Regulation Policy & Welfare

The Fall of Libertarianism or the Failure of Interventionism? A Reply to Francis Fukuyama

by Richard M. Ebeling July 1, 2002

FRANCIS FUKUYAMA gained international recognition in 1989 when he published an article in The National Interest entitled “The End of Man.” He offered a “Hegelian” conception of the evolution and direction of human history. In short, he argued that human society was following a dialectical trajectory of development that would end with the triumph of liberal democracy around the ...

Farmers Should Oppose Socialism

by Scott McPherson July 1, 2002

The Brownsville, Tennessee, offices of the Department of Agriculture were the scene of a recent five-day sit-in by black farmers who claim that government loan applications are being stalled by a racist system. Instead of complaining about racism, though, they should be complaining about socialism. Over the last 70 years, ...

When Will the Catastrophists Learn?

by Sheldon Richman July 1, 2002

The doomsayers never give up. Whats more, they are an ever-moving target. Refute one of their claims of catastrophe, and they are back with another before you can say, “The future is bright.” Sometimes even the good news is bad. The global catastrophists, such a Paul Ehrlich, used to say, “The ...

Liberty, Property, and Automobiles

by Bart Frazier June 1, 2002

The Board of Supervisors in Fairfax County, Va., recently passed a measure that limits the portion of a home’s front yard that can be paved for a driveway to 25 percent (30 percent for very small lots) and also prohibits parking on the homeowner’s grass. Why are too many ...

No Bailout for Amtrak

by Bart Frazier June 1, 2002

Once again, Amtrak is in dire need of our tax dollars. Without a cash infusion, Amtrak president David Gunn said it will have to halt operations. Negotiations are now underway that will provide a guaranteed “loan” (read: subsidy) to the railroad. The question that no one seems to ...

Freedom, the Income Tax, and the Welfare State

by Jacob G. Hornberger May 1, 2002

Americans have come to believe that the IRS and the income tax are inevitable parts of our lives. After all, most everyone alive today has lived his entire life under federal income taxation. It wasn’t always that way. For some 125 years, the American people lived without having any tax imposed upon their income. The obvious question that arises is: Why ...

The State Tells Us Where We Can and Cannot Eat

by Jacob G. Hornberger April 1, 2002

An Amish farm has come under attack from the paternalistic welfare state in Pennsylvania. According to a story in the New York Times, many Amish families are offering hungry tourists a home-cooked meal in return for a donation. This has put both the State Bureau of Food Safety as well as the ...

Why Congress Investigates Enron

by Jacob G. Hornberger April 1, 2002

Members of Congress are certainly licking their chops over the Enron affair. Now why would that be? Could it be that they cannot resist investigating a company that apparently lied to the public, misrepresented its financial situation, kept lousy records, engaged in conflicts of interest, and acted covertly? Wait, that sounds ...

Bush Betrays Free Enterprise

by Sheldon Richman April 1, 2002

There’s no longer any excuse for thinking that President Bush is a champion of free-enterprise capitalism. The week of March 4 sealed the question. He began the week by imposing tariffs up to 30 percent on imported steel. True, he didn’t give the industry and the steelworkers all that they wanted. He ...

Netscape Gets the Green

by Sheldon Richman March 1, 2002

Imagine the nerve of a company that gives away its product in an attempt to knock off the dominant firm in an industry. I have one such company in mind right now. It went all out to make it easy for consumers to have free access to its product. You couldn’t ...

Enron and the Cheney List

by Sheldon Richman March 1, 2002

The controversy over Vice President Dick Cheney’s secret energy-policy consultation list is amusing. Government should certainly err on the side of disclosing such things, but that’s not the point here. Those most vocal in demanding the list seem to be saying they can’t judge the Bush administration’s energy policy ...

Farmers: Get a Job!

by Sheldon Richman February 1, 2002

It kind of makes me wonder what country I'm living in when I pick up the newspaper and read this from the Associated Press: "With crop prices mired near record lows, the government says farm earnings will drop 20 percent this year unless Congress enacts a new farm program or approves ...