Socialism

The Libertarian Angle: Democratic Socialism (video)

by Future of Freedom Foundation July 11, 2018

What is democratic socialism and what is its import for a free society? FFF president Jacob G. Hornberger and Richard M. Ebeling discuss. Go to the podcast.

A Divergent Convergence of Epic Proportions

by Laurence M. Vance June 6, 2018

Social Security is in dire straits. Payroll tax increases and benefit cuts are on the horizon. According to the latest annual report by the Social Security Board of Trustees (“The 2017 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds”), Social Security’s combined trust funds face ...

The Libertarian Angle: Marx’s 200th Birthday (video)

by Future of Freedom Foundation May 8, 2018

Some are celebrating the the 200th birthday of Karl Marx, author of Das Kapital. Jacob Hornberger and Richard Ebeling tell you why it is no reason to celebrate. Go to the podcast.

Karl Marx and Marxism at Two Hundred

by Richard M. Ebeling May 7, 2018

German translation Greek translation A specter continues to haunt the world, the specter of Karl Marx. Two hundred years ago, on May 5, 1818, the father of twentieth century totalitarian communism, the guidebook writer of revolutionary mass-murdering dictatorship, and the inspirer of disastrous socialist central planning was born in Trier, Germany. Looking ...

Paternalistic Follies of the 1960s

by Richard M. Ebeling April 9, 2018

Fifty years separate us, now, from 1968 and the two momentous legacies of the then soon to ending failed presidency of Lyndon Johnson: The declaring of war on America's supposed domestic ills in the form of the "Great Society" programs, and the aggressive military intervention in a real war in Vietnam. Both of these "wars" reflected the arrogance and ...

Collectivism’s Progress: From Marxism to Race and Gender Intersectionality

by Richard M. Ebeling March 19, 2018

By many objective signs and indicators the world is becoming a far more materially comfortable place. Over the last thirty years, tens of millions of people have been raised out of poverty in various parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America. At the same time, new technologies have been transforming communications and conveniences of everyday life. Yet, present political ...

Dismantling Roosevelt’s New Deal

by Jacob G. Hornberger March 1, 2018

In the midst of the congressional debate over Donald Trump’s tax bill, leftists accused Republicans of planning to dismantle Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. While the fear-mongering was baseless, given that Republicans favor the New Deal programs and philosophy as much as liberals do, the question naturally arises: Why shouldn’t Americans dismantle this almost- century-old socialist and interventionist experiment?   It is ...

Public Goods, National Defense, and Central Planning

by Richard M. Ebeling February 26, 2018

The competitive market economy is a powerful institutional mechanism for bringing human ingenuity, energy and creativity to bear to improve both the material and cultural circumstances of multitudes of people around the world. Wherever relatively free market capitalism is operating, it succeeds in ending human poverty and brings about rising standards of living for hundreds of millions, indeed, now ...

Why Not End Funding Now?

by Laurence M. Vance February 2, 2018

Donald Trump’s possible decision to end NASA’s funding of the International Space Station by 2025 brings up that age-old question of the proper role of government, although it is certainly not he who is bringing it up. The International Space Station (ISS) program is a joint operation between NASA and the space agencies of Russia, Japan, Canada, ...

Paul Leroy-Beaulieu: A Warning Voice About the Socialist Tragedy to Come

by Richard M. Ebeling January 29, 2018

The Russian Revolution of November 1917, now being marked by its centenary, ushered in a hundred years of political tyranny and terror, economic suffering, exploitation and corruption, along with unimaginable mass murder, among the tens of millions of people who came under the control and command of Marxist inspired socialist regimes around the world.  But before this tragic episode ...

Red-Green Delusions on Soviet-Bloc History

by James Bovard January 1, 2018

The New York Times is running a series of “Red Century” articles extolling some of the virtues of communism on the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution. Last August, the Times showcased a Yale University lecturer rhapsodizing about the Soviets’ environmental record in a piece headlined, “Lenin’s Eco-Warriors.” The piece hailed Lenin as “a longtime enthusiast for hiking and ...

Paycheck Plus Welfare

by Laurence M. Vance January 1, 2018

Just as a rose by any other name would still smell just as sweet, so welfare by any other name still reeks of dependency, taxation, wealth redistribution, fraud, redundancy, inefficiency, and income- transfer payments. Yet, pleas to maintain the welfare state never cease. And some even want to expand it. Like MDRC, “a nonprofit, nonpartisan education and social policy research ...