The federal surplus for the close of fiscal year 2000 was nearly double the surplus for the prior year. This is a problem! A massive, growing federal surplus is a signal that the government is taking too much of our money. Back in the days of the federal deficit, we...
POLITICS
Protecting Us Out of Our Rights
Worrying about bacteria, New Jersey banned restaurants from serving eggs sunny side up. The ban has since been lifted. Some New Jersey localities have a ban on people pumping their own gasoline. Policemen issue citations for driving without a seatbelt. By law, new...
What America Owes Me
O.J. Simpson lawyer Johnnie Cochran and friends want to file a big-bucks, class-action lawsuit seeking reparations for slavery. On what legal grounds, against whom, on behalf of whom, and in which court? The attorneys haven’t figured out those pesky details yet....
Microsoft and the Mythology of Anti-trust
The biggest question about anti-trust law is whether there really is any such thing. There are anti-trust theories and anti-trust rhetoric, as well as judicial pronouncements on anti-trust. But there is very little that could be called law in the full sense of rules...
Reparations for Slavery
If the November elections had put Democrats in control of the House of Representatives, I would have expected John Conyers, D-Mich., to introduce legislation that would set up a committee to decide who would qualify for reparations for slavery, whether they should be...
Condoleezza Rice Has It Wrong: America Needs Pride Not Humility in Foreign Affairs
Bush’s new national security advisor, Condoleezza Rice, says that the new administration will combine “humility with strength” in foreign affairs. Why should America be humble? We should be proud of who we are and what we have been able to...
The Price of Shinawatra Winning The Thai Election: Short Term Gain, Long Term Pain?
During elections last weekend, Thai billionaire businessman Thaksin Shinawatra won a landslide victory, and barring certain legal challenges, will become Thailand’s next prime minister. As owner of Thailand’s largest wireless wireless communications...
The Cause of the California Electricity Shortages: “Price Controls”
As an economist, whenever I hear the word “shortage” I wait for the other shoe to drop. That other shoe is usually “price control.” So it was no great surprise to discover, after the electric power shortage in California made headlines, that...
The ‘Middle Way’ is Stagnation: Laissez-faire!
On-again, off-again experiments with free-market policies don’t lead to happy economic endings In a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 movie “Rear Window,” Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly argue about whether they’ll ever marry. Kelly wants...
Columbia University Scraps Due Process For Political Correctness?
Say you’re accused of a sexual offense and you’re forbidden to confront your accuser, have an attorney present or cross-examine witnesses. Where are you? A) IraqB) IranC) CubaD) Columbia University If your final answer was “D,” you’re...
Election 2000’s Message: Don’t Subsidize Political Stupidity
Election 2000’s racial message is that President-Elect George Bush and the Republican Party shouldn’t subsidize political stupidity. You say, “What do you mean, Williams?” Given Bush’s devastating loss among black voters, in some states...
Gambling Off the Reservation
If Indians want to reap multi-million-dollar profits from casino gambling, they should be required to shed their legal status as societal victims and compete on a level playing field. Savvy tribes, armed with lawyers and lobbyists, are targeting non-tribal lands in...
Kidneys, Markets, and Sweatshops
A woman I know was born with three kidneys–and in poverty. Meanwhile, there was undoubtedly some wealthy person who was desperate for a kidney. Both could obviously have been made much better off by the transfer of one kidney at a suitably high price. However,...
Blaming Capitalism for the World Bank’s Anti-Capitalist Policies
The World Bank boasts an ambitious motto: “Our Dream is a World Free of Poverty.” But looking at the bank’s recent loan policies, maybe it should be: “Our Dream is a World Free of Wealth.” Why? Because the Bank is now...
America’s Field of Blackbirds
Does anyone remember the Field of the Blackbirds? It was in the news quite frequently about a year ago, back when people were still paying attention to the mess in Kosovo. The Field of the Blackbirds is the battlefield where a Serbian army was defeated by the Ottoman...
A “Do-Something” Congress
Lawmakers can rack up some real accomplishments if they’re willing to reconsider some of the bipartisan reform measures scuttled by President Clinton. You’ve no doubt heard by now what political pundits on both sides of the ideological aisle are saying...
