Pursuit of Happiness
Why Not More Liberty?
There are two extreme views of American government and the political process. One is that policy is the result of special interests rigging the system in their favor and exploiting the ignorant or at least impotent masses. The other is that government pretty much gives the people what they want. My own view is much [...]
5Jul2010 | Russell Roberts | 0 comments | ContinuedChina’s Future
The threat to China’s future development is not lack of resources or technology, but the absence of an institutional framework that limits government and protects property rights. It has been 15 years since the Tiananmen Square massacre in June 1989, and 25 years since Deng Xiaoping embarked on economic reform in 1979. China is now [...]
2Jul2010 | James A. Dorn | 0 comments | ContinuedIs Monopoly Good or Bad?
Monopoly is nearly always seen as something undesirable. Courts have wrestled with monopoly for ages, sometimes defining it as “the power to control prices and exclude competition,” “restraining trade,” or “unfair and anticompetitive behavior.” Should monopolistic practices be condemned and outlawed? Let’s look at anticompetitive behavior and practices, but let’s not confine ourselves to what’s [...]
30Jun2010 | Walter E. Williams | 2 comments | ContinuedUnions Lose Respect
I have often argued that American labor unions enjoy much more respect than they deserve. In February the Pew Research Center released the results of its latest nationwide survey of public opinion regarding labor unions. It seems that, at last, labor unions are suffering significant losses of respect. Table 1 shows the percentage of Americans [...]
29Jun2010 | Charles W. Baird | 8 comments | ContinuedDrugs, Economics, and Liberty
Only a few people would dispute that narcotics can harm people, whether that harm is in the form of damage to the body, mental and physical dependency, or threats to social relationships. However, there is not nearly as much consensus as to what the correct public response to narcotics use and sales is. Ideas range [...]
20May2010 | Walter E. Williams | 39 comments | ContinuedForgotten Lines
In the January 23, 2010, Los Angeles Times crossword puzzle, one of the clues was “Sassy reply to criticism.” The answer: “It’s a free country.” Why do I find this so striking? For two reasons. First, when I grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, not many people around me considered that a sassy reply. [...]
20Apr2010 | David R. Henderson | 4 comments | ContinuedObamaCare and Unions
Last November 7, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3962, crafted by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and whimsically titled the Affordable Health Care for America Act (AHCAA). It was the House’s version of ObamaCare. American labor unions, whether representing government- or private-sector workers, enthusiastically endorsed the measure. Yet most unions have been effective at securing good [...]
24Mar2010 | Charles W. Baird | 1 comment | ContinuedA Contemptible Congress and a Derelict Court
What can Congress do that the Supreme Court would find unconstitutional? Or, what can Congress do that a president would veto as unconstitutional? It is not much exaggeration to say that Congress can do whatever it can muster a majority vote for, whether it is constitutional or not. The members only have to worry about [...]
24Feb2010 | Walter E. Williams | 5 comments | ContinuedThe Balance-of-Payments Deficit: Not to Worry
Quick. What’s the trade deficit between California and the rest of the world? Don’t try Googling it because you won’t find an answer. No government agency—or private entity—computes the dollar value of goods that people in the rest of the world sell to or buy from Californians. Why not? Because it doesn’t matter. Yet governments [...]
5Jan2010 | David R. Henderson | 7 comments | ContinuedBenedict XVI on Labor Unions
On June 29 Pope Benedict XVI issued an encyclical letter titled Caritas in Veritate (CV) in which he discusses several economic questions. There is much in the letter that suggests Benedict lacks a clear understanding of economics, such as his belief that market exchanges should involve things of equal value. However, notwithstanding absurd claims by [...]
18Nov2009 | Charles W. Baird | 2 comments | ContinuedRule of Law versus Legislative Orders
Webster’s dictionary defines law as all the rules of conduct established and enforced by the authority, legislation, or custom of a given community or group. Why are there laws in the first place? The most apparent answer is, were there not a particular law, some people would not conduct themselves according to the law in [...]
23Oct2009 | Walter E. Williams | 1 comment | ContinuedThe Real Meaning of Privilege
“They live in an expensive mansion, fly first-class to foreign countries, and eat at the finest restaurants. They send their kids to private schools. They’re so privileged.” How often have you heard some variant of the lines above? I’d bet it’s a lot. Yet, typically, the word “privileged” is inaccurate. We certainly all know or [...]
23Sep2009 | David R. Henderson | 11 comments | ContinuedEFCA and Compromise
As proposed, the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) would 1) replace secret-ballot union representation elections with card-check certification of unions as exclusive (monopoly) bargaining agents for workers in their workplaces; 2) impose compulsory-interest arbitration on employers who do not agree to a first union contract within 130 days; and 3) increase penalties on alleged unfair [...]
19Aug2009 | Charles W. Baird | 0 comments | ContinuedSchool Choice
The overall quality of primary and secondary education received by white students is nothing to write home about. The very fact that 30 percent of college freshmen require remedial education, at a cost of over $2 billion, is pretty good evidence that there is widespread fraud in the conferring of high-school diplomas. That level of [...]
17Jun2009 | Walter E. Williams | 1 comment | ContinuedGovernment Fundamentalism
Many free-market economists like me are quite willing to admit that markets don’t work perfectly and to examine and accept government solutions if their advocates can show how governments can be motivated to actually carry them out. And yet we are called market fundamentalists. On the other hand, many people who call us that are unwilling to change any of their views about the efficacy of government intervention no matter how badly the intervention works. Who are the fundamentalists here?
21May2009 | David R. Henderson | 16 comments | ContinuedOrganizing and the Organized
Congress permits unions to bargain for workers who do not want such representation, and it compounds this violation of freedom of association by permitting unions to force workers they represent to pay union dues and fees as a condition of continued employment. So-called union security has given rise to a circus of legal disputes which [...]
24Apr2009 | Charles W. Baird | 4 comments | ContinuedWhere Does Your Vote Really Count?
To encourage us to participate in the political process, we are told that every vote counts. That is true if one is adding up the total votes, but what is the likelihood of any one person’s vote affecting the outcome of a presidential election? Simply put, it is equal to the probability that the person’s [...]
1Apr2009 | Walter E. Williams | 0 comments | Continued-
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