Ryan McMaken | The Libertarian Institute

A Bigger Military Doesn’t Mean a Stronger Military

by Ryan McMaken | Jan 19, 2021 | Economics, Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

In the debate over whether or not China will soon rise to challenge the United States as the world’s hegemon, it is often assumed that states with large aggregate economies are necessarily more militarily powerful ones. This stems from decades-old methods that remain popular among scholars and pundits who write on international relations and foreign policy. The theory goes like this: states that rule over economies with a large gross domestic product (GDP) have more access to resources. This means more access to weapons, food, personnel, and a variety of other resources necessary to carry...

Police Threaten to Quit If Public Keeps Demanding Accountability

by Ryan McMaken | Oct 6, 2020 | Criminal Justice, Featured Articles

Faced with an armed assailant at the Parkland school shooting in 2018, sheriff’s deputy Josh Stambaugh ran away and hid while children were gunned down. He was later fired for his lack of action, but last month arbitrators ruled that Stambaugh must be rehired by the sheriff’s department, and he will likely receive more than $100,000 in back pay. In 2018, at the time of his firing, Stambaugh earned $152,000 in base pay and overtime. It looks like he’ll soon be back on the payroll “protecting and serving” the community. When faced with unarmed suspects, however, some police officers are quite...

Generals Are Bureaucrats With Extra Stars

by Ryan McMaken | Sep 22, 2020 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

The United States has always had a love affair with certain generals. George Washington, of course, was immensely popular, and thirteen U.S. presidents were generals before they were president. But prior to the Second World War, generals as a group were not revered or treated with any particular veneration or respect. In fact, in the nineteenth century, full-time U.S. military officers were often treated with suspicion and contempt. While state militia officers were regarded as indispensable night watchmen who preserved order, the full-time government employees who served in the federal...

A Rejoinder to the Looters: It’s More Than ‘Just Property’

by Ryan McMaken | Sep 5, 2020 | Economics, Featured Articles

It’s now become fashionable on the left to defend looting as a means of redistributing wealth from allegedly unworthy business owners to the more deserving looters themselves. “It’s just property!” is the refrain, with the implication being that property owners should not defend their property with coercive means—such as calling in the police or using privately owned weapons against looters. This is the philosophy behind a...

Hey Feds: Hands Off Our Cities

by Ryan McMaken | Aug 2, 2020 | Criminal Justice, Featured Articles

The violence and the utter disregard for basic human rights displayed by the Left in recent years—combined with its support for war crimes when a Democrat is president—have made me inclined to play nice with conservatives these days. At least conservatives aren't planning to torch my neighborhood any time soon, and at the moment they're no worse than the Left on foreign policy. On the other hand, sometimes even the relatively less bad guys (for now) come to some very dangerous conclusions. Specifically, some authors at conservative publications are now demanding that the president send in...

Economic Disaster: Deficit Skyrockets As Unemployment Freezes

by Ryan McMaken | Jul 18, 2020 | Economics, Featured Articles

New tax revenue data released by the Treasury Department on Monday shows that tax revenue further worsened in June (compared year over year) from May's already cratering total. On the plus side, neither May nor June has returned to April's historic plunge in revenue. As shown in June's Monthly Treasury Statement, June's total tax receipts were $240.8 billion. That was down 27.8 percent year over year, a decline from May's year-over-year drop of 25 percent. This was nonetheless less of a plunge than April's multidecade low in revenue growth, which hit –54.8 percent. In spite of declining...

Central Banks around the World Embrace Unprecedented ‘Quantitative Easing’

by Ryan McMaken | Apr 17, 2020 | Economics, Featured Articles

It feels like it's been months, but it's only been a few weeks since the world's central banks started forcing down their key interest rates to historical lows around the world. In those places where rates weren't reduced, the central banks have adopted vast quantitative easing plans. In some places, central banks have both reduced rates and adopted new QE. Some central banks acted earlier than others. Both the European Central Bank (ECB) and the US's Federal Reserve knew that this already weak economy was further weakening back in late summer 2019. The Fed reduced the key rate from 2.5 to...

The Fed Slashes Rates as Powell Declares Economy ‘Strong’

by Ryan McMaken | Mar 3, 2020 | Economics, Featured Articles

The Federal Reserve moved to an enact an emergency interest rate cut after officials saw the coronavirus having a material impact on the economic outlook, Chairman Jerome Powell said Tuesday.Powell held a news conference following the central bank’s decision to cut overnight interest rates by half a percentage point. He said the Fed “saw a risk to the economy and chose to act” in a cut announced at 10 am ET.“The magnitude and persistence of the overall effect on the U.S. economy remain highly uncertain and the situation remains a fluid one,” he said. “Against this background, the committee...