Daily Articles

Book Review: The Logic of Action

by Richard M. Ebeling April 1, 1998

The Logic of Action, Volume 1: Method, Money and the Austrian School by Murray N. Rothbard (Lyme, N.H.: Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc., 1997); 452 pages; $80. During the past 40 years, one of the most important contributors to the Austrian school of economics was Murray Newton Rothbard. He was also one of the major figures in the revival and renaissance ...

Loving the Children

by Jacob G. Hornberger March 1, 1998

Love for the children is one of the favorite justifications that Democrats and Republicans use to maintain and expand government control over people's lives. Whenever libertarians propose ending the war on drugs, along with all of its terribly destructive consequences, a standard Democratic-Republican response is, "We have to maintain the war on drugs for the sake of the children." ...

Monetary Central Planning and the State, Part 15: John Maynard Keynes and the “New Liberalism”

by Richard M. Ebeling March 1, 1998

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 | ...

Hair Today, Fairness Tomorrow

by Sheldon Richman March 1, 1998

It is a mystery to me why egalitarians have failed to decry the unequal and unfair distribution of one of the most important assets in all of society. It is all the more perplexing because the unfairness of the distribution is plain for all to see. Walk down any street, and there it is. Toleration of this egregious violation ...

The Fires of Waco Are Still Burning

by James Bovard March 1, 1998

Waco: The Rules of Engagement, a new film now available on video cassette, and recently nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary, is one of the most educational films ever made. Many Americans were transfixed by the images of the FBI tanks in April 1993 smashing into a building occupied by scores of women and children — ...

Foreign Aid, Help or Hindrance? Part 2

by Doug Bandow March 1, 1998

Part 1 | Part 2 What about the argument that aid at least helps countries that are helping themselves? The Brookings Institute and World Bank researchers repair to this final redoubt, but even here there is reason for skepticism. In his preface to the latest Heritage Foundation report, President Edwin Feulner argues that one of the most important conclusions ...

Book Review: How Markets Work

by Richard M. Ebeling March 1, 1998

How Markets Work: Disequilibrium, Entrepreneurship and Discovery by Israel M. Kirzner (London: Institute of Economic Affairs, 1997); 78 pages; £8.00. The revival of Austrian economics during the last 20 years is largely due to the original and numerous contributions of Israel M. Kirzner. Kirzner studied with Ludwig von Mises at New ...

What They Don’t Know

by Sheldon Richman March 1, 1998

Vice President Al Gore says that if the tax on cigarettes is raised $1.10 a pack in the next five years, teenage smoking will drop 42 percent on average nationwide. Not 41 or 43 percent. Forty-two percent. Further, he says that 991,000 deaths from smoking would be avoided. ...

Policy Overdose

by Sheldon Richman February 12, 1998

From 1990 to 1996 heroin use among high-school seniors was up one hundred percent. Imagine how bad things would be if the war on drugs weren't succeeding! A report published in the journal Pediatrics attributes the increase to the falling price and higher purity of heroin, and to the belief that snorting or smoking heroin ...

The Capricious State

by Sheldon Richman February 2, 1998

A little noted passage in President Clinton's State of the Union speech offered a stark clue about the hypocrisy of politics. In announcing that his administration would sue the tobacco companies to recover money Medicare has spent on treatments for smoking-related illnesses, Mr. Clinton said, "Now, I ask this Congress to resist the tobacco lobby, ...

Pay Equity Errors

by Sheldon Richman February 2, 1998

President Clinton has pledged to step up enforcement of the Equal Pay Act. The promised $14 million to fight wage discrimination was on his list of bribes to the American people, otherwise known as the State of the Union address. The president's Council of Economic Advisers says women make only 75 cents for each dollar men ...

Our Ultimate Resource Gone

by Sheldon Richman February 1, 1998

On February 8, economist Julian Simon died. It is a grave loss on many levels. He was, first of all, a wonderful human being -- ever positive, smiling, and encouraging; a complete joy to be around. After that, he was one of freedom's great crusaders. When our age was ...