Daily Articles

The Madoff Scandal Exposes Government Failure

by Sheldon Richman March 1, 2009

A rule we can rely on to be unfailingly applied is this: No matter how much the government controls the economic system, any problem will be blamed on whatever small zone of freedom that remains. This of course is evidence of a rigged game. The government can’t possibly monitor and regulate absolutely every transaction that ...

Boundless Ignorance versus Self-Government

by James Bovard March 1, 2009

Modern democracy is based on faith that the people can control what they do not understand. As government has grown by leaps and bounds, “government by the people” has become one of the great fairy tales of our times. As the Founding Fathers feared, citizen ignorance often brings out the worst in their rulers. Contemporary ...

The Fallacies of Another New Deal, Part 1

by William L. Anderson March 1, 2009

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 As the financial panics on Wall Street seem to be never-ending, a lot of commentators are openly asking whether the United States will slide into something akin to the Great Depression of nearly 80 years ago. Certainly, there is real fear in the air, and at this writing, the current ...

Two Ways to Fight an Economic Depression

by Gregory Bresiger March 1, 2009

“There was a depression in 1920? Really?” That was the comment I received recently from a smart, usually well-informed editor. Yes, there was a depression. But it was over so fast that few people seem to have heard of it. Yet almost everyone knows about the Great ...

Obama’s Uninformed Optimism

by Sheldon Richman February 27, 2009

President Obama is optimistic that “We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before.” That and $5 will get you coffee at Starbucks — until inflation kicks in. In his appearance before Congress, Obama demonstrated he can give a speech. Big deal. We ...

Socialism’s “Fatal Conceit”

by Ralph R. Reiland February 25, 2009

The appeal of socialism, wrote Nobel-winning economist F. A. Hayek, “depends on the instinctual appeal of promised consequences.” The problem, argued Hayek, is that “socialism cannot possibly do what it promises.” Socialism fails, unavoidably, because it is based on the flawed concept, the “fatal conceit,” that one man or one group, ...

Obama’s “Humane” Guantánamo Is a Bitter Joke

by Andy Worthington February 23, 2009

The “war on terror” prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, where the majority of the remaining 242 prisoners have been held for seven years without charge or trial, “complies with the humanitarian requirements of the Geneva Conventions,” according to a government official who spoke to the New York Times after reading an 85-page report prepared for President Obama by ...

President Obama, What about Tomorrow?

by Sheldon Richman February 20, 2009

The Obama administration’s $275 billion bailout for mortgage lenders and troubled borrowers once again shows that “tomorrow-be-damned” thinking still rules the White House. President Obama has clearly dumped the Clinton administration’s theme song, “Don’t Stop Thinking about Tomorrow.” (Not that Clinton or his successor took the lyric to heart.) Under the plan, the federal government will ...

What Is Wrong with Guns in Churches?

by Scott McPherson February 20, 2009

If you’re going to talk nonsense, the best strategy is to talk it loud, often, and to as many people as possible. Thanks to the editorial board at the Springfield (Missouri) News-Leader, there was no shortage of nonsense being spread around on February 19. That day, on the paper’s website,

Guantánamo: Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics

by Andy Worthington February 16, 2009

On January 22, in an executive order relating to the closure of Guantánamo, President Barack Obama established a comprehensive review of the cases of the remaining 242 prisoners, to work out who could be released and who should continue to be held. The executive order explained that the review was to be “conducted with the full cooperation and ...

Bipartisan “Stimulus” Nonsense

by Sheldon Richman February 12, 2009

The cynicism and shallowness of politics have been abundantly on display throughout the debate over the “stimulus” bill. The Democrats insult the intelligence of the American people by peddling the following sophistry: Republicans were big spenders when they controlled the government. Republican criticism of Democrats for being big spenders is ...

Don’t “Compromise” on the Bogus Stimulus Bill

by Sheldon Richman February 10, 2009

As the misnamed “stimulus” bill works its way through Congress, we once again see compromise equated with responsibility. The political “leadership” and establishment media seemed to have a vested interest in portraying anyone who refuses to compromise as recklessly unconcerned with the well-being of the country. The problem with this ...