With so much controversy swirling around the nomination of former Senator John Ashcroft to be attorney general, we need to look beyond the rhetoric and the spin to the actual history of Ashcroft -- and of his critics. When John Ashcroft was in the Senate, he voted to...
read a bumpersticker today which said: "It has become appallingly clear that our technology has surpassed our humanity." This expression misses a crucial point. Our technology is in fact a consequence of our humanity. Technology comes about only because of the human,...
President Clinton should pardon Michael Milken, said Yaron Brook, the executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute."It would be an act of justice--one of the few of the Clinton administration--if Clinton pardoned the man truly responsible for the economic boom of the...
It is perhaps fitting that Bill Clinton has been spending the last days of his presidency out on the road, in the manner of old washed-up entertainers who make endless "farewell" appearances, trying to cling to the fading limelight as long as possible. He is going out...
This Christmas season witnessed no shortage of protesters who were outraged at the thought of all the nice gifts exchanged over the holiday season having been manufactured in so-called "sweatshops". In an act of monumental hubris, middle-class Harvard students, rich...
George Bush's secretary of labor nominee, Linda Chavez, withdrew her nomination under charges of hiring a worker and not paying minimum wages plus applicable taxes. This was just character assassination by those who didn't want to see her confirmed because of her...
George Bush looks like he'll try to stick to his promise about cutting income tax rates, but his team's recent justifications, while politically expedient, are obscuring the real case for tax cuts. Given that the U.S. economy is showing signs of slowing, the Bush team...
Many say that the recent presidential election debacle verged on a constitutional crisis. Looking back at last year's events, let's apply some perspective. Take a moment and examine what the real crisis is. Americans are forced to pay for an ever-expanding welfare...
Whatever else may be said about the Clinton era, the past eight years have not been kind to those who believe the public's business should be conducted in public. Restoring an appreciation in the nation's capital for the people's right to know should be a top priority...
You often hear the phrase "control freak" used in a negative sense. I have even used it myself to describe authoritarian personalities. Authoritarian personalities are people who place a desire to be "right" (that is, seen as right) above the desire to know what is...
As we commemorate King’s birth it is depressing to note how far America has deviated from the “dream.:
With just a week left before the new president takes office, our government is engaged in a frenzy of lawmaking.No, Congress has not convened to consider legislation, and no, your elected representatives will not decide whether these new federal rules go into effect....
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...
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...
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. But...
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...
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...
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 accomplish. The...
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 company, Advanced...
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 there were price controls...
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 a commitment; Stewart prefers...
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 right, but don't expect $1...
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 95 percent voted for Gore, some...
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...
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