Socialism

Modern Collectivist Trends and How to Resist Them

by Richard M. Ebeling August 20, 2021

The First World War and the Great Depression were, I would suggest, the major events that have shaped most of the political, social, and economic trends for more than a century. The Great War, as it used to be called, undermined the generally “classical” liberal world that prevailed, at least in much of Western and Central Europe and North ...

The Soviet Union Is Gone, but the Young Yearn for Socialism

by Richard M. Ebeling August 17, 2021

This August marks the 30th anniversary of the beginning of the end to the Soviet Union. During August 19-21, 1991, hardline members of the Soviet Communist Party and the KGB attempted a coup d’état in Moscow to prevent the political and economic reforms introduced over the prior five years from going any further. The coup failed, and on Christmas ...

A Senseless Test

by Laurence M. Vance August 6, 2021

Most Americans received stimulus payments three times from the federal government during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many Americans receive a similar payment in the Spring every year after they file their taxes and claim the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Some of these “many” Americans, starting last month, began receiving advance payments of their EITC every ...

Infrastructure Bill as Political Plunder and Social Engineering

by Richard M. Ebeling August 4, 2021

Nothing says you really “care” in politics as much as a willingness and, indeed, a demand to spend at least $1 trillion of other people’s money on some supposedly essential public “need.” So, not surprisingly, a bipartisan infrastructure bill is working its way through Congress with just such a $1 trillion price tag. Also, nothing says you are desperate for ...

The Paternalist Instincts of a Central Planner

by Richard M. Ebeling May 26, 2021

Both supporters and critics of President Joe Biden have been surprised and amazed by the immensity of his political agenda and his recent actions for a far more expansive role for the federal government than many had been expecting from his time in office. He is clearly on a “mission” and is pursuing it with seeming urgency. So, what ...

The True Nature of Social Security Revealed

by Laurence M. Vance March 23, 2021

A friend who opted to take early Social Security benefits at age 62 late last year was aghast when he recently found out that half of his benefits might be withheld and 85 percent of his benefits might be subject to taxation. An exploration of why these things are true reveals the true nature of Social Security. Although Social Security ...

Socialism-in-Practice Was a Nightmare, Not Utopia

by Richard M. Ebeling February 24, 2021

It is amazing sometimes how really short humanity’s historical memory can be. Listening to some in American academia and on social media, you would think that socialism was a bright, new, and shiny idea never tried before that promises a beautiful future of peace, love, and bountifulness for all. It is as if a hundred years of socialism-in-practice in ...

The VMI Controversy

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 11, 2021

Last year, the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) in Lexington, Virginia, came under scrutiny for alleged acts of racial discrimination against black members of the corps of cadets. The controversy began with an article in the Washington Post, which was followed by a call by the governor of Virginia for an official state investigation into racism at VMI. Under pressure, ...

The Uyghurs as Victims of Chinese National Socialism

by Richard M. Ebeling February 10, 2021

News outlets in the United States and in Europe have again been drawing attention to the oppression and persecution being suffered by the Uyghurs in the western region of China known as Xinjiang. Somewhere between one and two million of them have been rounded up and placed in “reeducation” camps by the Chinese government, with smuggled out stories telling ...

On the Wrong Track

by Lance Lamberton February 1, 2021

Romance of the Rails. Why the Passenger Trains We Love Are Not the Transportation We Need by Randal O’Toole (Cato Institute, 2018); 376 pages. If ever there was an example of how government intervention in the marketplace creates unintended consequences and makes a situation it was intended to solve infinitely worse by virtue of being involved in it in the ...

End Subway Socialism in New York City

by Gregory Bresiger January 1, 2021

The misery will continue for New York subway riders, who don’t understand how previous subway reforms have failed. State and city officials concede things will worsen. “There is no question our subways are in crisis after decades of underinvestment and inaction,” wrote New York City Comptroller Scott Stinger in a recent report. “The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA),” writes New York State ...

Why Hayek was Right About Nazis Being Socialists

by Richard M. Ebeling December 11, 2020

Words are powerful things in that they enable us to share a common world of understanding with our contemporaries and, in the written form, with generations long past. But too often words can just as easily cause confusion, misunderstanding, and conflict among people in any society. One such word that keeps causing this type of confusion and conflict is ...