Regulation Policy & Welfare

The Predilection for Planning: National Industrial Policy, Again

by Richard M. Ebeling September 1, 1992

It seems that no matter how many times governmental planning is implemented and fails, the temptation to try to design the economic system through political means remains irresistible. One of the reasons for this was explained in the 1880s by the English economist Walter Bagehot, who warned, "All Governments like to interfere; it elevates their position to make out ...

Spending Our Way to Prosperity

by Jacob G. Hornberger June 1, 1992

American politicians and bureaucrats continually bombard us with the notion that the road to prosperity lies in increased spending by the citizenry. It is one of the most destructive economic myths promoted by our governmental officials. And unless the American people carefully reason out the processes by which people ...

Playing Monopoly in the Real World

by Jacob G. Hornberger May 1, 1992

There are three major monopolies in the United States that have plagued the American people throughout most of this century. Yet despite their professed opposition to monopolies, the American people simply cannot bring themselves to end them. But end them we must — for they are among the most tyrannical and destructive aspects of the American welfare-state, regulated-economy way ...

Quick Fixes and Economic Fallacies

by Richard M. Ebeling May 1, 1992

The famous English economist Alfred Marshall is reported to have once remarked that "students of social science must fear popular approval; evil is with them when all men speak well of them. If there is any set of opinions by the advocacy of which a newspaper can increase its sales, then the student . . . is bound to ...

Monopoly

by Dominick T. Armentano May 1, 1992

I have been teaching economics at the university level for twenty-five years. Easily the most often-asked questions relate to monopolies. The questions are often put in the following form: "In an economy free of governmental regulation, wouldn't a firm or group of firms obtain a monopoly over some vital resource or ...

Push the Button

by Jacob G. Hornberger April 1, 1992

Should the welfare state be eliminated all at once or phased out over time? Some of the most committed freedom-devotees waffle when it comes to that question. They maintain that the immediate elimination of the welfare system would be unfair or harmful to those who benefit from the welfare apparatus. We must never lose sight of the fact that the ...

Tyranny at the State and Local Level

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 1992

Tyranny at the state and local level is out of control. In order to benefit the politically privileged, state and local governments — like their national counterpart — are using their tax and regulatory powers to plunder and loot the citizenry. There are few better examples of this tyranny than the ...

Collectivist Myths and Racial Prejudice

by Richard M. Ebeling October 1, 1991

One of the most effective Marxian methods of argument has been to claim that what appears as reality is in fact illusion. For over a hundred years, Marxists have insisted that such bourgeois freedoms as freedom of speech and press, and the right of contract and exchange, hide from view ...

An Open Letter to American Blacks

by Jacob G. Hornberger October 1, 1991

The prospects for freedom in America may very well lie with you. For you have been most damaged by the welfare-state, planned-economy way of life. I wish to share some of my perspectives with you in the hopes that you will help lead our nation to break free of this enslaving ...

The Legacy of Leonard E. Read

by Jacob G. Hornberger September 1, 1991

Few people have had a bigger impact on my life than Leonard E. Read, the founder of The Foundation for Economic Education in Irvington, New York. I shall never forget the day I discovered a set of books entitled Essays on Liberty which were published by FEE long ago and which included many essays by Read. My life has ...

The Farm Program Fiasco

by Dominick T. Armentano August 1, 1991

All government programs are sacred cows. Once taxpayers fund anything, a vocal constituency develops to assert that the nation could not survive another day without the program. This is one reason why the 1990 deficit-reduction package did not cut one program or one bureaucrat or even one penny from total federal spending.

Something Must Be Done!

by Richard M. Ebeling May 1, 1991

During hard times there are few phrases as frequently heard as, "Something must be done!" And what is usually meant by the phrase is that governmental action is needed to cure the economic woes of society. In other words, government spending should be increased to raise the demand for goods and ...