Capitalism Magazine: Who is Craig Biddle? Craig Biddle: I’m a guy who is fortunate to have discovered “Who is John Galt?” I’m a writer and editor specializing in books and articles from an Objectivist perspective, and I’m a husband and...
POLITICS
John Hancock and Cigarette Smuggling
While it’s politically popular to impose confiscatory taxes on America’s 40 million tobacco smokers, there are a number of consequences one might consider, but let’s start out with a quiz. If a carton of cigarettes sells for $160 in New York City,...
Seven Simple Rules for Health Care Reform
The status quo in American health care is indefensible–an expensive regulatory and bureaucratic mess. What that calls for, however, is not more layers of regulation and complicated mandates. Nor should government take over health care completely and run it as...
Obama: An Old Newness
Many years ago, a great hitter named Paul Waner was nearing the end of his long career. He entered a ballgame with 2,999 hits — one hit away from the landmark total of 3,000, which so many hitters want to reach, but which relatively few actually do reach. Waner...
The Economics of College, Part III
Why does college cost so much? There are two basic reasons. The first is that people will pay what the colleges charge. The second is that there is little incentive for colleges to reduce the tuition they charge. Those who want the government to provide subsidies to...
Politics and Black Americans
Dr. Thomas Sowell’s recent column, “Republicans and Blacks,” (April 10, 2008) pointed out the foolhardiness of Republican strategy to secure more black votes. He pointed out that it is a losing strategy to reach blacks through the civil rights...
The Economics of College, Part II
Those who argue that the taxpayers should be forced to subsidize people who go to colleges and universities seldom bother to think beyond the notion that education is a Good Thing. Some education is not only a good thing but a great thing. But, like most good things,...
The Economics of College, Part I
A front-page headline in the New York Times captures much of the economic confusion of our time: “Fewer Options Open to Pay for Costs of College.” The whole article is about the increased costs of college, the difficulties parents have in paying those...
Climate Change 101: Key Global Warming Facts
The Earth’s warming since 1850 totals about 0.7 degrees C. Most of this occurred before 1940. The cause: a long, moderate 1,500-year climate cycle first discovered in the Greenland ice cores in 1983. The cycle abruptly raises our temperature 1 to 3 degrees C...
A New Medical System Is Needed — for the British Nation
Five years ago, an expert for the British government prepared a report to recommend a plan for Britain’s National Health Service (NHS). The report was recently released to assess what has happened since. Spending has grown by 50 percent in real terms, with an...
Anti-Free Trade Paradise
Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, pandering to anti-trade activists, suggest that should they become president, they will restrict trade agreements. Before you buy into their promised paradise, there are a few trade questions you might...
The Latest Political Crusade: CFL Light Bulbs and Airline Safety
The latest political crusade is the crusade to replace ordinary light bulbs with the new CFL light bulb that is supposed to save electricity, reducing the need for fossil fuels and helping the fight against global warming. Since crusaders seldom stop to weigh the cost...
Senator Barack Hussein Obama: A Living Lie
An e-mail from a reader said that, while Hillary Clinton tells lies, Barack Obama is himself a lie. That is becoming painfully apparent with each new revelation of how drastically his carefully crafted image this election year contrasts with what he has actually been...
Republicans and Blacks
If Senator John McCain needed to prove that he is a real Republican, he did it when he continued an old Republican tradition of utterly inept attempts to appeal to black voters. Senator McCain was booed at a recent memorial on the anniversary of the assassination of...
Political Loathsomeness and The Enumerated Powers Act
Do any of the prospective nominees of either party deserve respect from the American people? The answer partially depends on your knowledge, values and respect for the U.S Constitution. When either Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton or John McCain take office, they are...
Random Thoughts
Random thoughts on the passing scene: Most of the problems of this country are not nearly as bad as the “solutions” — especially the solutions that politicians come up with during election years. Some people actually think that televising Congress...
ABC’s Shameful Global Warming Character Assassination
The nasty tone and gutter tactics of global warming alarmists and their media allies reached a new low on Easter Sunday when ABC aired on its nightly news and published on its Web site a character assassination of prestigious scientist S. Fred Singer. Singer, one of...