What Non-Profit Colleges Hate More Than Academic Censorship: For-Profit Colleges
YOU MAY NEVER HAVE HEARD of the University of Phoenix, but it has more students than Harvard, Yale or Notre Dame —- combined. There is a reason you probably have not heard of the University of Phoenix. It represents a new development in higher education and one...
Slavery Compensation Itself Rests on Racism
The suit filed against the U.S. government and big corporations demanding “compensation” for the descendents of slaves is grotesque and should be dismissed without a hearing, said an Ayn Rand Institute Fellow. “Slavery was evil, but America atoned...
Military Modernization: Making America Safe for the 21st Century
President-elect George W. Bush hasn’t been sworn in yet, but he’s already made a decision pivotal to the success of his administration: selecting Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense. For those who care about America’s ability to defend itself,...
When You Should–and Should Not–Help Others
Ayn Rand, the author of Atlas Shrugged wrote, “When people need help, the best of them (those who need it through no fault of their own) often prefer to starve rather than accept assistance — while the worst of them (the professional parasites) run riot...
The Virtue of Greed
YOU CAN CALL IT GREED, selfishness or enlightened self-interest, but the bottom line is that it’s these human motivations that get wonderful things done. Unfortunately, many people are naive enough to believe that it’s compassion, concern and...
Political Change Requires Moral Conviction
One of the reasons Republicans govern less successfully than Democrats is that conviction is rarer among Republicans. Under fierce intellectual attack since the days of Calvin Coolidge (the 1920s), Republicans have been made unsure of their ideas — a strong...
U.S. Foreign Policy towards India Should Not Compromise U.S. Security
America and India share the distinction of being the world’s largest “democracies.” Yet relations between the two countries have been unsteady and will need executive attention if they are to improve. A major stumbling block to relations in recent...
Political Advice for President George Bush
No sooner do we elect a new president than we start telling him what to do. People in the media are full of advice, perhaps more so this year than usual. Because of the closeness of both the presidential and congressional elections, much media advice seems to be that...
Black Slavery is Alive in 2001
Black slaves are still available — just not in the United States. To make a purchase, you’d have to travel to the Sudan as Gerald Williams, Harvard University pre-med student, did in October 2000. Slavery in the Sudan is in part a result of a 15-year war...
Bill Clinton’s Legacy of Lasting Corruption
After Bill Clinton, Al Gore and various Congressional Democrats had pointed the finger of suspicion at Big Oil as the cause of astronomical gasoline prices in the Midwest, the Washington Times obtained a copy of a memorandum from within the Clinton administration...
Bill Gates, Meet Ayn Rand
If you want to understand what is happening to Microsoft, read “Atlas Shrugged,” Ayn Rand’s classic story of the bureaucratic assault on the entrepreneurial spirit. In “Atlas Shrugged,” Hank Rearden, inventor of the fabulous Rearden...
More Guns, Less Crime?
In response to the tragic shootings at Columbine High School and the Los Angeles JCC, the relation of gun availability to violent crime has been furiously debated in the media. One highly visible scholar in the media debate is economist and social scientist, John...
Tax Slaves Existing for Government
Alan Keyes, a candidate for the Republican 2000 presidential nomination, argues that the income tax is a slave tax and that Americans are slaves. He is correct. A slave is a person who does not own his own labor. After tax, successful Americans retain no more of the...
Where is the Future?
Where are the flying cars? It is now 2001, and for those of us who insist on technicalities, this is the real, official beginning of the 21st century. So I want to know: Where is the future predicted for us by science fiction writers — you know, the future of...
Microsoft and Liberty
Think about the government’s case against Microsoft and, just as importantly, it’s implications for our liberty. Let’s ask a general question just to get started. If there’s an act we all agree is immoral and unacceptable when done by an...
The End of Montgomery Ward
The passing of a once-great business is often a time for nostalgia and regret, so the announced closing down of Montgomery Ward has provoked much media comment along these lines. But both the rise and the fall of Montgomery Ward illustrates the dynamic adjustments of...
Subscribe for free.
Latest pro-Capitalism goodness sent weekly to your email box.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.