Something Must Be Done! by Richard M. Ebeling May 1, 1991 During hard times there are few phrases as frequently heard as, "Something must be done!" And what is usually meant by the phrase is that governmental action is needed to cure the economic woes of society. In other words, government spending should be increased to raise the demand for goods and services; interest rates should be lowered to stimulate investment activity; protection should be given to domestic producers to insulate them from the unscrupulous "poaching" of foreign producers; public-works projects should be used to guarantee a job at a "living wage" to all of those desiring to work. We live in an era that has seen the bankruptcy of socialism, the failure of the welfare state, the corrupting influences of governmental regulatory activity, the irresponsibility of government deficit-spending and the unprincipled political pandering to every ...
Book Review: Capitalism by Richard M. Ebeling February 1, 1991 Capitalism by Arthur Seldon (New York: Basil Blackwell, 1990) 419 pp; $29.95. Arthur Seldon has been one of the most influential economists of the post-World War II era. He studied with Friedrich A. Hayek at the London School of Economics in the 1930s. After the war, he worked as an economic consultant in the private sector. But his impact on economic policy began in 1957 when, together with Ralph (Lord) Harris, he co-founded the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA). Headquartered in London, IEA has sponsored the research for, and the publishing of, hundreds of pamphlets, monographs and books which make a rigorous case for economic liberty and classical liberalism. When the Institute began, it was a small and lonely voice in a Britain that was dominated by statist policies and socialist rationales for bigger government. IEA's goal was to ...
Book Review: Free Market Morality by Richard M. Ebeling January 1, 1991 Free Market Morality: The Political Economy of the Austrian School by Alexander H. Shand ( New York: Routledge, 1990) 228 pp.; $16.95 (h). The global collapse of socialism and central planning have left a large ideological vacuum on the world stage. What shall replace them remains uncertain. Declarations in support of "democracy" and a "market economy" create the illusion that the world knows where it is going. Is democracy to be a method for peaceful political change within a constitutional structure that recognizes and protects individual liberty and private property? Or is it to be a political mechanism for mutual plunder and wealth redistribution under the slogan, "the will of the people"? Will a market economy be an arena for peaceful, voluntary exchange in which contracts and honestly acquired property are protected by the rule of law? ...
