When right-wing leader Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) recently declared that "liberty and monopoly do not go together," I fantasized that he had become a free-market anarchist. When I hear monopoly, I think government because what's the most literal of monopolies (or source...
Economics
Beware Political Creationists
by Sheldon Richman | Apr 23, 2021 | Blog, Economics
"With few exceptions, the tribe of academic scientists and hospital doctors which now controls our government has literally never heard such arguments [the unplanned order of thee market process]. Their worldview is a top-down one: they assume things happen because...
TGIF: Does Nearly Everyone Favor Industrial Policy?
by Sheldon Richman | Apr 23, 2021 | Economics, Libertarianism, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
Over the years I've heard countless arguments about which word best describes the American economic system. Some insist it is essentially socialist, while others favor the word fascism. (Fascism is socialism with a private-property and market veneer.) Still others...
A Day in the Life of an American Serf
by Bradley Thomas | Apr 15, 2021 | Economics, Featured Articles
As another traditional April 15 tax day arrives, it reminds us once again of the financial burden and forced obligation the government places on our finances. So, how heavy is the yoke of taxation? We could throw around dollar amounts in the trillions, and break them...
Looking Towards a Productive, Robotic Future
by Marcel Gautreau | Apr 12, 2021 | Economics, Featured Articles
One argument against the idea of technological unemployment, offered by many people who today sincerely style themselves as leading defenders of the free market, goes that automation will create more jobs than it destroys but due to the nature of the market, the...
TGIF: The Fraught World of Second-Bests
by Sheldon Richman | Apr 9, 2021 | Economics, Libertarianism, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
When discussion turns to how to make government "better," however any particular person would conceive that condition, libertarians understand that we are in the fraught world of second-bests. In other words, because of the nature of the state, no solution that merely...
What High Interest Rates Mean for a Debtor Nation
by Doug French | Apr 5, 2021 | Economics, Featured Articles
If there is anything Wall Street banks crave is relief. Primarily relief from the potential for failure and, next, relief from holding much, if any, equity capital. These banks like their capital tiny and their profits huge. Losses should be socialized. After all, we...
TGIF: Targeted Advertising Violates No Liberty
by Sheldon Richman | Apr 2, 2021 | Economics, Libertarianism, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
Last week I modestly attempted to show that no injustice takes place when A sells B the opportunity to pitch its product to C. This is the principle behind print, television, and radio advertising, and it is no different in the era of social networks like Facebook. In...