Most of us assume that selfishness is both wrong and unhealthy. But is this true? Selfishness means acting in one’s rational self-interest. Contrary to popular opinion, all healthy individuals are selfish. Choosing to pursue the career of your choice is selfish....
POLITICS
Minimum Wage, Maximum Stupidity
Warning: Over certain issues, otherwise intelligent people may, repeat, may suffer instantaneous, and often irreversible, brain-freeze. Take the minimum wage. The City Council in Santa Monica, Calif., a town also known as “Moscow on the Pacific,” just...
Paul McCartney Joins PETA’s Attack on Human Rights: McCartney should fight against, not join, PETA’s fundraising event
At PETA’s fundraising event in Hollywood on September 18, Paul McCartney presented a special award in honor of his late wife, Linda. He should hang his head in shame for supporting the animal rights movement. Is McCartney so ignorant as not to know the facts...
The Importance of Principles in Foreign Policy, the Economy, and Political Change
Joseph Kellard for Capitalism Magazine: What is your assessment of President Clinton’s foreign policy in the Balkans? Tracinski: Well, to start with, I think his so-called victory in the recent Kosovo conflict is really an unmitigated disaster. First, we ended...
Can a Good Cop have a Bad Mouth?
Does a bad-mouthed cop, by definition, exercise bad judgment? Last December 1998, in Riverside, California, a 19-year-old black woman, Tyisha Miller, sat in an apparent coma with a gun on her lap, in a locked car with the motor running. Her companions called 911, and...
Lessons from History: Who Killed Princess Diana?
Over two years have passed since that fatal car crash in a Paris tunnel, and the fundamental question still burns: Who is morally responsible for the tragic and senseless death of princess Diana? Although the investigation report from the French magistrate has yet to...
The Coke Question: Why Bush, not Clinton?
“You have to answer the question. It won’t go away.” — Reverend Jesse Jackson The subject? George W. Bush. The “question (that) won’t go away”? Bush’s alleged cocaine use. Meet Reverend Jesse “Zero-Tolerance”...
What Woodstock Really Stands For: A Symbol of a “Counterculture” of Destruction
As the 30th anniversary of the original Woodstock festival approaches, we will once again be told that Woodstock was about peace and love, about benevolence for one’s fellow man and freedom from arbitrary social restrictions. This is the line that has been...
The New “Racists” Are Here
Fifty percent of whites find segregation OK, as do 40 percent of blacks. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) commissioned a poll that uncovered these “shocking” results. Predictably, the mainstream media led the parade....
The Lesson of the L.A. Shooting — Be Prepared!
Self-defense works. Laws don’t matter if authorities don’t do their jobs. These are the two most profound lessons learned from the recent shooting at the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Los Angeles, a shooting that resulted in five wounded. The...
The Best Ads Never Ask Anyone To Buy — They Simply Sell
Remember intelligent people you address are selfish, as we all are (or at least should be). They care nothing about your interests or profit. They seek service for themselves. Ignoring this fact is a common mistake and a costly mistake in advertising. Ads say in...
The Gipper Gets No Respect
Ronald Reagan gets less respect than Rodney Dangerfield. On July 22, 1999, the Associated Press published a story: “Letters Shed Light on Reagan’s Life.” Lorraine Wagner, a Philadelphia woman, maintained a 50-year- long correspondence with Ronald...
L.A. to NFL: Drop Dead
“Houston, you’ve got a problem.” In the competition to award a new NFL franchise, the National Football Association pits Houston against Los Angeles. For its part, Houston pledges a $500 million “entrance fee,” plus hundreds of millions...
John F. Kennedy, Jr. and the Contradictory Legacy of Camelot
JFK, Jr. represented many things. He was handsome. He was the son — and namesake — of one of America’s most famous and beloved Presidents. He was the little boy who saluted his slain father’s casket in that memorable picture. JFK Jr.’s...
The Unfavorable ”Balance of Trade” and Other Dense Horror Stories
Government leaders have, for centuries, bemoaned the imagined ills of trade deficits. Kings of ancient yore endeavored to achieve surpluses to fund their wars. Dictators of all stripes have carefully sheltered their economies from foreign goods. Because of this...
