Anti-Dumping Laws by Robert W. McGee February 1, 2002 ANTI-DUMPING LAWS have been with us since the early decades of the 20th century. Ostensibly aimed at preventing unfair trade practices, they have in recent decades been used mostly to punish foreign producers for offering their products to domestic consumers at low prices. Rather than being used to protect the public (from low prices), they have been used to ...
Book Review: The Race to the Top by Richard M. Ebeling February 1, 2002 The Race to the Top: The Real Story of Globalization by Tomas Larsson (Washington, D.C.: Cato Institute, 2001); 164 pages; $18.95. “Globalism” has become the new, fashionable catchword for a process that has been developing with increasing intensity for more than 200 years — the internationalization of the division of labor. Of course, in one sense, international trade is as old as ...
An Astounding Remark by Sheldon Richman January 20, 2002 When Attorney General John Ashcroft told the nation, "To those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty, my message is this: Your tactics only aid terrorists," he wasn't blazing any new trails. He was merely doing what despots and would-be despots always do: attempting to intimidate into silence those who dare to question ...
The Bill of Rights at Work by Jacob G. Hornberger January 15, 2002 The unfolding developments in the John Walker Lindh case and the Guantanamo "detainees" situation reflect why Americans should be so grateful to our early ancestors for demanding the first ten amendments to the Constitution as a condition of adopting the Constitution. Recall that there was tremendous resistance among the several states to the adoption of the ...
Curing the Political Disease of Terrorism by Jacob G. Hornberger January 12, 2002 Since the U.S. government's bombing of Afghanistan has failed to bring Osama bin Laden to justice "dead or alive," the U.S. government has now decided to permanently extend its empire to that part of the world. Moreover, the bombing has killed thousands of innocent civilians, whose surviving friends and family members now have the incentive ...
Protecting Our Way of Life? by Sheldon Richman January 10, 2002 Even when responding to a monstrous and unjustifiable provocation such as September 11, the U.S. government threatens our liberty. We have much to fear from the power in Washington. At least Osama bin Laden never says he has our interests at heart. We can't be lulled into trusting him. Not so with the U.S. government. It ...
The Value of Athletes by Bart Frazier January 1, 2002 Some people complain that professional athletes make too much money -- that the salaries they receive are ridiculously high, perhaps even immoral. But is this actually the case? Aren't athletes' salaries, like everyone else's in the private sector, ultimately determined by the desires or demand of consumers? Isn't that how the value ...
A Libertarian Visits Guatemala by Jacob G. Hornberger January 1, 2002 LAST SUMMER, I had one of the most uplifting experiences I have had in the many years that I have been advancing libertarianism. My week at Francisco Marroquin University in Guatemala will always rank near the top in terms of events that have charged up my batteries big-time. I had heard of FMU as far back as 1987, when I ...
State Department Confusion over Liberty by Jacob G. Hornberger January 1, 2002 THE GREAT GERMAN THINKER Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once observed, “No one is as hopelessly enslaved as the person who thinks he’s free.” Goethe’s words might sum up the plight of the American people, a plight that was recently reflected in a secret report that emerged from the U.S. embassy in Guatemala, which is headed by U.S. Ambassador Prudence ...
Republic or Empire: Which Path for America in the 21st Century? by Richard M. Ebeling January 1, 2002 IN THE FIRST ISSUE of Modern Age, a conservative journal of opinion, published in 1957, there appeared an article by the classical-liberal journalist and author Felix Morley on the question of whether America was still a republic or becoming an empire. He later developed this theme in his 1959 volume, Freedom and Federalism. Morley’s point was that ...
Does Endorsement of Military Tribunals Insult Bush? by Jacob G. Hornberger January 1, 2002 As FFF friends and supporters know, we have taken a firm stand against President Bush's military tribunals. See, for example, "Military Tribunals: Another Step Away from Our Principles" by Jacob G. Hornberger and "Emergencies, Military Tribunals, and the Constitution" by Jacob G. Hornberger. In a recent conversation I had with Sheldon Richman, he ...
The Drug War and Terrorism by Sheldon Richman January 1, 2002 AMERICANS NO DOUBTwould be distressed to learn that the U.S. government helped finance the terrorist attacks that killed so many people in New York and Washington. It’s not such a far-fetched thought. According to House Speaker Dennis Hastert, terrorist organizations are financed in part by profits from trading in drugs. “The illegal drug trade is ...