Archive for Howard Baetjer Jr.

Ebenezer Scrooge and the Free Society

Behaving in a self-interested manner does not mean disregarding others. On the contrary, because we are social beings who depend on, and often care deeply about many others around us, a sound attention to our self-interest must include a great deal of concern for others.

24Dec2009 | Howard Baetjer Jr. | 0 comments | Continued

Inflation 101: Cause Versus Transmission

Howard Baetjer, Jr. is a lecturer in economics at Towson University. It’s always a pleasure for a teacher to receive a note from a former student showing that he or she has taken key lessons to heart. I had such a pleasure last winter when Joey, who had taken Money and Banking with me last [...]

1Sep2008 | Howard Baetjer Jr. | 2 comments | Continued

Something Besides Money Growth Causes Inflation?

Howard Baetjer, Jr., is a lecturer in economics at Towson University. Some economic phenomena can result from a variety of causes. A temporary increase in unemployment, for example, might be caused by a sudden, disruptive change in production technology, or in trade patterns, or in labor or tax laws; or it could be caused by [...]

1Jul2007 | Howard Baetjer Jr. | 7 comments | Continued

At the Intersection of the Minimum Wage and Illegal Immigration

Howard Baetjer is a lecturer in economics at Towson University. This question from a former student named Blake addresses the interaction of two hot political issues: “I remember in class that raising minimum wage is a bad thing to do. My question to you is, since illegal immigrants don’t get paid minimum wage most of [...]

1Mar2007 | Howard Baetjer Jr. | 6 comments | Continued

Ebenezer Scrooge and the Free Society

Behaving in a self-interested manner does not mean disregarding others. On the contrary, because we are social beings who depend on, and often care deeply about many others around us, a sound attention to our self-interest must include a great deal of concern for others.

1Dec1988 | Howard Baetjer Jr. | 11 comments | Continued

Freedom in the Dock

Howard Baetjer is on the staff at FEE. “What you’re talking about is survival of the fittest, right? Laissez-faire capitalism—where the strong make it and the weak die; is that it?” The accusation bursts forth from a tenth-grader in an American history class. She has been listening intently to my description of the limited government, [...]

1Feb1987 | Howard Baetjer Jr. | 0 comments | Continued

Private Schools in the Inner City

Howard Baetjer Jr. is a member of the FEE staff. Those who believe that educational services should be provided by a totally free market, with no governmental involvement in schooling, are frequently told: “You are advocating a completely private school system, with no public schools for the poor. How can the poor possibly afford private [...]

1Nov1986 | Howard Baetjer Jr. | 0 comments | Continued

Deregulate the Utilities

Howard Baetjer is a member of the staff at FEE. This article is adapted from a speech he gave earlier this year at Marymount College, Tarrytown, New York, as part of a debate on utility regulation. Government regulates utilities by granting them monopoly privileges, and then controlling their prices. I contend that such government intervention [...]

1Sep1986 | Howard Baetjer Jr. | 1 comment | Continued

Book Review: Audio ClassicsThe Wealth of Nations Script by George H. Smith

Knowledge Products, 120 Tremont Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02108; toll free, 800.453-9000, ext. 400 4 cassettes, $39.95; $170 prepaid for 24 cassette series Cassettes will not replace books, but they give the literature of liberty an exciting new dimension. Scholarly discussions of classic works of political philosophy are now available on tape. “Audio classics” is a [...]

1Aug1986 | Howard Baetjer Jr. | 0 comments | Continued

A Page on Freedom: Number 22

Is It Fair? Many think we can decide fairness by looking at how things are. We can’t. Fairness depends on how they got that way. Advocates of a faulty doctrine called “comparable worth” say it is unfair that women in certain jobs are paid less than men in other jobs these advocates deem equally valuable. [...]

1Aug1985 | Howard Baetjer Jr. | 0 comments | Continued

Profit-MakerFriend or Foe?

Howard Baetjer Jr. is a member of the staff of The Foundation for Economic Education, primarily responsible for taking FEE’s message to schools and colleges. Is one who makes profits an exploiter, as is so often claimed? Or is that person a social benefactor? Do profits arise from harming others or making them better off?. [...]

1Apr1985 | Howard Baetjer Jr. | 0 comments | Continued

Book Review: The Philosophic Thought of Ayn Rand edited by Douglas J. Den Uyl and Douglas B. Rasmussen

(University of Illinois Press, 54 East Gregory Drive, Champaign, IL 61820), 1984 • 235 pages • $21.95 cloth Ayn Rand has inspired thousands of young people to further study of economic and political liberty—and to professional careers in philosophy and other disciplines. Her novels gave readers examples of real heroes in a time when the [...]

1Nov1984 | Howard Baetjer Jr. | 0 comments | Continued

Of Obligation and Transfer Taxation

Howard Baetjer recently received a master’s degree in political science from Boston College and is a member of the staff of The Foundation for Economic Education. In today’s redistributionist society, government promises a more equitable distribution of wealth than the market’s actual allocation. It does so by transfer taxation: taxing everyone and subsidizing some. Of [...]

1Nov1984 | Howard Baetjer Jr. | 0 comments | Continued

Does Welfare Diminish Poverty?

Does government-provided poor relief decrease the amount of poverty? That it does is an assumption at the heart of our nation’s very large antipoverty programs. In fact those programs were instituted for the purpose of making themselves obsolete. Shortly before passing the Social Security Act in 1935, for example, Franklin Roosevelt declared to Congress, “The [...]

1Apr1984 | Howard Baetjer Jr. | 28 comments | Continued

Lasers, Harobeds, And World Hunger

Mr. Baetjer is a graduate student in political science at Boston College. This article first appeared in the March 17, 1983 issue of The Observer of Boston College and is reprinted here by permission. What do lasers have to do with world hunger? They help decrease it, that’s what. Of course it is a complex [...]

1Aug1983 | Howard Baetjer Jr. | 0 comments | Continued

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