Freedom Daily Archive

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 ...

Freedom to Farm Washington

by James Bovard January 1, 1999

Nothing better symbolizes the collapse of Republican principles than the multiple farm bailouts that Congress enacted late last year. Agricultural subsidies are skyrocketing, and the 1996 "Freedom to Farm Act" - ritually invoked as a triumph of the Republican Revolution - is as much in ruins as a Sudanese pharmaceutical factory. The 1996 act, which supposedly set the following seven ...

Putting the Taxpayers at Risk, Part 1

by Doug Bandow January 1, 1999

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 President Clinton has not let a little scandal stand in the way of his ongoing attempt to scam the American people. As talk of impeachment enveloped him in Washington, he flew to New York City to give what his staff termed an "important" speech. Which meant a proposal for yet more taxpayer ...

The Spanish-American War: The Leap into Overseas Empire, Part 2

by Joseph R. Stromberg January 1, 1999

Part 1 | Part 2 In February 1899, uneasy relations between U.S. forces and the Filipino insurgents turned into actual fighting. America was now to learn the sorrows of empire along with its joys. Rallying under the slogan " No hay derecho a vender un pueblo como se vende un saco de patatas " ("There is no right to ...

Book Review: Problemas Economicos de Mexico

by Richard M. Ebeling January 1, 1999

Problemas Economicos de Mexico by Ludwig von Mises (Mexico City: Instituto Cultural Ludwig von Mises); 125 pages; $20. In December 1941, Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises was invited by Luis Montes de Oca, a former director of the Mexican central bank, to deliver a series of lectures in Mexico during January and February 1942. The Mexico visited by Mises was ...

Patriotism along the Southern Border, Part 1

by Jacob G. Hornberger December 1, 1998

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Not long ago, the patriotism of Mexican-Americans was called into question at an international soccer match in Los Angeles. Anglo-Americans were outraged that Mexican-Americans booed during the playing of the American national anthem and then cheered for the Mexican, rather than the American, soccer team. It wasn't so much that the ...

Monetary Central Planning and the State, Part 24: Milton Friedman’s Framework for Economic Stability

by Richard M. Ebeling December 1, 1998

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 ...

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 ...

Booze Busting: The New Prohibition

by James Bovard December 1, 1998

Sixty-odd years after the repeal of Prohibition, a new anti-alcohol fervor is sweeping the nation. The anti-alcohol mentality is leading to absurd practices: An elementary school in Brandon, Vermont, forced sixth-graders to undergo breath tests to see whether any of them had been consuming alcohol. As lawyer Richard Berman recently noted, "Last Christmas in Georgia, 13-year-old honor student Cosmo Zinkow was ...

The Spanish-American War: The Leap into Overseas Empire, Part 1

by Joseph R. Stromberg December 1, 1998

Part 1 | Part 2 The Spanish-American War, whose centennial we observe this year, was a short war, a popular war, and a rather cheap war, both in lives and money. It was, as John Hay, soon to be secretary of state, put it, "a splendid little war." It was, however, fraught with long-range consequences. As an easy, successful ...

Book Review: The Noblest Triumph

by Richard M. Ebeling December 1, 1998

The Noblest Triumph: Property and Prosperity through the Ages by Tom Bethell (New York: St. Martin's Press 1998); 378 pages; $29.95. For the classical liberals and classical economists of the 19th century, the institution of private property was considered fundamental for both freedom and prosperity. John R. McCulluch, one of the great popularizers of economic ideas in the mid 19th ...

A Libertarian Visits Mexico

by Jacob G. Hornberger November 1, 1998

Last summer, I spent a two-week vacation studying Spanish in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. I thought that the readers of Freedom Daily might find some of my experiences to be of interest. San Miguel de Allende is located in the heart of Mexico, about three hours north of Mexico City. This is the area of Mexico where the ...