Daily Articles

Monetary Central Planning and the State, Part 34: Free Banking and the Political Case against Central Banking

by Richard M. Ebeling October 1, 1999

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 ...

The Consequences of World War II

by Sheldon Richman October 1, 1999

The hysterical reaction to Pat Buchanan's hardly unique views on World War II reveal more about his critics than about him. Why are they so afraid of this man? World War II is often viewed as the last good war. In contrast to the wars that followed it-Korea and Vietnam, primarily--World War ...

Professional Courtesy

by Jacob G. Hornberger October 1, 1999

"Cuban authorities recently sentenced a Cuban-born U.S. resident to life in prison for smuggling Cuban citizens out of Cuba. Meanwhile U.S. officials, working in cooperation with their Cuban communist counterparts, continue to attack defenseless Cuban refugees and repatriate them to Cuba. If any of the Cuban or U.S. government ...

CAPSULE COMMENTARY: “Our Governments Black Box”

by Jacob G. Hornberger October 1, 1999

"In last Sunday's edition of the Washington Post, Peter Kornbluh, senior analyst at the National Security Archive, details the U.S. government's refusal to disclose its full role in the violent overthrow of Chilean president Salvador Allende and the murder of American journalist Charles Horman. The CIA in particular refuses to ...

CAPSULE COMMENTARY: “Compulsory Charity”

by Jacob G. Hornberger October 1, 1999

"Texas Gov. George W. Bush has announced nearly $500,000 in state grants to Christian groups. Bush said, 'America will be changed because people of faith and good heart are willing to help people in need.' Where exactly is the goodness in this? The Texas state government collects tax from the people ...

The Myth of Public Service

by Sheldon Richman October 1, 1999

The death of John F. Kennedy Jr. filled the airwaves with much rhapsodizing about "public service." Never mind that Kennedy did not go into public service, but rather launched a for-profit enterprise, George magazine (although it glamorizes public service). That didn't stop commentators and politicians from lavishing praise on the Kennedys for, as Vice President Al Gore put it, ...

Ethnic Cleansing, American-Style

by James Bovard October 1, 1999

The United States government intervened earlier this year in a civil war in Yugoslavia. President Clinton and other Western leaders justified the NATO bombing by the crackdowns that Serbian forces had conducted on Kosovar Albanian rebels and civilians. However, prior to the onset of NATO bombing, the actions of the ...

Child Labor and the British Industrial Revolution, Part 2

by Lawrence W. Reed October 1, 1999

Part 1 | Part 2 It has not been uncommon for historians, including many who lived and wrote in the 19th century, to report the travails of the apprentice children without ever realizing they were effectively indicting government, not the economic arrangement of free exchange we call capitalism. In 1857, Alfred Kydd published a two-volume work entitled ...

Time to Rethink the War on Drugs

by David Boaz October 1, 1999

Eighty-four percent of Americans say that possible cocaine use in his 20s should not disqualify Texas governor George W. Bush from being president. But if a cocaine user can go on to be president, why should we put young people in jail for using cocaine? Maybe the voters' indifference to Bush's possible past indicates that ...

Book Review: What do Economists Contribute?

by Richard M. Ebeling October 1, 1999

What Do Economists Contribute? edited by Daniel B. Klein (New York: New York University Press, 1999); 156 pages; $14.95. The following is the abstract of an economics article that appeared in the November 1998 issue of the International Economics Review: "The authors investigate confidence intervals and inference for the instrumental variables model with weak instruments. Confidence intervals based ...

Loving Your Country and Hating Your Government

by Jacob G. Hornberger September 2, 1999

After the bombing of the Alfred J. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995, President Clinton declared, "There's nothing patriotic about hating your government or pretending you can hate your government but love your country." I wonder whether the president still feels the same way in light of the government's lies and cover-up ...

Group of Odd People

by Sheldon Richman September 2, 1999

What a sorry lot the GOP is. The frontrunner, Gov. George W. Bush, bases his campaign on the slogan "prosperity with a purpose." Pardon me? I have no idea what that means, but I don't like the sound of it. A president of the United States, and the irants for that office, have no business ...