the iron fist of a brutal, ...
Imagining Freedom for the 21st Century: A Presidential Candidate’s Press Conference, Part 1 by Richard M. Ebeling June 1, 2000 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 The threshold of the 21st century, the American people are once again faced with having to choose a president of the United States. A hundred years ago, when the 20th century began, the issue of who was ...
Education and the Presidential Race by Sheldon Richman June 1, 2000 THE REPUBLICANS, as the old saying goes, never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Gov. George W. Bush demonstrated that truism when he clinched the presidential nomination and told the nation that education would be at the center of his campaign. Over and over he has said that a Bush presidency would “reform education” and make sure every ...
Census Bureau: A Threat to Freedom by James Bovard June 1, 2000 THERE ARE three certainties in life — death, taxes and the continuation of the Census Bureau’s proud tradition of keeping information it collects about individuals strictly private.” So announces the Census Bureau’s web page, seeking to assure Americans that they have nothing to fear by opening their lives to the prying of this year’s census. Regrettably, after seven years of ...
Count Me Out! by Carl Watner June 1, 2000 HISTORY DETECTIVES UNITE! What is the common element in the following episodes in American history? • On his march through Georgia, near the end of the Civil War, Gen. William T. Sherman used a map annotated with county-by-county livestock and crop information “to help his troops ’live off the land.’”
It Didn’t Start with Elián by Michael A. Ledeen June 1, 2000 MOST AMERICANS probably believe that it is wrong for the U.S. to return a refugee to an evil tyranny from which he has escaped even if they question whether this principle applies to a small child like Elián Gonzalez. Most Americans probably also believe that our government has generally acted in accordance with this principle. Not so. Our history of ...
God and the Economy: Is Capitalism Moral? Part 2 by Doug Bandow June 1, 2000 Part 1 | Part 2 Economic Freedom is important because it helps disperse power, allowing the development of private institutions — for instance, associations, corporations, think tanks, labor unions, and universities — that can counterbalance state power. Moreover, private property is necessary for the exercise of many political rights. If you can’t buy a printing ...
Book Review: 15 Great Austrian Economists by Richard M. Ebeling June 1, 2000 15 Great Austrian Economists edited by Randall G. Holcombe (Auburn, Ala.: Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1999); 258 pages; $15.95. TWENTY-SIX YEARS AGO, in June 1974, I was fortunate enough to be invited by the Institute for Humane Studies to be one of 40 people who attended a week-long conference on Austrian economics in South Royalton, Vermont. After a decades long hiatus, ...