Archive for Raymond J. Keating

Contributing editor Raymond Keating is chief economist for the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council.

The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Great Depression and the New Deal

The Great Depression ranks as one of the most misunderstood periods of history. For that, we can thank biased historians who for generations have favored activist government, along with Keynesian economists who never understood how the economy works. Since the last few months of 2008, the Great Depression has been thrust back into the national debate [...]

22Dec2010 | Raymond J. Keating | 3 comments | Continued

The War Between the State and the Family: How Government Divides and Impoverishes

Sympathy and compassion help make humans caring, moral beings. Adam Smith, the father of modern economics, understood that, as illustrated by his emphasis on sympathy in The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Often, however, sympathy and compassion are transformed from tools of moral judgment and action into weapons of blind ideology, irrational emotionalism, and cynical politics. [...]

22Jan2009 | Raymond J. Keating | 3 comments | Continued

The Astronaut Libertarian?

The Astronaut Farmer ranks as an unmistakably libertarian family film. The plot might have a few holes, but the movie raises some fascinating points and questions about individuals pursuing their dreams, limits on personal actions, and the role of government. The movie hit theaters in February and was scheduled for DVD release in July. It [...]

1Jul2007 | Raymond J. Keating | 1 comment | Continued

Jeffersonians in Space

Some of us occasionally have stumbled on a television show actually worth watching, only to see it canceled perhaps after just a season or two on the air. For defenders of freedom and individualism, it was even worse. In 2002 a science-fiction show with unmistakable libertarian leanings wound up lasting only four months. “Firefly” premiered [...]

1Apr2006 | Raymond J. Keating | 1 comment | Continued

The Neglected Factor in the Housing “Bubble”

Is there a housing “bubble”? Debate has swirled recently around this question. But one factor behind increased prices in the housing market seems to be frequently left out of the debate or only mentioned in passing—government. Then-Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan proclaimed last May 20 that the nation’s housing market was “frothy.” He also said [...]

1Mar2006 | Raymond J. Keating | 2 comments | Continued

Yo, Brooklyn! Get Real About Politics and Sports

Brooklyn, New York, needs a reality check on sports—whether it comes to the borough’s past with baseball’s Dodgers, or its possible future with basketball’s Nets. Even though the Dodgers left for Los Angeles almost a half-century ago, for many that move still hangs like a dark cloud over Brooklyn. Some people trace the borough’s economic [...]

1Feb2005 | Raymond J. Keating | 1 comment | Continued

Has a New Era of Space Venture Arrived?

Will 2004 go down in history as the dawn of a new space age? Many notable dates exist in the short history of mankind’s reaching for the stars. The Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth, on October 4, 1957. Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin made the first manned space flight [...]

1Oct2004 | Raymond J. Keating | 1 comment | Continued

Trust No One Including The X-Files?

I have two favorite moments from The X-Files. In one of the television episodes (“Arcadia,” which aired in 1999), FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) go undercover in a planned residential community. Posing as the Petries—that’s right, same names as Rob and Laura from the old Dick Van Dyke Show—they [...]

1Jun2002 | Raymond J. Keating | 0 comments | Continued

Superheroes and the Fight for Liberty

In recent times, popular culture has not exactly been a bastion of principled thought and philosophy, particularly when viewed from conservative or libertarian perspectives. Television, movies, and music, along with countless novels, have been infiltrated either by big-government leftism or a pervasive nihilism. Is there a pop-culture genre that might be considered an exception? Well, [...]

1May2001 | Raymond J. Keating | 0 comments | Continued

Tiger-nomics: Glorious Competition

The ever-mounting accomplishments in the short professional golf career of Tiger Woods are nothing less than historic. In fact, Woods’s mastery of golf offers lessons for duffers and PGA Tour pros alike. But his feats also serve as stunning reminders about the importance of competition not only on the golf course, but also in everyday [...]

1Feb2001 | Raymond J. Keating | 20 comments | Continued

A Year at the Movies

It’s been decades since Hollywood regularly produced films celebrating such notions as liberty, individualism, and hard work. However, a few exceptions periodically make it to local movie theaters. Indeed, 2000 turned out to be a relatively good year for watching individuals take risks and fight tyranny on the silver screen. In Gladiator, for example, Russell [...]

1Dec2000 | Raymond J. Keating | 0 comments | Continued

The Government’s Assault on Golf

Tour professional Casey Martin cheats at golf. And he does so with the government’s help through a particularly bad federal law and judicial overreach. Since late 1997 Martin has been riding in a golf cart, which is against both the rules of the Professional Golfers Association Tour (PGA Tour) and the 500-year tradition of golf [...]

1Nov2000 | Raymond J. Keating | 0 comments | Continued

The Butter Monopoly?

Can butter lovers in the greater Philadelphia and New York City metropolitan areas spread a little easier knowing that the federal government is looking out for them? Antitrust regulators are on guard against the tiniest of price increases that might result from a proposed merger in the butter industry. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) [...]

1Aug2000 | Raymond J. Keating | 2 comments | Continued

Greens Against Greens

Playing golf on Long Island can be a glorious experience. On this sliver of land in the Atlantic Ocean, golfers are treated to various types of golf, from playing often windswept layouts along the north and south shores, to more inland, wooded, and hilly courses. Long Island also has a fairly impressive history of professional [...]

1Aug1999 | Raymond J. Keating | 1 comment | Continued

Major League Losers: The Real Cost of Sports and Who’s Paying For It and Home Team: Professional Sports and the American Metropolis

Raymond Keating is a contributing editor to The Freeman, chief economist for the Small Business Survival Committee, and a columnist with Newsday. From the late 1980s into the first years of the 21st century, perhaps more than $15 billion will have been spent on new stadiums and arenas for teams in the four major league [...]

1Nov1998 | Raymond J. Keating | 0 comments | Continued

49 and Holding

The federal regulatory monster inflicts massive costs on the U.S. economy. No sector feels this statist wrath more sharply than small business. Perhaps burdened the most are small, enterprising firms looking to expand. Like the federal progressive income tax, many regulations punish success: a growing firm that adds employees faces an ever-increasing regulatory burden. Indeed, [...]

1Nov1998 | Raymond J. Keating | 8 comments | Continued

The NFL Oilers: A Case Study in Corporate Welfare

After more than three-and-a-half decades in the city of Houston, the National Football League’s Oilers kicked off this past season in Tennessee. The Tennessee Oilers are the result of a traumatic corporate welfare struggle in Houston, one that has left all but dead the political will to fight government handouts to million-dollar team owners and [...]

1Apr1998 | Raymond J. Keating | 1 comment | Continued
Older Entries

    • © Copyright 2011 Freeman - Ideas on Liberty. All rights reserved.

    43 queries. 2.587 seconds