Some things haven't changed since 1883. In that year Yale University professor William Graham Sumner, the anti-imperialist laissez-faire liberal and pioneer of American sociology, noticed that "we are told every day that great social problems stand before us and...
Justice
TGIF: “Corporate” Is Not a Four-Letter Word
by Sheldon Richman | Dec 13, 2024 | Economics, Featured Articles, History, Justice, Libertarianism, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
I rise today to protest the widespread and malicious use of the adjective corporate as a synonym for evil, corrupt, exploitative, or any number of other pejoratives. As a descriptor, corporate merely says that an association that makes or sells goods for profit is...
TGIF: Supply Precedes Demand
by Sheldon Richman | Dec 6, 2024 | Economics, Featured Articles, Justice, Libertarianism, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
"Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production." —Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, 1776 "In the market economy the consumers are supreme. Their buying and their abstention from buying ultimately determine what the entrepreneurs produce and in what...
TGIF: On Fairness
by Sheldon Richman | Nov 29, 2024 | Economics, Justice, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
Fairness and its synonyms are among the most abused words in English. By that I mean they are commonly manipulated for ideological ends. Wokeness has aggravated a situation that has existed for some time. What better way to score points for a political position than...
TGIF: “You Didn’t Build That”
by Sheldon Richman | Nov 22, 2024 | Economics, Justice, Politics, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
Remember Barack Obama's profound 2012 campaign speech about success? Here's part of what he said: There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me -- because they want to give something back. They know they didn’t -- look, if you’ve been successful,...
Mises on Equality and Inequality
by Sheldon Richman | Nov 15, 2024 | Blog, Economics, Justice
"The liberal champions of equality under the law were fully aware of the fact that men are born unequal and that it is precisely their inequality that generates social cooperation and civilization. Equality under the law was in their opinion not designed to correct...
TGIF: Police-State Progressives
by Sheldon Richman | Nov 15, 2024 | Economics, Justice, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
Progressives see themselves as, well, progressive. But they aren't. Even at their best, in opposing the national security state, they support massive government power in other realms of life. At heart they are social engineers. They seek a "moral equivalent of war,"...
Some Things Never Change
by Sheldon Richman | Nov 11, 2024 | Blog, Justice
"The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt.” --John Philpot Curran, Irish statesman, 1790