Daily Articles

Alan Greenspan’s Inflation Problem

by Richard M. Ebeling May 1, 2000

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has informed the American people that they can expect to see higher interest rates for the rest of the year. In his recent testimony before the Congressional Committee on Banking and Financial Services, Greenspan stated that the unprecedented growth in production and employment in ...

The World Bank Wants to Give All of Us an Education

by Richard M. Ebeling May 1, 2000

If the president of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn, has his way, you can expect to see tens of millions of your tax dollars sent oversees for a another global scheme in government central planning. This time the goal is to fund the education of every man, woman, and child in ...

Blue Eagles and Déjà Vu

by Walter B. Wriston May 1, 2000

The first major step that this nation took toward merging government and industry, and toward the total abandonment of the free-market system, was the enactment of the legislation that created the National Recovery Administration. The NRA with its famous Blue Eagle symbol soon began grinding out hundreds of "codes" repealing economic freedom and arbitrarily fixing wages, prices, and hours. In ...

Book Review: The Invention of the Passport

by Richard M. Ebeling May 1, 2000

The Invention of the Passport: Surveillance, Citizenship and the State by John Torpey (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000); 210 pages; $19.95. One of the most stupendous achievements of 19th-century classical liberalism was the right of freedom of movement. As one indication, between 1840 and the early decades of the 20th century almost 60 million people emigrated from Europe to other ...

Russia’s Chance for a Free Market Future

by Richard M. Ebeling April 2, 2000

Winston Churchill once described Russia as a mystery wrapped in an enigma. The election of Vladimir Putin as Russia's new president for the next five years has in no way diminished this imagery. Groomed in the ranks of the KGB, the Soviet secret police, Putin has portrayed himself as nostalgic for the "greatness" that was ...

Reno’s Disgrace

by Sheldon Richman April 1, 2000

Everyone-regardless of his views on Juan Miguel Gonzalez's claim to his son-should be appalled at how Attorney General Janet Reno carried out the removal of Elián Gonzalez from the home of his great-uncle in Miami. The sight of agents of the U.S. government, clad in military-style assault gear, armed with automatic weapons, breaking into a private home in the early ...

CAPSULE COMMENTARY: “The C.I.A. and Iran”

by Jacob G. Hornberger April 1, 2000

"Remember back in 1979 when the Iranians under Ayatollah Khomeini took over the U.S. embassy and held U.S. diplomatic personnel hostage? Remember how our government portrayed the Iranians as horrible devils and the U.S. officials as innocent angels? Well, the front page of last Sunday's New York Times had a full-length ...

CAPSULE COMMENTARY: “Police Drunk With Power”

by Jacob G. Hornberger April 1, 2000

"The police department in Waukesha, Wisconsin, is asking local bars and liquor stores to refuse selling alcohol to misbehaving and habitual drunks. Certainly, the police want to clean up the downtown and encourage the drunks to seek treatment, but should that be the role of the police? How does becoming ...

CAPSULE COMMENTARY: “No IRS Gratitude”

by Jacob G. Hornberger April 1, 2000

"If our federal income tax system is actually based on voluntary, rather than coerced, payments of income taxes, as IRS officials sometimes tell us, how come they don't send us thank-you notes?"

CAPSULE COMMENTARY: “Indict the Service Stations Too”

by Jacob G. Hornberger April 1, 2000

"Why hasn't the government indicted every service station owner in the country? After all, it's obvious that they are engaged in a giant conspiracy against the American people. Have you noticed that they all dramatically increased the price of gasoline at exactly the same time? How can this be just a coincidence? ...

CAPSULE COMMENTARY: “Elian’s Move to Andrews”

by Jacob G. Hornberger April 1, 2000

"Janet Reno says that Elian Gonzalez is better off at Andrews Air Force Base than he was in the home of the Miami relatives because in Miami, he was subjected to an artificial world of hundreds of Cuban-American visitors and dozens of news-media reporters. Now, let me see if I understand ...

CAPSULE COMMENTARY: “Abolish the IMF”

by Andy Falkof April 1, 2000

"Thousands of protesters have come to Washington, D.C., this week to voice their opposition to IMF and World Bank lending practices. Amidst the graffiti, sit-ins, and traffic delays, the protesters do have a message: Through their lending practices, the IMF and World Bank institutions are subjugating Third World nations. ...