Daily Articles

The Disaster of Government-Run Businesses, Part 2

by Jim Powell April 1, 2010

Part 1 | Part 2 In the 1870s, the Japanese had many government-run businesses — among them, mining, shipbuilding, railways, and silk production. According to economic historians Johannes Hirschmeier and Tsunehiko Yui, they “were a heavy burden on government finance, and on the whole were running in the red.” The government couldn’t even make money with silk production, something ...

John Maynard Keynes, Defunct Economist

by Edmund Contoski April 1, 2010

John Maynard Keynes, who rose to prominence in the 1930s, wrote, “The ideas of economists and political philosophers ... are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men ... are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in authority ... are usually distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of ...

Unnatural Law, Natural Tyranny, Part 1

by William L. Anderson April 1, 2010

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 A typical federal courtroom scene has the trappings of ages gone by. The judge wears a black robe, everyone stands when he enters, the bailiff utters the “Oyez” sayings, and much of the language is the same as what might have been said two centuries ago in an American or ...

Leading Humanity Out of the Darkness (Video)

by Jacob G. Hornberger March 24, 2010

On March 21, 2010, Jacob G. Hornberger gave the following speech at The Free State Projects Liberty Forum. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.

Hard Cases Make Bad Law

by Jacob G. Hornberger March 23, 2010

The issue in the Terri Schiavo case is not whether the Florida district court originally entered a correct judgment or not. The issue is whether this is a nation in which the American people are going to continue permitting their Washington politicians and bureaucrats to continue trampling on the Constitution and the rule of law, even while these people ...

Health Care Reform: Were Being Fooled Again

by Sheldon Richman March 22, 2010

The medical system does need reforming — radical reforming. It’s more expensive than it ought to be, and powerful interests prosper at the expense of the rest of us. The status quo has little about it to be admired, and we shouldn’t tolerate it. Thus, the American people should be fed up with Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid ...

Will Obama Sell Out on Terrorist Trials?

by Andy Worthington March 22, 2010

In the dark farce that is the Obama administrations counter-terrorism policy, decisions are now, it seems, being made by whoever makes the most noise, regardless of whether what they are shouting for actually makes sense. Since last November, when Attorney General Eric Holder first announced that five men including ...

The Black Hole of Guantánamo

by Andy Worthington March 22, 2010

When it comes to dealing with the thorny question of how to close Guantánamo, the remaining prisoners have been caught between two competing systems since President Obama took office last January, and the result, to put it mildly, has been confusing. Under President Bush, prisoners were cleared for release by military-review boards, established to review the supposed evidence against them, ...

The Soviet Unionization of Health Care

by David R. Henderson March 16, 2010

Few of us relish paying for health care, but when we do, amazing things happen: Strangers listen to us and try to give us what we want. Theres a simple economic rule that what we pay for, we control. Insurers, hospitals, doctors, nurses, and drug companies listen to us when their livelihood depends on it. ...

Republican Witch-Hunters Embrace Dictatorship

by Andy Worthington March 15, 2010

Are there no depths to which conservatives will not sink in their ardent embrace of the war on terrorism? The latest monstrosity from the right came courtesy of Keep America Safe, a toxic organization headed by Liz Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, who recently put out a disgraceful TV ad, Who ...

Is Greece the Future of America?

by Sheldon Richman March 10, 2010

It may be possible to look into Americas future. How? Watch whats going on in Greece. According to the Washington Post, Greece needs to raise about 23billion in April and May to pay debts coming due. Greek officials say that either is impossible, or would require punitive interest rates making it harder to bring the budget ...

Guantánamo Uighers Back in Legal Limbo

by Andy Worthington March 9, 2010

Last Monday, the Supreme Court declined to review a case brought on behalf of seven men in Guantánamo whose release into the United States ordered by a U.S. judge 17 months ago. The men in question are Uighurs, Muslims from Chinas Xinjiang province, and the ruling ordering them to be re-housed in the United States was made in ...