The Folly of Protecting Teens from Work by James Bovard October 1, 2002 Protecting teenagers from work is one of the worst things you can do to kids. Some child-labor groups are campaigning to impose new restrictions on freedom of contract. While some prohibitionists might have good intentions, pervasive restrictions on youth labor would be a menace both to kids and to society. The Associated Press reported that 73 teens were killed on ...
Can Gun Control Reduce Crime? Part 1 by Benedict D. LaRosa October 1, 2002 Part 1 | Part 2 In the wake of the shootings at Columbine High School in April 1999 and other schools across the country, there has been a chorus calling for more gun-control measures to prevent similar incidents and to control crime in general. Setting aside the obvious emotional response that such tragedies always engender, is it realistic to ...
Some Reflections on the Second Amendment, Part 1 by Richard M. Ebeling October 1, 2002 Part 1 | Part 2 For millions of Americans the Second Amendment and its guarantee of the right of the individual to bear arms appears irrelevant and practically anachronistic. It seems a throwback to those earlier days of the Wild West, when many men, far from the law and order provided by the town sheriff and circuit judge, had ...
Book Review: Should We Have Faith in Central Banks? by Richard M. Ebeling October 1, 2002 Should We Have Faith in Central Banks? by Otmar Issing (London: Institute of Economic Affairs, 2002); 53 pages; $12. One of the momentous events of the new century has been the establishment of a single, common currency for many of the member nations of the European Union. The German mark, the French franc, the Austrian schilling, the Italian lira, the Irish ...
Whither Congress? by Scott McPherson September 23, 2002 As President Bush rushes the nation headlong into another foreign war, an important question should be finally and unambiguously answered: What exactly were those old gentlemen talking about in 1787 when they wrote that Congress, not the president, held the power to declare war? Are we to believe that they actually ...
Make Him an Offer He Can’t Accept by Sheldon Richman September 16, 2002 President Bush is no Don Corleone. When the Godfather wanted something, he would make an uncooperative person an offer he couldn’t refuse. Mr. Bush, following his predecessor, makes his adversary an offer he can’t accept. Former President Clinton did this with President Milosevic of Yugoslavia before launching a war over Kosovo. Clinton made demands — including ...
What Dionne Warwick Reveals about the Drug War by Sheldon Richman September 13, 2002 The American Inquisition got another one last month. Singer Dionne Warwick, who was found with nearly a dozen marijuana cigarettes at the Miami airport recently, had her charges dropped in return for promising to undergo “drug treatment” and to make anti-drug public-service announcements. Let’s not dwell on the fact that a ...
Repeal the Corporate Tax by Sheldon Richman September 13, 2002 Why not repeal the corporate income tax? Everyone’s worried about falling stock values, so let’s remove one of the big burdens on corporate profits: the corporate income tax. We shouldn’t do this as a short-term quick fix. The repeal should be permanent. What? you’re saying. Let those dirty corporations get ...
Economic Liberty and the Constitution, Part 4 by Jacob G. Hornberger September 1, 2002 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Table of Contents After the end of the Civil War, the “carpetbag” ...
Homeland Security and the Bureaucratic Dilemma by Richard M. Ebeling September 1, 2002 On the evening of June 6, 2002, President George W. Bush delivered a brief nationwide television address in which he called for the creation of a new cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security. The president stated that “America is leading the civilized world in a titanic struggle against terror. Freedom and fear are at war. And freedom is winning.” But in ...
Packing Heat, Part 1 by Sheldon Richman September 1, 2002 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 I sometimes wonder what the people around me would think if they knew I had a pistol under my shirt. A few years ago I would have been the last person I know who was likely to carry a concealed handgun. But here I am. I carry it nearly everywhere. ...
Protectionist Welfare for Steel by James Bovard September 1, 2002 On March 5, President Bush announced that he was slapping high tariffs on steel imports. Bush began the announcement by declaring, “Free trade is an important engine of economic growth and a cornerstone of my economic agenda.... To open even more markets to American products, I have urged the Senate to grant me the ...