George Bush, Big-Government Man by Sheldon Richman April 14, 2008 In an unscripted and candid moment, a top spokesman for President-elect Barack Obama let the cat out of the bag. On Meet the Press, interviewer Tom Brokaw asked transition co-chair Valerie Jarrett, I wonder if, as a Democrat, which has always represented the party of big government, ... there will be a kind of paradigm shift this time, that ...
A New Reason to Go to War by Sheldon Richman April 11, 2008 President Bush acts like a teenager with a credit card and rich parents. He never sees the bill, so he just buys what he wants and charges it. The problem is that instead of rich parents, this president has debt-ridden taxpayers and a gutted military. A few days before Gen. David Petraeus ...
Speaker Spotlight: Joanne Mariner and Alexander Cockburn by Jacob G. Hornberger April 11, 2008 This week’s speaker spotlight is on Joanne Mariner and Alexander Cockburn, both of whom will be speaking at our upcoming June 6-8 conference “Restoring the Republic 2008: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties.” Joanne Mariner is one of the most impressive people I have ever met in my life. A graduate of ...
Paul Krugman’s Nobel Prize by David R. Henderson April 10, 2008 On Monday, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced that the 2008 winner of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences is Princeton University economist Paul Krugman. Krugman, probably the best known economist under the age of 60, is known to the public mainly for his regular column in the New York Times. Yet those columns ...
Why Not Abolish the Fed? by Jacob G. Hornberger April 4, 2008 One of the positions of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul that mainstream pundits find “wacky” is his call to abolish the Federal Reserve System. Never mind that two Nobel Prize-winning economists — both libertarians — called for the same thing. And never mind that the Fed is the entity directly ...
One Hundred Years in Iraq? by Sheldon Richman April 4, 2008 John McCain, the Republican candidate for president who dubiously claims the status of war hero because he was imprisoned and beaten after bombing civilian targets in North Vietnam 40 years ago, apparently wants other young men to have the chance to become war heroes. He continues to be dogged by a ...
The Demise of Conscience, Part 2 by Jacob G. Hornberger April 1, 2008 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 The demise of conscience among the American people is even more pronounced in the context of the warfare state than it is in that of the welfare state. The best example of this phenomenon can be seen in the invasion and occupation of Iraq. By examining Iraq, we can see ...
GOP Statists by Sheldon Richman April 1, 2008 Any remaining pretense that the Republican Party is the party of free markets has been blown to smithereens in the election season. Even the lip service to free enterprise has become scarce, as the major candidates threw their arms around flagrantly statist economic proposals. This is vividly illustrated by the Bush-Pelosi “stimulus package,” which was ...
The Capsizing of American Democracy by James Bovard April 1, 2008 American democracy is capsizing as a result of the vast increase in the number of government dependents and government employees. This has created a voting bloc that overwhelms every other potential force. H.L. Mencken quipped in the 1930s that the New Deal divided America into “those who work for a living and those who ...
The Legacy of Milton Friedman, Part 2 by Doug Bandow April 1, 2008 Part 1 | Part 2 Milton Friedman also was adept at proposing practical solutions to practical problems. He believed strongly in liberty, but he recognized that he needed to promote it practically. Nowhere was his ability in this area more evident than in his work on the All-Volunteer Force (AVF). He served on the official ...
Open Borders Work, Part 2 by Philippe LeGrain April 1, 2008 Part 1 | Part 2 Opponents of immigration marshal a battery of objections to opening up borders. They claim that it would cost jobs, pose a huge welfare burden, and threaten Americans’ way of life — even their security. Yet these fears are mostly nonsense. Critics argue that low-skilled immigration is harmful because the newcomers are poorer and ...
The Root of All Evil, Part 1 by Gregory Bresiger April 1, 2008 Part 1 | Part 2 He has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their Substance. — The Declaration of Independence You may think you’re safe from ...