Regulation Policy & Welfare

Ideas on Liberty in the Strangest Places

by Sheldon Richman April 1, 1996

Now and then something happens that makes you wonder if freedom's revolution isn't further along than we might think. Ideas about liberty can pop up in the strangest places. Here are some examples. The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now ACORN calls itself the "largest low- and moderate-income membership organization in the country." As an outgrowth of the National ...

The Minimum Wage

by James M. Liebler December 1, 1995

The standard political reason for wanting to raise the minimum wage is to aid the downtrodden, especially minority groups, by increasing their earnings and hopefully their employment opportunities. However, this move will not help these people; it will in fact only hurt them. Instead of raising their income, the actual effect of the law is to cut off the ...

Abolish the Federal Cultural Agencies

by Sheldon Richman November 1, 1995

According to First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, "This is an ominous time for those of use who care for the arts in America. A misguided, misinformed effort to eliminate public support for the arts not only threatens irrevocable damage to our cultural institutions but also to our sense of ourselves and what we stand for as a people." That is ...

Unemployment Compensation: None of the Government’s Business

by Dave Honigman November 1, 1995

The New Deal ushered in a lot of socialistic ideas that still plague us, and one of the worst is the notion that the government should protect people against the loss of income. If a person suddenly finds himself without employment and, therefore, without a paycheck, "society" supposedly has an obligation to help support him ...

Central Planning, American Style

by Harold J. Lanfield July 1, 1995

The November 5, 1993, issue of The Narragansett Times announced the completion of the Narragansett Comprehensive Plan (NCP). Clarkson A. Collins, director of community development, said: "It's a very enthusiastic and aggressive plan that takes an awful lot on." My reaction: Eccccchhh! I can envision only an ominous future ...

Baseball, Microsoft, and Antitrust Tyranny

by Sheldon Richman May 1, 1995

Congress's efforts to meddle in the Major League Baseball strike and the Department of Justice's harassment of the software giant Microsoft are just the latest reminders that the American economy badly needs to be liberated from the century-long tyranny of antitrust law. (The Sherman Antitrust Act was passed in 1890.) Through a quirk of jurisprudential history, baseball has been exempt ...

The Art of Budget Cutting

by James Ostrowski April 1, 1995

The new Republican majority in Congress will have its integrity severely tested when it decides the fate of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The Republicans got elected on one basic promise — to cut the size of the national government. It is difficult to think of another federal program that so richly deserves to be axed. That ...

The Greatest Enemy

by Art Hoppe February 1, 1995

They're out to get me — the most relentless, implacable foe a human being ever had. They've been after me all my life. On the day I was born, they demanded to know who I was and where I was so that they could put me on their list. Their spies and now their huge computers have kept track of ...

The Payoff Society

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 1, 1995

Last November, The Washington Times published an editorial by Marilyn Quayle entitled "Americans are Demanding Relief from Overzealous Regulators." Ms. Quayle pointed out: "To comply with federal regulations alone costs between $300 and $500 billion a year, or $4,000 to $6,000 for every working man and woman in America. ...

The Disaster of Government Disaster Relief

by Sheldon Richman May 1, 1994

January's tragic earthquake around Los Angeles, like last year's Midwestern floods and Southern Californian wildfires, once again highlights the government's pernicious role both before and after the occurrence of natural disasters. As the government has become more involved in such matters, the losses from natural disasters have increased. That is no mere coincidence. The government's role has been responsible for ...

Counterfeit Charity

by Ridgway K. Foley Jr. December 1, 1993

In Frederic Bastiat's words, "Man is a sentient being." He expresses traits of concern and sympathy for his fellow sojourners on this earth. He cares for the less fortunate among his neighbors. In a world pockmarked by violence, tales of sacrifice overwhelm tales of terror, although the latter tend to be recounted more fully in history books. Americans have taken ...

The Case for Legalized Prostitution

by Paul Armentano December 1, 1993

Prostitution may be the world's oldest profession, and laws prohibiting prostitution may well be the oldest example of government regulation and government (sex) discrimination. In a free society, however, all such laws are inappropriate because they violate the basic rights and liberties of the individuals involved. Recent research indicates that over one million women in the United States earn their ...