The Poverty Hype
The psychology of victimhood and the politics of envy are powerful political tools and we see them being exploited this political season. Politicians telling Americans how bad off we are reminds me of one of Aesop’s Fables where a dog was carrying a piece of...
The Federal Reserve, JPMorgan Chase and Bear Stearns: Irony in Wall Street
There was a real irony in the recent intervention by the Federal Reserve System to provide the money that enabled the firm of JPMorgan Chase to buy Bear Stearns before it went bankrupt. The point was to try to prevent a domino effect of panic in the financial markets...
Charlotte Observer Editorial Opposes Academic Freedom Regarding BB&T Grants
The latest attack on BB&T’s educational donations–and on academic freedom–comes by way of this Charlotte Observer editorial, which opens with the obvious truth that “A public university’s faculty and administration–not...
Lobbying, Free Speech and The First Amendment
Charles Krauthammer makes a trenchant argument in defense of a perennial whipping boy: Everyone knows the First Amendment protects freedom of religion, speech, press and assembly. How many remember that, in addition, the First Amendment protects a fifth freedom...
Terrorism: The Price of Bush’s Commitment to Palestinian Statehood
On his recent visit to the Middle East, Vice President Cheney voiced the Bush administration’s belief that a Palestinian state is “long overdue” and vowed to help make that goal a reality. Many conservatives and liberals agree with the administration...
Hostile-To-Reason Academics Fear Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged
“Gifts with Strings a Knotty Issue,” is the latest in a recent stream of articles about academics going berserk because BB&T, under the direction of CEO John Allison, has made contributions to universities with the stipulation that Ayn Rand’s...
Obama’s Speech Ignores The Fundamental Issue
Some pundits ask whether America is ready for Obama. The much more important question is whether Obama is ready for America and even more important is whether black people can afford Obama. Let’s look at it in the context of a historical tidbit. In 1947, Jackie...
The Audacity of Rhetoric
It is painful to watch defenders of Barack Obama tying themselves into knots trying to evade the obvious. Some are saying that Senator Obama cannot be held responsible for what his pastor, Jeremiah Wright, said. In their version of events, Barack Obama just happened...
Bipartisan Primary Blues
Leaders of the Democratic Party and much of the media are wringing their hands over what to do about Democratic voters in Florida and Michigan, in order not to leave them out of the process of picking a nominee, and perhaps alienating them as for as the general...
The Dalai Lama: Dumb and Dumber
In researching what a potential “free Tibet” would look like absent Chinese rule, I found the following quote which is attributed to Tenzin Gyatso, aka the 14th Dalai Lama and the head of Tibet’s government in exile: Of all the modern economic...
Immigration and Individual Rights
Every year, millions of people seek to immigrate to the United States, and with good reason: Opportunities to improve their lives abound here. Immigrants and would-be immigrants want to pursue the American dream. Whether or not they would put it in these terms, they...
Obama’s Philadelphia Speech: A Theatrical Masterpiece
Did Senator Barack Obama’s speech in Philadelphia convince people that he is still a viable candidate to be President of the United States, despite the adverse reactions to statements by his pastor, Jeremiah Wright? The polls and the primaries will answer that...
Michelle Obama’s Pain
There’s not a lot of money in Zanesville, Ohio. I spent four years there during college in the 1960s, down the road a few miles at Muskingum College. Zanesville was poor then; now it’s worse. The biggest employer in the region, Longaberger, a basket maker,...
The Myth of the “Peace-Loving Muslims”
All of us should give some serious thought to some of the ideas contained in an article circulating the blogsphere titled “Why a Peaceful Majority is Irrelevant.” So often our political leaders, “experts” and talking heads tell us that Islam is...
Senator Obama and “God Damn America”
There is something both poignant and galling about the candidacy of Barack Obama. Any American, regardless of party or race, has to find it heartening that the country has reached the point where a black candidate for President of the United States sweeps so many...
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