Daily Articles

The Iranian Threat That Never Was

by Sheldon Richman March 26, 2014

If you take politicians and the mainstream media seriously, you believe that Iran wants a nuclear weapon and has relentlessly engaged in covert efforts to build one. Even if you are aware that Iran signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and is subject to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections, you may believe that those who run the Islamic ...

Why Should Republicans Object to Obama’s New Budget?

by Laurence M. Vance March 26, 2014

Barack Obama earlier this month unveiled his $3.9 trillion budget plan for fiscal year 2015. “It is a road map for creating jobs with good wages and expanding opportunity for Americans,” said the president. Although the Constitution doesn’t mention a federal budget, and it is ultimately up to Congress — not the president — to decide how much ...

The Libertarian Angle: Sanctions

by Future of Freedom Foundation March 24, 2014

FFF president Jacob Hornberger and FFF vice president Sheldon Richman discuss the horrible effects of governmental sanctions. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly. Go to the podcast.

Welfare Without the State

by Nelson Hultberg March 24, 2014

Libertarians and free-market conservatives take an unequivocal stand on the provision of state welfare. It should be phased out and returned to the private sector. Charity is not a proper function of government. This, of course, attracts the usual horrified denunciations of, "My God, what kind of human being are you? Don't you have any compassion? How can you wish ...

TGIF: The American Disease

by Sheldon Richman March 21, 2014

If the purpose of U.S. intervention in the affairs of other countries is really to help suffering people, the program has a fatal flaw. (This should surprise no one familiar with other government programs.) The flaw is that the U.S. government does opposition movements no favors when it gives credibility to the charge that those movements are tools of ...

Did Team Obama Blunder or Conspire in Ukraine?

by Sheldon Richman March 20, 2014

While no one ever lost money overestimating the capacity of the U.S. government to blunder, we cannot rule out that American officials knew exactly what they were doing when they helped provoke the crisis in Ukraine. It is hard to believe that all these officials are so ignorant of Russian history that they could not anticipate how President Vladimir Putin ...

The Libertarian Angle: Ukraine, Immigration, and Bitcoin

by Future of Freedom Foundation March 17, 2014

FFF president Jacob Hornberger and FFF vice president Sheldon Richman discuss Ukraine, immigration, and Bitcoin. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly. Go to the podcast.

TGIF: Empire on Their Minds

by Sheldon Richman March 14, 2014

The conflict in Ukraine has prompted several level-headed commentators to point out that, of all governments, the U.S. government is in no position to lecture Russia about respecting other nations’ borders. When Secretary of State John Kerry said on Meet the Press, “This is an act of aggression that is completely trumped up in terms of its pretext.… You ...

How Americans Can Help Ukrainians

by Sheldon Richman March 13, 2014

It can’t be easy living in Russia’s shadow, and I envy no one in that position. Given its long history and, consequently, the temperament of its leaders (and a good part of its population), Russia for the foreseeable future will be a regional power with an attitude. Thus it will ever be concerned with what happens on its ...

FFF Webinar: Intellectual Property and Its Unlibertarian Consequences

by Sheldon Richman March 13, 2014

On Wednesday, March 12, 2014 FFF vice president and editor Sheldon Richman hosted a free, interactive online webinar entitled "Intellectual Property Consequences and Its Unlibertarian Consequences." This was an interactive experience with Sheldon and the participants. This video includes Sheldon's slides and the audio, but not the video feed.

Making Men Rapists

by Wendy McElroy March 12, 2014

It is called “affirmative consent.” It is a new front in the growing regulatory oversight of the most intimate aspect of personal life: making love or having sex. If the White House Council on Women and Girls gets its way, then the doctrine of affirmative consent will regulate sex on a campus near you. It may already ...

The Business Cycle Explained

by George Leef March 11, 2014

It Didn’t Have to Be This Way: Why Boom and Bust Is Unnecessary — and How the Austrian School of Economics Breaks the Cycle by Harry C. Veryser (Intercollegiate Studies Institute 2012), 318 pages. This is one instance where a book’s subtitle tells the reader much more about its content than the title does. You know at once ...