Well, the Republicans have some ideas for reducing the price of gasoline. Don’t laugh before you hear the details, among which: Congress will send a $100 check to American families to compensate for fuel costs, they will force more money into ethanol, and they will step up prosecutions of any gas distributor who sells for a price above that which
How sad to hear the news that Harry Browne (born June 17, 1933), author and long-time spokesman for libertarian causes, died March 1, 2006. He was a man of great principle who courageously and consistently stood up for liberty even when his position clashed with mainstream political culture and public opinion. He was a great writer who worked hard
This talk was delivered to the Auburn University Libertarians on February 16, 2006. As all students today know, Iraq is the country that the US invaded with the attempt to convert the state and the people from enemy to friend. On the face of it, this sounds rather implausible, of course. Good fences make good neighbors. Friendship and peace are
In politics the greatest evil often comes from sources people least suspect. Conservatives and Republicans, for example. They are now responsible, through the most sly and underhanded means, of putting the federal government in charge of certifying the rigor of the nation’s public high schools – an unprecedented power grab. These are the people
So those scurvy bums at Wal-Mart are finally getting what is coming to them! The state of Maryland will force all companies with more then 10,000 employees to spend at least 8 percent of their payroll on health insurance. Lots of companies have that many employees, but only one falls under the 8 percent threshold, which is you know who. It is only
Empire of Debt: The Rise of an Epic Financial Crisis, William Bonner and Addison Wiggin, John Wiley & Sons, 370 pages - Two hundred years ago, when the United States was a modest commercial republic, the president could take a walk down Pennsylvania Avenue—by himself—and talk to anyone who approached him. If he wasn’t on a walk outdoors, he was
Congress toyed with the idea of a tax holiday on gasoline as a way to drive the price down to address constituent complaints. But, as you might guess, they rejected it. Why, oh why, did Congress decline to give us a bit more liberty, aside from the obvious fact that they like the revenue and power? Well, we can’t go too much aside after all: they
When you think about the sufferings of the precapitalistic age, it helps to have a vivid example in mind. Think of teeth. In ancient Egypt, dentists drilled holes through the bone to drain abscessed teeth. No anesthesia. Later, people learned that pulling teeth was the best way to deal with this and other problems. No anesthesia. Dental drills
It’s hard to know which Bush policies – every day, another disaster – will most immortalize this administration. But on this day, in this hour, I’m going to suggest that his name should be forever mud for his catastrophic decision to nationalize airline security after 9-11. There is war, spending, and missed opportunities all around, but
I’m as happy as the next guy to see the latest polls showing that I, and the next guy, and the guy after him, loathe Bush and his policies. But then I’m also one of those who would tell a pollster that any and all presidents ought to be impeached immediately, even if there is no compelling reason other than to put the next inhabitant of the office
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.