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 ...
End Subway Socialism in New York City by Gregory Bresiger February 17, 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 ...
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 ...
Collectivism Breeds Indifference to the Loss of Liberty by Richard M. Ebeling January 18, 2021 Who does not want to make the world a better place? With so much sorrow and suffering, poverty and plunder, cynicism and corruption in far too many places, nearly everyone, if asked, will usually say that if he could he would try to make this shared planet of ours a safer, prettier, more prosperous, and less unjust shared domicile ...
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 ...
Six Social Security Scams by Laurence M. Vance November 2, 2020 An article titled “Six Scams that Prey on the Elderly” that appeared on Kiplinger.com last year has recently been reposted on Pocket. Although there is a Social Security scam that the author (Miriam Cross) mentions as one of the six, the fact that Social Security itself is a scam is never ...
Socialism, American Style, Part 6 by Jacob G. Hornberger October 1, 2020 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 I grew up on a farm on the Rio Grande just outside Laredo, Texas, a city that is situated on the U.S.-Mexico border. I lived practically half my life in Texas. Throughout that time, I witnessed an immigration ...
The Socialist Elixir Is a Deadly Cyanide by Richard M. Ebeling October 1, 2020 Suppose you saw someone holding a bottle that had a label with the word “cyanide” and he was about to drink from it. You tell him to be careful, that that is poison, and he could die a painful death. He says, no that’s not true, cyanide is a delightful drink, that he has heard that it cures many ...
Socialism, American Style, Part 5 by Jacob G. Hornberger September 1, 2020 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 The Federal Reserve System is another prime example of American socialism, because it is based on central planning, a core element of socialism. Government officials plan, in a top-down, command-and-control manner the monetary affairs of hundreds of millions ...
Socialism, American Style, Part 4 by Jacob G. Hornberger August 1, 2020 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 It would be difficult to find a better example of American socialism than the institution of public schooling or, as it might be more accurately termed, government schooling. Public schooling is based on socialist central planning. Whether at a federal, ...