Daily Articles

What Is Seen and Not Seen in the Federal Budget Deficits

by Richard M. Ebeling January 17, 2003

President Bush’s budget director, Mitchell E. Daniels Jr., has now admitted what most people have been expecting — that the era of federal budget deficits has returned for the foreseeable future. In the current fiscal year, the deficit will most probably be greater than $200 billion and will very ...

Robbing Peter to “Prime the Pump”

by Scott McPherson January 16, 2003

If Franklin Roosevelt were alive today, he’d want to shake the hand of California governor Gray Davis. Why? The good governor dreams of an economic recovery plan that FDR, the old socialist himself, would easily identify as a page out of his own failed Keynesian dream. In a January 7 ...

Market Competition Lives

by Sheldon Richman January 15, 2003

With the resignation of Steve Case as chairman of AOL Time Warner, we have yet another demonstration of the greatness of the marketplace and a striking contrast with its nemesis, government. Think back to the day three years ago when the mega-merger between AOL and Time Warner was announced. ...

Stiff Upper Lip, and Absolutely No Shame

by Scott McPherson January 14, 2003

The British really ought be ashamed of themselves. But they’re not. In 1997, Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government banned all handguns and virtually all private gun ownership in the United Kingdom. It’s not surprising that the crime rate went through the roof when the guns went into the bin. But ...

My Pre-Invasion Predictions

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 13, 2003

More than a year prior to the September 11 attacks, we here at The Future of Freedom Foundation predicted that the U.S. government's interventionist foreign policy would ultimately produce terrorism on American soil: “Terrorism — or War,” by Jacob G. Hornberger “Breeding Terrorism,” by Sheldon Richman Here are my five ...

Suppose a Democrat Were in the White House

by Sheldon Richman January 8, 2003

It certainly is a good thing that we have a pro-capitalist Republican president in office. I can just imagine what a socialist-leaning Democrat would have done after the terrorist attacks on September 11. For example, I can just bet that a Democratic president would have pushed for government terrorism insurance. It would ...

Lott Jeopardizes Individual Liberty

by Sheldon Richman January 8, 2003

One of the problems with a politician like Trent Lott is that he discredits perfectly legitimate policy positions by associating them with racism. To make matters worse, now that he has again gotten caught with his foot in his mouth, he will probably support bad laws in order to ...

Is a Bankrupt Foreign Policy Worth It?

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 8, 2003

Is terrorism rooted in hatred for our “freedom and values,” as the Bush administration has steadfastly maintained ever since the September 11 attacks, or is it instead rooted in a bankrupt foreign policy whose adverse effects are finally rising to the surface? Before he was recently executed for killing two CIA agents, Mir Aimal Kasi, a ...

Air Force: Fly High

by Scott McPherson January 7, 2003

A popular bumper sticker reads, “Don’t Steal. The Government Hates Competition.” A new bumper sticker should read, “Don’t Deal Drugs. The Government Hates Competition.” According to an Associated Press report in the January 3 issue of the Washington Times, David Beck, attorney for Maj. William Umbach, one of the ...

Save the Economy: Invade Iraq

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 7, 2003

President Bush has just added another item to his smorgasbord of reasons to invade Iraq: An attack from Saddam Hussein or a surrogate of Saddam Hussein would, according to the president, “cripple our economy.” Now, there’s a reason to conduct an unprovoked attack on a country that will ...

Selling the State, to Help the State

by Scott McPherson January 6, 2003

Marylands governor-elect Bob Ehrlich has a great idea: sell off state-owned properties. The bad news is, he wants to use the money to plug a $1.8 billion budget shortfall rather than give it back to taxpayers and reduce the size of state government. Maryland is among the most socialistic states in the Union. Like New York and California, it boasts ...

Leave Iraq Alone

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 6, 2003

Despite the fact that he is amassing an impressive display of military armament in the areas near Iraq, President Bush says that he still hasn’t made up his mind on whether to order an invasion of Iraq. That would imply that despite the array of intelligence and information that ...