The Cambridge economist Joan Robinson (1903-1983) wisely said, "The purpose of studying economics is not to acquire a set of readymade answers to economic questions, but to learn how to avoid being deceived by economists." Excellent point, though I would both broaden...
Sheldon Richman
TGIF: Where Socialists Go Wrong
by Sheldon Richman | Jan 13, 2023 | Featured Articles, History, Libertarianism, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
Since socialism is "in" today -- even though many people who say they favor it have no idea what it is -- F. A. Hayek's last book, The Fatal Conceit: The Errors of Socialism (1988), is worth checking out. Hayek, the late great Nobel-laureate economist of the Austrian...
TGIF: The Mythical Right to Medical Care
by Sheldon Richman | Jan 6, 2023 | Featured Articles, Justice, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
This clever video juxtaposes footage of Bernie Sanders and the late Milton Friedman to create a debate over whether the central government should take over medical care in America. Sanders condemns as a "national disgrace" the lack of a medical care guarantee for all...
TGIF: Year-End Downers
by Sheldon Richman | Dec 23, 2022 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, Justice, Libertarianism, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
One always hopes to end the year on a high note, but politically speaking, at least, that is difficult again in 2022. One searches in vain for advances in individual liberty and setbacks for power. Sure, with the receding of the pandemic, life has returned to normal...
TGIF: The State Fuels Identity Politics
by Sheldon Richman | Dec 16, 2022 | Featured Articles, Justice, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
Anyone with an ounce of good sense knows that destructive identity politics is run amuck in America and elsewhere. All incentives these days seem to go in one direction: toward identifying oneself as a member of an aggrieved group supposedly due compensation through...
TGIF: Why Freedom Is the Goal
by Sheldon Richman | Dec 9, 2022 | Featured Articles, Libertarianism, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
In online interviews and conversations I'm hearing intellectuals in the national conservative movement say that the liberal Enlightenment "project" has mostly failed because people need more in their lives than freedom. I've also heard this from a few people who have...
TGIF: On Liberty and Security
by Sheldon Richman | Dec 2, 2022 | Economics, Featured Articles, Justice, Libertarianism, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Benjamin Franklin's famous words are often quoted because, alas, they are always relevant. Whether Franklin meant what libertarians take him to have...
TGIF: Beware the Regulatory Storm over FTX
by Sheldon Richman | Nov 18, 2022 | Economics, Featured Articles, Justice, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
The bankruptcy of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX and the alleged fraud by co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried, which has cost customers millions, is tailor-made for anyone who already wants the power of government to expand, especially in the area of financial privacy. For...