As millions of Americans struggle to recover from the latest hurricane, state government officials are issuing stern reminders that criminal penalties loom for anyone who engages in “price gouging.” “Price gouging” is the pejorative label applied to the charging of...
Economics
America’s Debt Remains Our Biggest Threat
by Ron Paul | Aug 23, 2023 | Economics, Featured Articles
Congress’ top priority this fall will be passing legislation funding the government and avoiding a “shutdown.” As of this writing, it appears unlikely that the Republican-controlled House will be able to make a deal with President Biden and the Senate Democrats on a...
TGIF: On “Giving Back”
by Sheldon Richman | Aug 18, 2023 | Economics, Featured Articles, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
P&G, the maker of popular household brands like Tide and Downy laundry products, is giving away $10,000 in college scholarships. That's $1.5 million and 150 scholarships in all. My problem, aside from its encouraging college attendance, is with how the company is...
TGIF: Why Liberty Matters
by Sheldon Richman | Aug 11, 2023 | Economics, Featured Articles, Justice, Libertarianism, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
Why does liberty matter? It’s a fair question because, after all, not everyone thinks it matters very much, perhaps beyond some very basic point. If that’s an overstatement, we can safely say that for many people on the left and right, liberty is a lower priority than...
Exchanging the Rust Belt for Military Bases: Foreign Policy and Deindustrialization
by Joseph Solis-Mullen | Aug 9, 2023 | Economics, Featured Articles, Foreign Policy
While the benefits of trade liberalization in the postwar period have been abundant, readers may be surprised to learn how secondary (or even nonexistent) consideration of such possible benefits were to U.S. policymakers. Rather, trade liberalization following World...
Did Unions Kill America’s Oldest Trucking Business?
by Connor O'Keeffe | Aug 7, 2023 | Economics, Featured Articles
On July 30, Yellow, one of the oldest and largest trucking businesses in the United States, ceased operations and moved to declare bankruptcy. According to reports, the final nail in the coffin of the ninety-nine-year-old business was a labor dispute with the...
Our National Debt Isn’t Bad, It’s Worse
by Joseph Solis-Mullen | Aug 1, 2023 | Economics, Featured Articles
Those paying attention know the so-called “national debt” crossed the $30 trillion mark in late 2021 and has continued to steadily climb since. With trillion-dollar annual deficits having somehow been allowed to become the norm, less than two years later the number...
TGIF: What about Politicians?
by Sheldon Richman | Jul 28, 2023 | Economics, Featured Articles, Justice, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
The best-selling social scientist and, it so happens, libertarian Bryan Caplan thinks politicians are immoral. Sounds promising. He's discussed this online and in one of his published blog-post collections, How Evil Are Politicians?: Essays on Demagoguery. What are we...