Daily Articles

Let Spontaneity Rule

by Bart Frazier August 13, 2002

As a conservationist and a libertarian, I always find it interesting to think how similar ecology and political economy are. Both are products of nature — self-sustaining phenomena resulting from the aggregate of millions of unrelated events. The Nobel-laureate economist Friedrich Hayek coined a term for ...

Leave Sam and Martha Alone

by Sheldon Richman August 12, 2002

One of the latest “business scandals” involves alleged insider trading by people close to Samuel Waksal, the founder of the drug company ImClone Systems and its recently resigned CEO. The government says Waksal told family members and friend Martha Stewart that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was about to ...

Feeling a Draft?

by Sheldon Richman August 12, 2002

Most people may have long forgotten it, but American males who turn 18 are still compelled to register with the Selective Service System. Failure to do so carries a penalty of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. What’s more, states have enacted laws barring nonregistrants from getting ...

Economic Liberty and the Constitution, Part 3

by Jacob G. Hornberger August 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 Throughout the ages, governments have regulated the economic affairs ...

Anything for War? George W. Bush and the Shadow of FDR

by Richard M. Ebeling August 1, 2002

In 1942, Franklin D. Roosevelt declared, “I am perfectly willing to mislead and tell lies if it will help win the war.” Now in wartime it certainly may be necessary for a general or a commander in chief to try to misinform or deceive the enemy about a planned attack or about the defense positions and strength of one’s ...

The Solution to Poverty

by Jacob G. Hornberger August 1, 2002

I have great news for you! According to today’s Washington Post (March 22), world leaders meeting at a U.N. conference in Monterrey, Mexico, have come up with a new plan for ridding the world of poverty. The plan involves the U.S. government’s sending of foreign aid to the governments of Third ...

The Mental Health Parity Scam

by Sheldon Richman August 1, 2002

President Bush, in yet another slap at the free-enterprise system, wants to force health-insurance companies to cover mental illnesses in the way they cover bodily illnesses. This is known as “mental-health parity.” According to the Washington Post, the psychiatrists in the audience applauded when Bush made his announcement. No kidding. They stand to reap big ...

The Newest Medical Threat

by Sheldon Richman August 1, 2002

How would you like it if every time you went to your doctor, for whatever reason, he asked: Over the past two weeks, have you felt down, depressed, or hopeless? Have you felt little interest or pleasure in doing things? Get ready for a further medicalization of the common tribulations of life. The U.S. Preventative Services ...

Can We Call It an Empire Yet?

by Sheldon Richman August 1, 2002

Once upon a time people who favored an aggressive global military policy for the United States avoided the word “empire.” They instinctively sensed the anti-American ring to it, so they found euphemisms and dismissed charges of U.S. imperialism as delusions from the fevered imaginations of unpatriotic agitators. Now that has begun to change. First the new imperialists approached the issue ...

The De Facto National ID

by Sheldon Richman August 1, 2002

Back in 1996 some members of Congress got the bright idea that they could impose a national ID card on the American people through the backdoor by linking driver’s licenses to Social Security numbers. Fortunately, widespread concern about violations of privacy caused the law to be repealed in 1999 before it took effect. But Washington operates ...

Bush’s Farm Fiasco

by James Bovard August 1, 2002

In May, President Bush signed one of the most wasteful farm bills that Congress has ever enacted. Though the estimated cost of the handouts continues rising ever closer to $200 billion over the next six years, Bush refused to squander any of his political capital protecting the American taxpayer. The hottest controversy ...

Speaking with Forked Tongue

by Jacob G. Hornberger August 1, 2002

The old Indian saying, “White man speaks with forked tongue” would have been more accurately expressed as, “U.S. government official speaks with forked tongue.” In April, Hong Kong immigration officials denied Chinese-born, naturalized American citizen Harry Wu entry into Hong Kong. Wu’s expulsion was unusual given that Hong Kong has ...