All Posts Tagged With: "government expansion"
The Economic Costs of the Civil War
Even after 150 years, the Civil War evokes memories of great men and great battles. Certainly that war was a milestone in U.S. history, and on the plus side it reunited the nation and freed the slaves. Few historians, however, describe the costs of the war. Not just the 620,000 individuals who died, or the [...]
23Mar2011 | Burton W. Folsom Jr. | 7 comments | ContinuedGaining a Nation, Losing the Republic: Reconstruction, 1863–1877
A dead president, carpetbaggers, scalawags, burning crosses, white hoods, an occupied South, Boss Tweed, Thomas Nast cartoons, the New York Democratic machine, and an imprisoned Jefferson Davis—all provide vivid images of the dozen years following the surrender of Robert E. Lee’s forces at Appomattox in April 1865. As every historian knows, often to his chagrin, [...]
23Mar2011 | Bradley J. Birzer | 7 comments | ContinuedTeddy Roosevelt and the Progressive Vision of History
Over a hundred years ago, on August 31, 1910, Teddy Roosevelt gave his famous “New Nationalism” speech in Osawatomie, Kansas. In that speech the former president projected his vision for how the federal government could regulate the American economy. He defended the government’s expansion during his presidency and suggested new ways that it could promote [...]
22Sep2010 | Burton W. Folsom Jr. | 8 comments | ContinuedAlexander Hamilton and the Perils of State Capitalism
Historians have long praised Alexander Hamilton’s activist government promotion of capitalism. Hamilton’s “financial revolution” brought secure government debt, fluid securities markets, and a modern banking system to the United States. Most scholars believe these factors were responsible for the amazing growth of the U.S. economy in the subsequent 200 years. Thus while George Washington is [...]
25Aug2010 | and Tyler Watts | 7 comments | ContinuedGovernment Intervention Is Needed to Solve the Housing Crisis?
In his March 18, 2008, column in the New York Times, David Brooks addresses the ongoing problems in the housing industry and concludes that “In normal times, the free market works well. But in a crisis like this one, few are willing to sit back and let the market find its own equilibrium.” Instead, Brooks [...]
1May2008 | Steven Horwitz | 3 comments | ContinuedWhat’s Happening?
Every day brings news of another government threat to our liberty. President Bush has asked for a new look at the posse comitatus law, which prohibits use of the military in domestic law enforcement. He also called for “a nationwide program giving millions of American truckers, letter carriers, train conductors, ship captains, utility employees, and [...]
1Oct2002 | Sheldon Richman | 0 comments | ContinuedNo More Subsidies for Higher Education
One of the most durable American shibboleths is that the more formal schooling young people get, the better off society will be. President Clinton, for example, proposed that we have a universal K-14 system, which would mean that the state would no longer be content with keeping children in school through high school, but that [...]
1Jul2002 | George C. Leef | 0 comments | ContinuedTyrannical Wrecks
Tom Siems is a senior economist and policy advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and a board member of the Cato Institute’s Project on Social Security Privatization. Once upon a time, there lived a small herd of dinosaurs that longed for freedom and individual opportunity. To pursue that dream the small herd left [...]
1Jan2002 | Tom Siems | 0 comments | ContinuedBacksliding Liberalism
A well-known attorney and patriot from Virginia identifies our most dangerous enemies—the foes of our own household. For centuries liberalism has meant a faith in individual liberty—the greatest possible freedom from both private dictation and from regulation by the government. Historic liberals have opposed increased taxing and spending and lawmaking by political rulers because these [...]
1Jul1956 | Donald R. Richberg | 0 comments | Continued-
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