Latest Articles
If Face Masks Are Mandatory, Then It’s Time to End Mask Patents
President Trump is convening with governors to reopen the economy, which will likely mean some sort of compulsory face mask order. Now is the time to seriously consider scrapping the patents on masks such as the N95. Government at all levels has severely overreacted...
We Don’t Need a Cure to Reopen
Back on March 19th, 2020, I pointed to this piece by Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas at my blog – Coordination Problem — where he states very clearly the reality constraint in public policy deliberations in the current coronavirus crisis. Without committing one way or...
Essential, Yet Illegal?
The U.S. federal government does a bunch of things that mystify me. They cannot discriminate in conferring benefits based on race, oh, unless it is affirmative action. Government agents cannot search you or your home without first earning a warrant, unless they think...
Big Tech Firmly Embedded in the War State, DoD Report Shows
The Department of Defense inspector general has released a damning report on the DoD’s massive “JEDI” cloud computing project, exposing a revolving door between Amazon and the Pentagon. The DoD’s September 2017 announcement of JEDI (a catchy acronym for Joint...
Pandemic Hospital Layoffs Reveal the Prevalence of Wasteful Healthcare Spending
Aside from a few hotspots like New York City or Detroit, hospitals across the country are at such low capacities that many are laying off staff and seeing their bottom lines threatened during the current coronavirus pandemic. For instance, in my home state of North...
Joint Law Enforcement Task Forces are Creating a National Police State
Through the proliferation of joint law enforcement task forces, the federal government is creating a national police force that operates in a legal twilight zone with little or no oversight. Law enforcement officers from various state, local and federal law...
TGIF: Is Self-reliance a Libertarian Ideal?
An Associated Press article published a few days ago reported on disagreements among libertarians over what, if anything, the government may properly do about the coronavirus pandemic. My purpose here is not to comment on the quotes from the various libertarians. I...
Central Banks around the World Embrace Unprecedented ‘Quantitative Easing’
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...
Lock Out Below! Lockdown Economy Plunging
Mike Shedlock crystallized the Lockdown Nation catastrophe at hand by focusing on the unemployment claims numbers for Michigan Wednesday morning. And it doesn’t get any more transparent than a staggering 25% of the state’s work force already having filed unemployment...
Reform Title IX Now
The Department of Education’s (DOE) reform of Title IX — the law that bans discrimination based on sex at federally-funded schools — has been a long time coming. For three Senators, it has not been long enough. They strenuously object to the impact on how colleges...
How Agorism Evolves Past The State
Agorism, in all its various forms, promotes self-reliance and independent entrepreneurial ventures. It is a process that is evolving past the State and making it obsolete. We cannot disregard the State completely; we have no illusions about this. But evolving past the...
Finding Accountability for Captain Crozier
There is a sickness in the United States Navy, and it goes beyond the coronavirus pandemic. It’s a disorder of irresponsible political leadership, and a high command more focused on expediency than maintaining the confidence of the sailors in their care. The latest...
New Lawsuit Asks Whether State Agents Can Trespass and Place Cameras on Private Land in Tennessee
Camden, Tenn.—Terry Rainwaters lives, farms and hunts on the 136 acres he owns along the Big Sandy River in rural Tennessee. It’s clear that the farm is private property, with a “no trespassing” sign on the gate. Yet agents of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency...
FDR, Demagogue Champion of Leviathan and War
Sunday was the 75th anniversary of the death of Franklin Roosevelt. Roosevelt was sainted by the media even before he died in 1945. CNN last week trumpeted FDR as “the wartime president who Trump should learn from.” A 2019 survey of historians ranked FDR as the third...
