Shame on Vice President Kamala Harris. On her recent trip to Guatemala she said, "I want to be clear to folks in the region who are thinking about making that dangerous trek to the United States-Mexico border: Do not come. Do not come. I believe if you come to our...
TGIF
TGIF: What the State Really Is
by Sheldon Richman | Jun 4, 2021 | Economics, Justice, Libertarianism, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
To better understand the nature of government, one can think of it as an agency that sells or, more precisely, rents power to others. The greater the power and the wider its scope, the more opportunities the state's agents will have to sell access to it in return for...
TGIF: About that “Real Estate Dispute” in Sheikh Jarrah
by Sheldon Richman | May 28, 2021 | Foreign Policy, Justice, Libertarianism, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
When the Israeli government describes the conflict over the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem as just a "real-estate dispute," it has a point. Palestinian families are at risk of eviction (and some have already been evicted) from homes they've lived in for...
TGIF: Biden Labor Department Undermines Gig Economy
by Sheldon Richman | May 21, 2021 | Economics, Justice, Libertarianism, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
Why should government at any level have the power to overrule how workers and companies define their relationships? This question has become more important than previously with the rise of the gig economy, in which workers such as Uber and Lyft drivers are regarded by...
TGIF: FDA Targets Black and Other Minority Smokers
by Sheldon Richman | May 14, 2021 | Economics, Justice, Libertarianism, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
Just when we are reminded that unnecessary conflict between the police and the people, especially in poorer black communities, is a poison to be eliminated forthwith, the Biden administration has moved in the wrong direction. Late last month the administration...
TGIF: A Refreshing Way to Think about Immigration
by Sheldon Richman | May 7, 2021 | Justice, Libertarianism, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
What I'm going to say about Chandran Kukathas's latest book, Immigration and Freedom, does not constitute a book review. Think of it instead as a book alert. Even having read only the preface and a couple of chapters, I am confident it is a book that fans of liberty...
TGIF: Bust the Conservative “Trust Busters”
by Sheldon Richman | Apr 30, 2021 | Economics, Libertarianism, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
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...
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...