Free Trade & Trade Policy

Don’t Blame the Thermometer for the Fever

by Sheldon Richman January 1, 1999

When communism collapsed a few years ago, people thought that the last grand ideological debate over political economy had finally ended. Supposedly, we were all capitalists now. But this is clearly not the case. The world's political leaders show no signs of a commitment to capitalism, if by that term we mean truly free markets and individual liberty. On the ...

Spines of Jello, Not Steel

by Sheldon Richman December 1, 1998

It's that time again when America's big tough steel companies and steel workers go whimpering to the federal government asking for protection from foreign steel bullies. "Prices are too low," they cry to the government. "Protect us!" Since World War II this has happened more times than you can count. Every ...

Toying with the Free Market

by Sheldon Richman December 1, 1998

Here's a noteworthy story from the Washington Post last September: "Toys 'R' Us Inc., the world's largest toy retailer, announced a major restructuring yesterday in an effort to shore up the chain's sales and profits, which have flagged as a result of growing competition from discounters and changes in the way children play." The article goes on to explain that ...

The Minimum Wage: Enemy of the Poor

by Jacob G. Hornberger December 1, 1998

Whenever politicians wish to score political points, they recommend raising the minimum wage. Parading as champions of the poor and downtrodden, they cry out against all those selfish and greedy employers who are paying less-than-subsistence wages to their employees. The truth is that whenever public officials enact or raise a ...

A-Scalping We Van Gogh

by Sheldon Richman November 1, 1998

Besides Monica, the other person who's captured attention in Washington, D.C., these days is a troubled man who killed himself more than a hundred years ago. Until January 4, the National Gallery of Art is exhibiting more than 70 paintings by Vincent van Gogh on loan from Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum. The ...

Prosecute the Postal Service, not Microsoft

by Jacob G. Hornberger October 1, 1998

The U.S. Justice Department has hauled Microsoft into court with the ostensible purpose of protecting American consumers from another big, bad monopoly. As with other antitrust suits, it's all a waste of time, energy, and resources. The only monopolies that should be ended are the legal ones - that is, those ...

Government: Destroyer of Wealth

by Sheldon Richman October 1, 1998

That ugly sucking sound coming from Washington, D.C., is the federal government's antitrust case against Microsoft. For as long as this case lasts, it will be like a monster vacuum cleaner powerfully drawing wealth from the pockets of every American, and everyone else in the world for that matter. The ...

Protectionism: Rearing Its Ugly Head Again

by Jacob G. Hornberger August 1, 1998

One of the principal tenets of libertarianism is the right of people to freely trade their goods and services with others. The reasoning is based on moral principles underlying private property and individual freedom. Each of us has the right to sustain his life by utilizing the talents and abilities with which we have been endowed by the Creator. ...

Tariffs as Enemies of Freedom

by James Bovard August 1, 1998

Some prominent protectionists, such as Pat Buchanan, are portraying high tariffs as an engine of national liberation — as a way to save Americans from foreign threats. However, tariffs always have been and always will be an enemy to individual freedom. The U.S. tariff code is the accumulated junk heap ...

Restriction and Free Trade

by Fredric Bastiat August 1, 1998

Two opposite doctrines oppose each other: The one, which is dominant in legislation and opinions, sees the way of progress in the surplus of sales over purchases, of exports over imports — in a word, what is called balance of trade. The other, which we try to propagate, is the exact ...

The Antitrust Absurdity

by Sheldon Richman June 1, 1998

The Federal Trade Commission has aimed its antitrust cannon at Intel Corp., maker of the microprocessor used in 90 percent of personal computers. The FTC charges Intel with refusing to provide information about its chips to certain computer makers with which it has legal disputes. At first, it ...

Some Free-Enterprise System

by Sheldon Richman May 1, 1998

The booming U.S. high-tech industry is doing so well it can't find enough well-trained employees to handle all the work. There are too few prospects in the United States to fill the need, so companies have recruited abroad. The problem is that a foreign-born person can't just move to the ...