Scamming the Poor by Jacob G. Hornberger May 1, 1999 One of the biggest scams in American politics is the bromide that government officials use to justify America's paternalistic welfare state and the federal income tax: "We love the poor, the needy, and the disadvantaged." The primary victims of the scam are the poor themselves. Let's look at a few examples. The ...
A Libertarian Visits Cuba, Part 1 by Jacob G. Hornberger May 1, 1999 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Last March, I spent a week in Cuba, which turned out to be one of my most fascinating experiences. I had applied for a license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury to travel to Cuba to conduct an informal study of the ...
Who Are the Real Immigration Lawbreakers? by Jacob G. Hornberger May 1, 1999 Who are the real immigration lawbreakers - foreign citizens who cross illegally into the United States in search of work or U.S. officials who arrest and incarcerate them? The Declaration of Independence emphasized that all men (not just Americans) are endowed by their Creator with certain fundamental and inherent ...
Scamming the Poor by Jacob G. Hornberger May 1, 1999 One of the biggest scams in American politics is the bromide that government officials use to justify America's paternalistic welfare state and the federal income tax: "We love the poor, the needy, and the disadvantaged." The primary victims of the scam are the poor themselves. Let's look at a few examples. The minimum-wage ...
Monetary Central Planning and the State, Part 29: The Gold Standard in the 19th Century by Richard M. Ebeling May 1, 1999 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 ...
Tax-Cut Deceptions by Sheldon Richman May 1, 1999 The Republican collapse on taxes is about as surprising as an elephant's fleeing a mouse, which, come to think of it, may be exactly what happened. It looked as though the congressional Republicans were going to make a 10 percent across-the-board unconditional tax-rate cut the centerpiece of their agenda. It was supposed to contrast with the Clinton administration's insistence that ...
Order by Agreements or by Iron Fists by James Bovard May 1, 1999 In his 1651 classic, Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes warned: "To obey the King who is God's lieutenant, is the same as to obey God. We shall have no peace till we have absolute obedience." Many contemporary statists share Hobbes's assumption that near-total control is the only way to avoid near-certain destruction ...
Housing Discrimination Laws and the Continuing Erosion of Property Rights by George Leef May 1, 1999 Not so long ago in this country, you could stay out of legal trouble by refraining from aggression against other people. The law of torts, crimes, and property was well established and under those bodies of law, you committed no offense unless you acted ...
In Whose Interest Is This War? by Sheldon Richman May 1, 1999 It has been fascinating to watch the Clinton administration defend its war against Yugoslavia. Those folks really can't make up their minds, can they? The confusion and ambivalence reveals much about their own ethical philosophy. The need to go to war against Yugoslavia was at first presented as a selfless matter. President Clinton told the American ...
Book Review: The Future and Its Enemies by Richard M. Ebeling May 1, 1999 The Future and Its Enemies by Virginia Postrel (New York: Free Press, 1998); 265 pages; $25. May 8, 1999, marks the hundredth birthday of Austrian economist Friedrich A. Hayek. One of Hayek's most important and lasting contributions to human understanding has been his development of a theory of spontaneous order. Hayek argued (echoing the 18th-century Scottish moral philosopher Adam Ferguson) that ...
There’s No Third Way by Sheldon Richman April 19, 1999 If a gunman approaches you on a dark street and demands your money, you naturally prefer not to give it to him. Apparently our political leaders would consider this an unreasonable clash of extremes. The gunman wants your property. You want to keep it. Surely there's a compromise, ...
Don’t Support the Troops: Bring Them Home by Sheldon Richman April 2, 1999 Let me be blunt: I don't support the troops. I don't support them so much that I think they should be brought home to safety at once. I say this because everyone who vociferously supports the troops also wants to send them into war against Serbia, where a good number of them will be killed. So I ...