Archive for Lawrence W. Reed
Lawrence Reed is the president of FEE.
Character and the Healthcare Crisis
A friend of FEE, Dr. Robert Berry, gave this speech last March. It deals with the ‘healthcare crisis’ in America today. The author ultimately attributes it to a crisis of character. I commend this speech to the attention of our readers. It may provoke thought and controversy, but it offers many essential truths and valuable, [...]
31Dec2008 | Lawrence W. Reed | 0 comments | Continued
Mr. President, Meet Mr. Smith
Since it’s obviously possible for people to reach the pinnacle of politics without seeming to know much about either economics or Smith, perhaps we’re overdue for a little reminder about both.
1Dec2008 | Lawrence W. Reed | 4 comments | ContinuedWhy “Inflation” Is Back
“Government,” observed the renowned Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises, “is the only institution that can take a valuable commodity like paper, and make it worthless by applying ink.” Mises was describing the curse of inflation, the process whereby government expands a nation’s money supply and thereby erodes the value of each monetary unit—dollar, peso, pound, [...]
1Nov2008 | Lawrence W. Reed | 9 comments | ContinuedThe Holiday That Isn’t
I know it’s only October, but that’s late enough in the year for most people to have already begun thinking of the holidays just around the corner. We will each observe the traditional ones according to our personal wishes—a precious right won for us by past and present patriots. Allow me to advise you, however, [...]
1Oct2008 | Lawrence W. Reed | Comments Off | ContinuedFreedom or Free-for-All?
Lawrence Reed became the president of FEE on September 1. To honor the occasion, we reprint his first “Ideas and Consequences” column, which was originally published in The Freeman in April 1994. Imagine playing a game—baseball, cards, “Monopoly,” or whatever—in which there was only one rule: anything goes. You could discard the “instruction book” from [...]
1Sep2008 | Lawrence W. Reed | 0 comments | ContinuedCharacter, Liberty, and Economics
Over four decades I’ve written scores of articles, essays, and columns on economics; taught the subject at the university level; and given hundreds of speeches on it. In recent years the nexus between the economics of a free society and individual character has worked its way into my writing, speaking, and thinking with increasing emphasis. [...]
1Jul2008 | Lawrence W. Reed | 11 comments | ContinuedHistory for Sale: Why Not?
Sold!” cried the Sotheby’s auctioneer on the night of December 18, 2007, as one of history’s oldest political documents changed hands. It was Magna Carta, or rather a copy of it that dated to 1297. The buyer was not a government but an individual, a Washington lawyer named David Rubenstein. He paid $21.3 million for [...]
1May2008 | Lawrence W. Reed | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Times that Tried Men’s Economic Souls
Two hundred and thirty years ago this month in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, the brutal and storied winter of 1777–78 came to a long-awaited close. Nearly a quarter of George Washington’s Continental Army troops encamped there had died—victims of hunger, exposure, and disease. Almost every American knows that much, but few can tell you why Congress [...]
1Mar2008 | Lawrence W. Reed | 0 comments | ContinuedIn Praise of an Uncommon Woman
Popular literature is full of praises for “the common man,” but I am much more impressed by the men and women who stand apart from the crowd. Some wise observer once said that only three kinds of people exist in the world: a very few who make things happen, a somewhat larger number who watch [...]
1Dec2007 | Lawrence W. Reed | 0 comments | ContinuedHans F. Sennholz, 1922–2007
After a long and productive life, a man of great faith passes on and is welcomed into Heaven. He is greeted with an invitation. “What would you most like to do?” he is asked. “I always enjoyed giving speeches about what it was like to live through the Johnstown Flood,” he responds. “I’d love to [...]
1Oct2007 | Lawrence W. Reed | 4 comments | ContinuedProphets of Property
In 1800, fewer than 1 million people lived in London; a century later, well over 6 million. As the 20th century dawned, London had already been the most populous city on the planet for seven decades. Britain’s population as a whole soared from 8 million in 1800 to 40 million in 1900. In the previous [...]
1Jul2007 | Lawrence W. Reed | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Love of Power vs. the Power of Love
Lawrence Reed is president of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a free-market research and educational organization in Midland, Michigan. “We look forward to the time when the power of love will replace the love of power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace.” So declared British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone [...]
1May2007 | Lawrence W. Reed | 2 comments | ContinuedA Tribute to a Polish Hero
One year ago the world lost a gifted science fiction writer and critic of totalitarianism when Poland’s Stanislaw Lem died in March 2006. Lem was best known internationally as author of the classic Solaris—twice adapted for the silver screen—but the majority of his fiction featured damning allegories against the suppression of the human spirit. Bruce [...]
1Mar2007 | Lawrence W. Reed | 0 comments | ContinuedTwo Who Made a Difference
In 20 years of traveling to 67 countries I’ve come across some pretty nasty governments and some darn good people. To be fair I should acknowledge that I’ve also encountered some rotten people and a half-decent government or two. The ghastliest of all worlds is when you have rotten people running nasty governments, a combination [...]
1Dec2006 | Lawrence W. Reed | 0 comments | ContinuedGrowing Up Means Resisting the Statist Impulse
A few months ago, I walked into a restaurant in Naples, Fla., and said “A nonsmoking table for two, please.” The greeter replied, “No problem. All restaurants in Florida are nonsmoking by law. Follow me.” For a brief moment as we walked to our table, I thought to myself: “Good. No chance of even a [...]
1Oct2006 | Lawrence W. Reed | 1 comment | ContinuedGovernment Putts
Mark Twain once said that the game of golf was nothing more than “a good walk spoiled.” But to avid golfers, such impertinence obscures a cardinal truth: The sport is infinitely complex and not for everybody. Golf requires patience, concentration, and forbearance. Distractions must be ignored or compensated for by careful planning. A serious player [...]
1Aug2006 | Lawrence W. Reed | 3 comments | ContinuedFree-Market Moments on the Silver Screen
If you believe in capitalism, going to the movies is all too often a painful exercise. Even those you expect to be apolitical turn up gratuitous dialogue that peddles Hollywood’s pervasive but infantile anti-market sentiments. Apparently there’s a lot of money to be made criticizing the very marketplace that enables even its most superficial critics [...]
1May2006 | Lawrence W. Reed | 5 comments | Continued-
The Latest
Contraception: Insuring the Uninsurable
Update below. Controversy rages over the Obama administration’s mandate that all employers – including... Read More
The Snow Plowers’ Petition
The following might have happened in a small college town in upstate New York… In a cold and snowy... Read More
Super Bowl versus Education?
In the spirit of Super Bowl weekend I’d like to deconstruct a Facebook status update that a friend... Read More
Capitalism, Corporatism, and the Freed Market
When a front-running presidential contender tells the country that thanks to Barack Obama, “[w]e are... Read More
Creating Jobs versus Creating Value
Picking on New York Times columnist Paul Krugman is one of the largest participation sports on the Internet.... Read More
