“No point in the field of political economy merits more thought and analysis than where to draw the line distinguishing the functions proper to government from the role assumed by all-out government—socialism. A good society is but a dream unless this issue be reasonably resolved.” This is how Leonard Read opened chapter 9, “To Avarice No
As reported by Reason , Colorado—one of thirty-one states that had banned its local governments from imposing rent control—is considering repealing that ban. Recent efforts to allow or impose similar controls have also taken place in New York, California, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Minnesota. However, there is a good reason that most states still
In my research into Leonard Read’s writing, I recently came across his “Look to the Miracle!” in the May 1963 Notes from FEE . It struck me that what he had to say almost half a century ago about how his Foundation for Economic Education worked to advance liberty and how it resisted pigeon-holing in traditional ways is at least as relevant today.
One of the principles of good public policy is to focus efforts on understanding social problems and searching for effective responses where those problems are serious, not where they are minor or missing. Local problems justify locally focused and decided policies, problems that have effects that are more widely spread justify geographically
President Biden’s student debt relief proposal created a storm of controversy. That is not surprising, since it was a transparent (and apparently successful) attempt to buy the votes of an important Democratic constituency, even though it created a target-rich environment for critics. It is sharply pro-rich at the expense of those far poorer, from
Since I am an economist and my school year is not too far along, my classroom discussion of how all of economics traces back to the fact of scarcity (the combination of limited resources, which implies a limited ability to produce, along with wants that always exceed the amount that can be produced) facing everyone was quite recent. That was why
Felix Morley once called federalism “the distinctively American contribution to political art,” because of its potential to limit government’s ability to harm its citizens. Retaining powers not delegated to the federal government in the hands of individuals and states enabled easier escape from abusive government by “voting with their feet” for
It is relatively common that what should be recognized as a warning flag of major trouble is often ignored until things get so bad that it is almost impossible not to notice (unless one is mightily determined not to see them). Leonard Read channeled such thoughts about the damage public policy has caused Americans. He even went so far as to say
Leonard Read, founder of the Foundation for Economic Education, had very clear views about the legitimate role of laws—solely to restrain harms to individuals’ and their rights, since going farther than that “night watchman” role necessarily violated some citizens’ rights. In fact, in his October 1, 1969, “ Read’s Law ” article in The Freeman , he
Many years ago, in his “Unscrambling Socialism” ( Notes from FEE , November 1964), Leonard Read wrote: Any adept student of human action knows that it isn’t enough merely to “drop anchor” in today’s sea of socialism, that is, to stop where we are. The U.S. is already playing host to more parasitic socialism than the economy can sustain [and]
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.