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...
Politics
How the Captive Media Divides Us
by Thomas Eddlem | Dec 19, 2024 | Featured Articles, Politics
Most political differences in America today aren’t a result of moral differences, or even policy opinions. Rather, they are generated by divergent media consumption. There’s a huge difference between those whose news comes primarily from the corporate Big Five...
The Welfare-State Paradox
by Sheldon Richman | Dec 19, 2024 | Blog, Economics, Politics
"Whether ... a system of social security is a good or a bad policy is essentially a political problem. One may try to justify it by declaring that the wage earners lack the insight and the moral strength to provide spontaneously for their own future. But then it is...
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...
The DOGE(s) Before DOGE
by Joseph Solis-Mullen | Dec 12, 2024 | Featured Articles, History, Politics
President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, represents the latest in a long line of ambitious attempts to streamline the U.S. federal government and address fiscal inefficiencies....
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...
Donald Trump and the Left’s ‘Fascist’ Boogeyman
by Scott Boykin | Dec 4, 2024 | Featured Articles, Politics
The claim that Donald Trump is a fascist was an essential feature of the Democratic Party's electoral strategy in 2024. Despite its massive failure, the left continues to beat this dead horse and will no doubt continue. And while Trump has abundant negative qualities,...
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...