Archive for Sheldon Richman

Sheldon Richman is the editor of The Freeman and TheFreemanOnline.org, and a contributor to The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics. He is the author of Separating School and State: How to Liberate America's Families.

Occupying Wall Street

The Occupy Wall Street agenda is vague, but the protesters at least have the good sense to know that something is awry with the political-economic system we labor under. Protesters carried a variety of signs, one of which stated, “End corporate welfare.” The Associated Press reported, “Demonstrators said Saturday they were protesting against bank bailouts [...]

4Jan2012 | Sheldon Richman | 4 comments | Continued

Destroying Value

In Cleveland and other American cities homes are being demolished because five years after the housing bust there is nothing better to do with them. Therein lies a lesson in Austrian business cycle theory. In a world of uncertainty, waste—the destruction of value—is inevitable. Human action, which aims to replace inferior circumstances with superior circumstances, [...]

4Jan2012 | Sheldon Richman | 2 comments | Continued

Lawrence O’Donnell and Government Job-Creation

Government “job creation” is like flying in a heavy fog without instruments.

23Dec2011 | Sheldon Richman | 35 comments | Continued

From 1944 to Nineteen Eighty-Four

I’m inclined to think of George Orwell and F. A. Hayek at the same time. Both showed great courage in writing the truth, undaunted by the consequences awaiting them. Both valued freedom, though they understood it differently.

16Dec2011 | Sheldon Richman | 10 comments | Continued

Fearing Hayek

I’m sensing some panic in the air. Certain people seem mighty concerned that other people are . . . discovering Hayek. As a W. S. Gilbert character might say, Oh horror!

9Dec2011 | Sheldon Richman | 2 comments | Continued

Indefinite Detention and the Free Society

The free market, and the free society in general, cannot be understood without also understanding their indispensable political, legal, and moral conditions.

2Dec2011 | Sheldon Richman | 20 comments | Continued

Elizabeth Warren’s Non Sequitur

Elizabeth Warren, who’s running for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts, made quite a splash on the Internet with remarks to supporters in which she said: There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there? Good for you. But I want to be clear: you moved [...]

30Nov2011 | Sheldon Richman | 17 comments | Continued

Social Cooperation, Part 2

Last month I wrote about Ludwig von Mises’s emphasis on social cooperation as the basis of his economic philosophy, particularly in his magnum opus, Human Action. I thought I’d follow up with more thoughts on this subject. Mises was no maverick in this regard. Interest in social cooperation pervades the best classical-liberal and libertarian thought. [...]

30Nov2011 | Sheldon Richman | 0 comments | Continued

Fed Secretly Bails Out Big Banks

From Bloomberg: Secret Fed Loans Gave Banks $13 Billion The Federal Reserve and the big banks fought for more than two years to keep details of the largest bailout in U.S. history a secret. Now, the rest of the world can see what it was missing. The Fed didn’t tell anyone which banks were in trouble so [...]

29Nov2011 | Sheldon Richman | 23 comments | Continued

What Congress Is Fighting Over

Here’s what the growth in federal spending would look like with and without the ten-year $1.2 trillion “cut” to be trigged by the supercommittee’s failure. HT: Nick Gillespie

21Nov2011 | Sheldon Richman | 33 comments | Continued

Putting Bureaucracy First: Rachel Maddow’s Progressivism

Bureaucratic dominance does not merely lower material living standards or reduce profit opportunities. It crushes lives and dreams.

18Nov2011 | Sheldon Richman | 31 comments | Continued

Back to Basics

If mind is brain, there is no “psychological” freedom or responsibility — no humanity. And if those don’t exist, there can be no political freedom or self-responsibility. What does not exist cannot be violated.

11Nov2011 | Sheldon Richman | 58 comments | Continued

They’re Not Insulting Our Mothers

That the wealth of the nonrich has grown is no reason to be complacent about corporatism. It simply shows that something less than complete freedom goes a long way.

4Nov2011 | Sheldon Richman | 33 comments | Continued

Cato Launches Libertarianism.org

The Cato Institute has unveiled a new website, Libertarianism, which will, in editor Aaron Ross Powell’s words, “facilitate[] deep and fruitful discussion of these ideas [of liberty]. And . . . introduce[] visitors to the value of the presumption of liberty.” The site will feature classic and new articles and video lectures, never shown before, of [...]

3Nov2011 | Sheldon Richman | 5 comments | Continued

Just Wondering

Would Bernard Madoff’s prospective victims have been better or worse off in a world with no government oversight of investment matters whatsoever? Is necessary to spell out the answer?

31Oct2011 | Sheldon Richman | 4 comments | Continued

William A. Niskanen, RIP

Bill Niskanen, an important Public Choice economist and long-time chairman of the Cato Institute, died earlier this week. I had the pleasure of having Bill as a colleague during my five years at Cato in the 1990s. He was unfailingly helpful and friendly, a fount of good sense in many ways. He was also supportive [...]

28Oct2011 | Sheldon Richman | 0 comments | Continued

Social Cooperation, Part 3

Some liberal thinkers have attached such importance to social cooperation that they have likened society to a living organism.

28Oct2011 | Sheldon Richman | 6 comments | Continued
Newer Entries • Older Entries

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

    40 queries. 1.709 seconds