Earlier this month marked an anniversary most investors would rather forget. On March 10, 2000, the Nasdaq composite index hit a high of 5049. The high for the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500-stock index came two weeks later at 1527. Despite strong rallies last year,...
POLITICS
The basic and crucial political issue of our age is: capitalism versus socialism, or freedom versus statism. For decades, this issue has been silenced, suppressed, evaded, and hidden under the foggy, undefined rubber-terms of “conservatism” and “liberalism” which had lost their original meaning and could be stretched to mean all things to all men. – AYN RAND
The “Counterterrorism Czar”: Born-Again Critic of the Bush Administration
Richard Clarke, President George W. Bush's former "counterterrorism czar," accuses the Bush administration of seeking a tie between Iraq and 9/11, and pushing America into an ill-advised war in Iraq. Clarke claims that Bush attempted to "intimidate him" into finding...
Price Gouging
The Virginia Senate just passed the Virginia Post-Disaster Anti-Price Gouging Act of 2004, which now awaits Gov. Mark Warner's signature. In part, the act says, "During any time of disaster, it shall be unlawful for any supplier to sell, lease, or license, or to offer...
Rattling the Chains of Slavery
The president of Brown University has appointed a committee to look into the history of the connections of that institution to the slave trade. This is to be no academic exercise of scholarly research. There is obviously supposed to be a pot of gold at the end of this...
Outsourcing Foreign Policy and “The International Community”
Spain's decision to turn tail and run, in response to a terrorist bombing, not only tells terrorists how to get their way in the future, it should also tell us about the dangers of outsourcing our foreign policy to our allies or to the United Nations, as so many on...
The Purpose of an Iraqi Constitution
On December 15, 1791, 212 years ago, the American Bill of Rights was ratified. Thus ended a long and difficult process by which the American people first liberated themselves from tyranny and then established the first government in history founded on individual...
Politics Without Mirrors: The Culture War Between the Religious Right and the Secular Left
In a current Supreme Court case, Michael Newdow has challenged the constitutionality of reading the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools. Newdow, an atheist, argues that the Pledge's reference to America as "one nation, under God," constitutes governmental...
Get Ready for the Vitamin Police
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is now seeking to expand its considerable powers into the regulation of vitamins and nutritional supplements. The FDA has evidently discovered that Americans, after centuries of experience doing so, cannot now be counted on to...
Spain Decides to Run Away
The election in Spain that turned the government over to the Socialists sent a clear message to al Qaeda. Their bombing worked. Reportedly, much of the population did not want to join the US-led coalition to impose regime change on Iraq. Now they have decided to sit...
Answers for the “Swing Voter”
A moderate friend -- aka "swing voter" -- recently sent me a letter, in which he raised his objections about President Bush. Moderate Friend: Bush has made no major move to address environmental issues at all. The No. 1 thing a president could do environmentally is...
Why Do the Islamists Hate the West?
The idea that what goes around comes around applies not only to individuals but to nations and whole civilizations. It was just a few centuries ago -- not long, as history is measured -- that China had the highest standard of living in the world and the Dutch were the...
Saddam Hussein’s Weapons
Listening to the political and media rhetoric about the war in Iraq, you'd think that only President Bush thought Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. Here are just a few past statements made by Bush's critics. President Clinton (1998): "One way or the...
The Real Benedict Arnolds
Sen. John Kerry is fond of calling CEOs who employ foreigners "Benedict Arnolds," after the despicable Revolutionary War turncoat. But look at H.J. Heinz & Co., the family business of Kerry and his wife Teresa. Of the 79 factories that the food-processor owns, 57 (a...
“Outsourcing” and “Saving Jobs”
Every political campaign seems to have some buzzword, and this year's buzzword is "outsourcing." Since the economic recovery has not yet reached the stage when new jobs are being created to the extent expected and hoped, the idea that American jobs are being sent...
The Passion of Christ: A Passion Against Man
As The Passion of the Christ plays to near-record crowds, numerous critics and moviegoers report the film to be a transforming experience. Although many find themselves forced to turn away from the violence on screen, they say the blood-soaked depiction of Jesus'...
Slashing Tax Rates in Europe is Progressive
More than 20 years ago, Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan triggered a world-wide revolution by dramatically slashing marginal income tax rates. In addition to rejuvenating the U.K. and U.S. economies, these supply-side tax cuts prodded other nations into...