John Kennedy, Jr.: America’s Prince?
Crystallization. Nineteenth century French writer Stendhal used the word “crystallization” to describe how we ignore flaws, imperfections, ambiguities, and inconsistencies in people we love. If you take a tree twig, said Stendhal, shove it in a mound of...
The Paper Tiger: What Pragmatism Means to America
Over last summer, President Clinton traveled to China, ostensibly to make headway in Sino-American relations. He had billed his trip as a chance to discuss “human rights” issues with the Chinese government because China’s record on human rights was...
Bush’s Compassionate Conservatism Will Undermine the Republicans and Capitalism
What once distinguished Republicans was their commitment to limited government.
Is hatred on the rise?
Another bigot. More screaming headlines about a racially bigoted serial killer. Subtext? That America remains an intractable, racist hellhole. What nonsense. White supremacist Benjamin Nathaniel Smith shot himself during a high- speed chase. Authorities suspect him of...
Attacks Against Microsoft Immoral
On March 3, 1999 Bill Gates will testified before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee to defend Microsoft against-anti trust charges. Prior to Gates’s testimony, activist Ralph Nader will be mobilizing his “public citizens” to condemn...
July Fourth Celebrates America’s and the West’s Core Values
Reason, Rights, and Science Are What Made America Great
Opposition to Immigration is Un-American
Next month Congress will try to resolve a dispute with the White House over federal quotas for “H-1B” visas — a type of work permits for immigrants filling high-tech jobs. Pending legislation would expand the quotas by 10,000 to 20,000 annually for...
The “Corporate Welfare” Package Deal
Widespread in today’s political climate is a fallacy known as the package deal. A package deal is a term that equates opposites due to superficial similarity, while ignoring the fundamental difference. One example of the package deal that is endemic in the world...
Statism: The Cause of America’s Political Problems
Last week, I attended a memorial service for a 19-year-old girl shot in what appears to be a random, gang-related attack. The world may watch and fret over Columbine, but what I just described happens far, far more often. As the Democrats and the Republicans debate...
Culture and the Public Interest
In early January, a Southam-Pollara poll asked Canadians if government funding should be used to support “culture,” meaning “books, films, music, and magazines.” Respondents were almost equally for and against with a large contingent answering...
The Importance of the Dow Jones Industrial Average Reaching 10,000
As a global equity analyst, I have been faced of late with many questions concerning “DOW 10,000”. Investors are curious about the importance of this number, and whether it is an indication of good economic news. For those of you pondering the same issue,...
How Advertising Laws Are Established
The time has come when advertising has in some hands reached the status of a science. It is based on fixed principles and is reasonably exact. The causes and effects have been analyzed until they are well understood. The correct method of procedure have been proved...
The Economic Spin Doctors: Perception Creates Economic Reality
“A lot of what keeps some economies immune is the fact that people think they’re immune. Believing makes it so. And that’s very good.” – Paul Krugman, MIT Economist A dangerous notion is currently gaining credence among global...
Violence in American Schools: An Interview with Dr. Michael Hurd
Capitalism Magazine: Many people, sociologists and psychologists among them, blame the rash of shootings by kids in schools on the violence depicted in video games, movies, and TV and on the prevalence of guns in America. What do you think is the most fundamental...
Is America Desensitized to Violence?
It’s become a mantra. America is “desensitized.” Violent movies, music and videos make Americans impervious to the pain and grief of others. Please. Can we hit the pause button on this “America the desensitized” stuff? In ordering a...
Millionaire Spike Lee: Victim of the White Man
Call him the “Teflon director.” For nothing Spike Lee says, no matter how outrageous, seems to hurt him. Recently, Lee offered his post-Columbine “solution” to violence in America. The Academy Award-nominated director said that the National...
Rosie Attacks Tom Selleck For Supporting the Right to Self-Defense
OK, so it wasn’t the Lincoln/Douglas debates. But it serves as a window into the mindset of the anti-gun “advocates.” On May 19, Tom Selleck appeared on the “Rosie O’Donnell Show” to plug an upcoming movie. What happened looked like...
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