Freedom Daily Archive

Child Labor and the British Industrial Revolution, Part 2

by Lawrence W. Reed October 1, 1999

Part 1 | Part 2 It has not been uncommon for historians, including many who lived and wrote in the 19th century, to report the travails of the apprentice children without ever realizing they were effectively indicting government, not the economic arrangement of free exchange we call capitalism. In 1857, Alfred Kydd published a two-volume work entitled ...

Time to Rethink the War on Drugs

by David Boaz October 1, 1999

Eighty-four percent of Americans say that possible cocaine use in his 20s should not disqualify Texas governor George W. Bush from being president. But if a cocaine user can go on to be president, why should we put young people in jail for using cocaine? Maybe the voters' indifference to Bush's possible past indicates that ...

Book Review: What do Economists Contribute?

by Richard M. Ebeling October 1, 1999

What Do Economists Contribute? edited by Daniel B. Klein (New York: New York University Press, 1999); 156 pages; $14.95. The following is the abstract of an economics article that appeared in the November 1998 issue of the International Economics Review: "The authors investigate confidence intervals and inference for the instrumental variables model with weak instruments. Confidence intervals based ...

The Nationalization of Income

by Jacob G. Hornberger September 1, 1999

It's election time and Republicans are making their quadrennial call for income-tax cuts. Democrats are opposing them because the federal government needs the money to shore up Medicare and Social Security. The entire debate obscures an uncomfortable truth — that in 1913, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution effectively nationalized the income of every American. Although most Americans honestly believe ...

The Surrender of Choice

by Jacob G. Hornberger September 1, 1999

Why do Americans continue to support such governmental programs as public schooling, Social Security, and drug laws? Advocates argue that these programs display a deep regard for education, compassion, and responsibility. However, isn't it possible that by surrendering the power of making individual choices in these important parts of ...

Monetary Central Planning and the State, Part 33: Murray N. Rothbard and the Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar

by Richard M. Ebeling September 1, 1999

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 ...

Justice, Not Compassion

by Sheldon Richman September 1, 1999

If the 2000 presidential race continues as it has begun, we might all best take a long nap and wake up when it's over. It might be so insipid that we could all suffer a terminal case of boredom. How many of us are looking forward to a year and a ...

Parity: Bureaucratic Tyranny by Moral Fraud

by James Bovard September 1, 1999

The word "fairness" sometimes has the same mesmerizing effect upon people's critical faculties that the phrase "divine right" had a few centuries ago. Modern morality is based on "push-button fairness": the government announces a new regulation, enforcers twist arms, and — voilà! — fairness triumphs. The vast expansion of ...

Child Labor and the British Industrial Revolution, Part 1

by Lawrence W. Reed September 1, 1999

Part 1 | Part 2 Everyone agrees that in the 100 years between 1750 and 1850 there took place in Great Britain profound economic changes. It was the age of the Industrial Revolution, complete with a cascade of technical innovations, a vast increase in industrial production, a renaissance of world trade, and a rapid growth of urban populations. Where historians ...

The Power of Truth

by Leo N. Tolstoy September 1, 1999

The power of the government is maintained by public opinion, and with this power the government, by means of its organs — its officials, law courts, schools, churches, even the press — can always maintain the public opinion which they need. Public opinion produces the power, and the power produces public opinion. And there appears ...

Book Review: Property and Freedom

by Richard M. Ebeling September 1, 1999

Property and Freedom by Richard Pipes (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999); 328pages; $30. In his 1848 treatise, The Principles of Political Economy, John Stuart Mill stated: "The laws and conditions of the production of wealth partake of the character of physical laws. There is nothing optional or arbitrary in them.... It is not so with the distribution of ...

A Libertarian Visits Cuba, Part 3

by Jacob G. Hornberger August 1, 1999

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Even though I knew that it is a serious criminal offense to criticize Cuban socialism, I was determined to deliver a presentation of libertarian principles in the middle of Havana. I got my chance when one of the research centers I visited asked me to explain libertarianism to its staff. I ...