Socialism

The 80th Anniversary of F. A. Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom

by Richard M. Ebeling February 1, 2024

Eighty years ago, in March 1944, the British edition of Friedrich A. Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom was published. An American edition appeared six months later, in September 1944. During these eight decades, Hayek’s book has become a classic work in defense of the liberal free-market society and against socialist central planning. Often, when a book has received the status ...

Democrats, Republicans, and Social Security

by Laurence M. Vance January 5, 2024

Social Security recipients received a 3.2 percent increase in their benefits at the beginning of this year thanks to Social Security’s annual cost of living adjustment (COLA). President Biden and his fellow Democrats, and even many conservatives, want them to receive even more money from the U.S. treasury. . Since 1975, Social Security beneficiaries have received cost-of-living ...

To Cure Healthcare, We Need to Kill Government Involvement

by Robert E. Wright August 1, 2023

Most Americans need not have seen the recent headline announcing that Connecticut healthcare insurers seek to raise premiums by over 20 percent to realize that America’s healthcare system is badly broken -- overly expensive and insufficiently healthful. What they have yet to fully grasp is that it’s almost entirely the government’s fault. Instead, many applaud socialized medicine, ...

Biden’s Wrecking Ball Benevolence for Homebuyers

by James Bovard July 1, 2023

When did being creditworthy become a federal crime? The Biden administration is intentionally punishing homebuyers with good credit scores to subsidize people with shaky histories of paying their debts. But the latest salvation scheme ignores the sordid history of federal policymakers ravaging homeowners they promised to rescue. As of May 1, a Biden administration decree requires adjusting mortgage calculations to ...

Why Does NPR Still Exist?

by Laurence M. Vance April 14, 2023

One of the hallmarks of authoritarian countries is that the media is state-run or under the direct supervision or control of the government. The Xinhua News Agency is the official state news agency in China. Al-Akhbar, Al-Ahram, and Al-Gomhuriya are state-owned national newspapers in Egypt. Cuba prohibits privately owned media. According to Reporters Without Borders, China, Egypt, and ...

What Republicans Aren’t Saying about Food Stamps

by Laurence M. Vance April 4, 2023

According to Democrats and their allies at progressive and liberal outlets, millions of Americans are going to go to bed hungry or starving to death because the extra food-stamp benefits they were receiving because of the “pandemic” ended last month. Now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the food-stamp program is a federal program administered by ...

The Roots of American Dysfunctionality, Part 2

by Jacob G. Hornberger March 1, 2023

Part 1 | Part 2 The United States once had the finest health-care system in history. When I was growing up in the 1950s — before Medicare and Medicaid came into existence — medical costs were low and stable. Hardly anyone had major-medical insurance. That’s because they didn’t need it. Going to the doctor was like going to the ...

Trump’s Big Lie about Medicare and Social Security

by Laurence M. Vance February 21, 2023

In a recent brief video message to his supporters, former president and current 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump warned Republicans about cutting Medicare or Social Security: Under no circumstances should Republicans vote to cut a single penny from Medicare or Social Security to help pay for Joe Biden’s reckless spending spree. . . . Do not cut ...

The Roots of American Dysfunctionality, Part 1

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 2023

Part 1 | Part 2 Among the best examples of the dysfunctional nature of American society are the mass killings that take place on a regular basis. As everyone knows, many of them occur without any rational motive. Someone just decides that he is going to go out and kill a bunch of people. Whenever one of these mass killings ...

The Conservative Cradle-to-Grave Welfare State

by Laurence M. Vance January 17, 2023

Although conservatives are commonly characterized as being against welfare and government intervention in the economy, nothing could be further from the truth. But don’t take my word for it: Just look at the latest plan put out by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a beltway conservative think tank. According to AEI’s Organization and Purposes: The American Enterprise Institute ...

There Is Such a Thing as a Free Lunch

by Laurence M. Vance September 13, 2022

There is such a thing as a free lunch—even at religious schools. At the end of September, the “Biden-Harris administration” will be hosting the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health—the first in over 50 years.  In conjunction with the conference, “the administration will also release a National Strategy with actions the federal government will take ...

Republicans Ignore the Elephant in the Room

by Laurence M. Vance September 2, 2022

It is ironic that although the symbol of the Republican Party is an elephant, Republicans fail to see the massive elephant in the room when it comes to President Biden’s plan to cancel student loan debt. According to Student Loan Hero—a company “founded to help student loan borrowers organize, manage, and repay their student loan debt” by ...