Random thoughts on the passing scene: I can’t get as fiercely involved as some other people do in controversies about the origins of human life on earth. I wasn’t there. One of the painful signs of years of dumbed-down education is how many people are...
It is not just in Iraq that the political left has an investment in failure. Domestically as well as internationally, the left has long had a vested interest in poverty and social malaise. The old advertising slogan, “Progress is our most important...
London’s Times Online recently reported that, according to Vatican sources, Pope Benedict XVI is working on his second encyclical, a doctrinal pronouncement that will condemn tax evasion as “socially unjust.” (See...
A whole nation following the tragedy of a mine cave-in in Utah was struck by the further tragedy of another cave-in at the same mine, killing men who had gone underground to try to rescue the miners trapped there. The second tragedy was avoidable — but only if...
The Bush administration’s plan to declare Iran‘s Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization is worse than a waste of time: It is an outright evasion of the Iranian assault on America . There is a good reason why the New York City Police Department...
Back to school nowadays means back to classrooms, lessons and textbooks permeated by multiculturalism and its championing of “diversity.” Many parents and teachers regard multiculturalism as an indispensable educational supplement, a salutary influence...
Readers of The New York Times got a front-page example recently of what F.A. Hayek called “the fatal conceit” — the idea that some great mind or committee can do a better job than the private market in organizing and directing an economy. Hayek...
Democrat and Republican candidates for President are debating one another on nearly every issue–but nearly all are united on one thing: America faces a crisis of “income inequality.” The rich are getting richer, the refrain goes, while the poor and...
Two recent tragedies — in Minnesota and in Utah — have held the nation’s attention. The implications of these tragedies also deserve attention. Those politicians who are always itching to raise tax rates have seized upon the neglected infrastructure...
“On, Wisconsin … run the ball clear down the field!” It’s time to amend the Wisconsin football song so we can cheer on the Badger State’s politicians as they move toward health-care socialism. The Wall Street Journal editorial-page...
Amid all the hand-wringing and finger-pointing as housing markets collapse, mortgage foreclosures skyrocket, and financial markets panic, there is very little attention being paid to the fundamental economic and political decisions that led to this mess. The growth in...
Global warming has become a big-ticket item in the eyes of its supporters. At stake are research funds, jobs and the ability to control lives all over the globe. Most climatologists agree that over the last century, the Earth’s average temperature has risen...
It took a collapsing bridge in Minnesota to alert people across the country to the fact that many other bridges in many other places have been allowed to deteriorate without adequate maintenance. If this were just a matter of poor political leadership at various...
Historical costs, sometimes called sunk costs, are irrelevant to decision-making because they are costs that have already been incurred. That’s something that’s not intuitively obvious, even for some trained economists. On a couple of occasions, I’ve...
Sometimes the advocates of socialized medicine claim that health care is too important to be left to the market. That’s why some politicians are calling for us to adopt health care systems such as those in Canada, the United Kingdom and other European nations....
On July 11, New York Times reporter Patricia Cohen wrote an article titled, “In Economics Departments, a Growing Will to Debate Fundamental Assumptions.” The article begins with, “For many economists, questioning free-market orthodoxy is akin to...
Michael Moore loves government. OK, he doesn’t love a government headed by George W. Bush, but he believes that once the Democrats are in charge, government will do a better job providing health care. In his new movie, “Sicko,” he praises...
Americans rightly admire our troops for their bravery, dedication and integrity. The Marines, for instance, are renowned for abiding by an honorable code–as warriors and as individuals in civilian life. They epitomize the rectitude of America’s soldiers....
I interviewed Michael Moore recently for an upcoming “20/20” special on health care. It’s refreshing to interview a leftist who proudly admits he’s a leftist. He told me that government should provide “food care” as well as health...
President Bush and his pro-amnesty allies both in and out of Congress suffered a devastating defeat at the hands of the American people. Like any other public controversy, there are vested interests served on both sides of the amnesty issue, but I’d like to...
Last week, I bemoaned New York Times columnist David Brooks’s eagerness to have government impose force on others. He was promoting programs like “National Service.” Why are many conservatives so eager to wield force? Conservatives used to complain...
Just about the most difficult lesson for first-year economics students, and sometimes graduate students, is that economic theory, and for that matter any scientific theory, is positive or non-normative. You might ask, “What’s this business about positive...
Back in the late 1960s, during graduate study at UCLA, I had a casual conversation with Professor Armen Alchian, one of my tenacious mentors. Professor Alchian is among the top 20th-century contributors to economic knowledge. During our graduate student/faculty coffee...
“Reviving the Hamilton Agenda.” That’s the headline the New York Times gave David Brooks’s recent column honoring Alexander Hamilton, the Founding Father perhaps least interested in limiting political power. Unlike his rival Thomas Jefferson,...
Should the federal government require everyone to buy health insurance? If the goal is “universal coverage,” then obviously the answer is yes. But that isn’t the point. The point is that it isn’t the duty or right of the government to force...
Suppose a person is raped and we arrest the rapist. Should his status, whether he’s a senator, professor or an ordinary man, play a role in the adjudication of the crime and subsequent punishment? I’m betting that the average person would answer that the...
Independence is the foundation of America. Independence is what should be celebrated on Independence Day.
The U.S. government now pays for and controls half of the health care in America. That is up from less than 10 percent forty years ago. Government spending on health care has increased at a rapid rate as its share of health care has increased. Yet those who complain...
Bush’s disastrous foreign policy–especially the Iraq fiasco–has led many to conclude that diplomatic “engagement” is our best hope for stopping Iran’s nuclear program. But while Bush’s policy is a failure, engagement is not...
They say health care in the United States is outrageously expensive because of a failure of the free market. But we don’t have a free market in health care. States throughout the country regulate private health insurance, and have turned it into a...
Dropping out of college didn’t stop Bill Gates from making tons of money, but it kept him from classes where he might have learned about the beauty of spontaneous market processes. Never mind. I forgot that he attended Harvard. He might not have learned about...
Environmentalists are quick to lecture the rest of us about the ways of nature. Don’t clean the dead trees off the forest floor, it’s natural. Cattle and horses on the range aren’t native, so let the grizzles and wolves devour them, it’s...
Latest pro-Capitalism goodness sent weekly to your email box.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.