Daily Articles

Amazon Taxes Rely on Economic Fallacy

by Fergus Hodgson July 7, 2011

The “Amazon” tax neither generates revenue nor creates a level playing field. It does eliminate profitable relationships and drive companies out-of-state, but that hasn’t stopped elected officials from plowing ahead obstinately. Concerned that people can avoid sales taxes by shopping online, seven states have passed legislation to place out-of-state retailers within their jurisdiction. Fourteen more have ...

Sinking Entrepreneurship

by Rich Schwartzman July 7, 2011

It happens every spring. Umpires shout out to grown men, “Play ball,” and bureaucrats shout out to kids, “Shut down that lemonade stand.” While the latter might not happen every year, it happens often enough. Sometimes a mayor will trot out, tell the bullying code-enforcement officers to go away and then he buys a glass of lemonade to show what ...

Whither U. S. Energy Policy?

by Laurence M. Vance July 6, 2011

President Obama has authorized the release of 30 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). The oil reserve is currently at a historically high level of 727 million barrels. “We are taking this action in response to the ongoing loss of crude oil due to supply disruptions in Libya and other countries and their impact on ...

Coming Soon to an Airport Near You

by Wendy McElroy July 6, 2011

If you fly within the United States in the future, keep your expression neutral, do not blink too much or too little, and do not sweat. Carefully maintain a normal respiration and heart beat as you submit to demands from Homeland Security agents. If you question or resist their demands, you could be detained as a pre-crime suspect, fined ...

The Jacob Hornberger Show: July 2, 2011

by Jacob G. Hornberger July 5, 2011

The Jacob Hornberger Show broadcasts live every Saturday night at 7pm EST. Visit FFF's Ustream Channel to watch the show live. Download the MP3 here, or subscribe to the RSS feed.

The Isolationist Red Herring

by Sheldon Richman July 1, 2011

The media have picked up a new buzzword: “isolationist.” They jumped on it after Sen. John McCain, who seems to want the United States to be at war everywhere, said after the last Republican presidential debate, “I do want to send a message, and that is that we cannot move into an isolationist party.” He was soon joined by ...

Lessons from the Middle East, Part 2

by Jacob G. Hornberger June 30, 2011

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Among the many ways that our American ancestors viewed the role of government in a free society that were so different from modern-day Americans was how they regarded militarism and a standing army. Our ancestors disdained the concept of professional armies because they viewed them as antithetical to freedom. Keep in ...

TSA Abuses: Seeing the Forest and the Trees

by Anthony Gregory June 30, 2011

The Transportation Security Administration is finally getting some of the bad publicity it deserves. We read about an elderly woman forced to remove her adult diaper to go through the screening process. We learn about a mentally disabled passenger deprived of his harmless toy by a sadistic policy, if not sadistic TSA agents. We see pictures of women and ...

Red-Light Camera Feud Reveals Ulterior Motives

by Fergus Hodgson June 29, 2011

By their very name, public servants claim to work for their fellow community members. The recent stand-offs over red-light cameras, however, indicate that many such officials have, to put it gently, conflicting interests. Twenty-five states and Washington, D.C., use red-light cameras, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors last week agreed to a resolution (p188) ...

Bathing in Irresponsibility

by Rich Schwartzman June 29, 2011

To borrow from Neville Chamberlain, there is peace in our time here in Pennsylvania. Gov. Tom Corbett on June 23 signed into law a bill that bans bath salts, thereby saving us from self-responsibility. The Keystone state is now the 21st state in the country to have a law prohibiting the possession or sale of these products that have been ...

Two Wrongs on Libya Won’t Make a Right

by Laurence M. Vance June 28, 2011

Since the day President Obama began his military escapade against Libya on March 19, members of Congress have expressed indignation because they were not consulted. Not, mind you, because they necessarily oppose any of the wars the United States has been or is currently involved in, but because they were not asked to sign off on the military action. Now, ...

Stay out of Libya

by Sheldon Richman June 28, 2011

It was good to see that the Pentagon was unenthusiastic about military intervention in Libya. But that didn’t prevent President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from plunging headlong into the civil war raging there. Obama’s entry into the civil war can be criticized on many levels: the mission as explained is incoherent; Congress was not asked for a ...