Budget, Deficit, Threatens Economic Freedom
As soon as President Bush released his 2005 budget, critics from both sides of the political aisle were fighting mad. On the left, the budget was pilloried for allegedly catering to the rich while destroying programs such as childcare and housing assistance. On the...
The McGruder Award for the Most Outrageous Statement by a Black Public Figure
Aaron McGruder draws the sometimes-funny daily comic strip "The Boondocks." The strip centers around a black family that moved into a predominantly white neighborhood. In a recent strip, two young black characters considered renaming what they call the "Most...
Educational Ineptitude
What passes for educational enlightenment these days boggles the mind. Matt Gouras, of The Associated Press, writing in the Jan. 5 Seattle Times tells a story about Tennessee schools. The success of some students has made other students feel badly about themselves....
The Global Debate Over Affirmative Action
A recent issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education had the front-page headline: "The Global Debate Over Affirmative Action." Inside, there were five full pages on group quotas in Brazil, India, and Malaysia. While it is unusual for American journalists to recognize...
Islamic Law Rules In Iraq
In Iraq, what ought to be the role of Islam and its legal system, called the Sharia? In theory, this topic should be the subject of a soul-searching debate in America and all the other countries whose forces are occupying Iraq, for how it is answered will likely...
No Evidence of WMDs Required
It would have been convenient for the sake of the so-called "Bush Doctrine" for David Kay and his team of American inspectors - or Hans Blix and his team from the United Nations - to have found evidence of an active weapons of mass destruction program in Iraq.It would...
Bermuda: America’s Number One Enemy?
America's number-one enemy isn't Al Qaeda, Libya, North Korea or Cuba. It's Bermuda! At least that's what John Kerry seems to want American voters to believe. At almost every campaign stop, he attacks "Benedict Arnold corporations" that move to Bermuda. One could...
Korean Conundrum: “Negotiating” with North Korea
Negotiating with North Korea is like banging your head on the wall: It feels so good when you stop. Well, here we go again. Representatives from the United States, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, China and Russia will meet for a second round of Six Party Talks in...
The Strange Disappearance of the “L” Word
When did Democrats stop calling themselves "liberal"? Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., when asked whether he considered himself a liberal, treated the questioner as if she belonged to the House Committee on Un-American Activities during the McCarthy years. Elizabeth Bumiller...
Ralph Nader’s Glittering Record
Ralph Nader may have performed a real public service by running for President again, despite the pleas and outcries of his liberal admirers. Oblivious to charges that his candidacy cost Al Gore the 2000 election, Nader has again put his own agenda first and foremost....
President Kerry’s “Change”
"Change is coming to America." So says John Kerry, victorious in his quest for the Democratic nomination and anticipating victory against President Bush this fall. What change, exactly? President Bush expanded the welfare state a bit less than President Kerry would...
Capitalism and (Microsoft’s) Freedom
According to Kenneth W. Starr in his Feb. 19 Washington Times Op-Ed column, "A stitch in crime," the Microsoft antitrust settlement contains loopholes that allow Microsoft to avoid competing in the marketplace on the merits. Yet rather than attack Microsoft, perhaps...
Other People’s Wealth Benefits All of Us
The presidential hopefuls' common promise to "repeal the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy" is the campaign trail one-liner garnering the most empty-headed applause. It's simply false that only the rich benefit from the tax cuts, as any non-rich person who got money back...
Don’t Narrow My Gap! Why Narrowing “Income Gaps” is Unjust
As the 2004 presidential election nears, Americans will increasingly hear the Democratic candidate and his supporters demand that we "narrow the gap" between the incomes of the rich and the poor. That gap, however, isn't the injustice the Left portrays it to be. The...
Haiti Problem
I was watching Geraldo's "At Large" program this evening and to my horror both he and Col. David Hunt hypothesized that the only reason we aren't intervening in this third world mess in Haiti is racial prejudice from the White House. Huh?The United States has already...
Random Thoughts for February 2004
Random thoughts on the passing scene: People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything. My New Year's resolution is to stop trying to reason with unreasonable people. This should reduce my correspondence considerably. Benedict Arnold was a war hero,...
Subscribe for free.
Latest pro-Capitalism goodness sent weekly to your email box.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.