(From the November 1998 issue of The Free Market ) Big media outlets are ignoring the quiet revolution that is taking place across America. Politicians don’t talk too much about it for obvious reasons. This revolution is building incredible momentum. It now threatens the legitimacy of every level of government, the viability of government
Those arguing that Wall Street and other major industries cannot survive without a strong regulatory structure because regulators keep markets fair must now answer a basic question: Who regulates the regulators? The query comes in the wake of a recent blatant conflict-of-interest at the Securities and Exchange Commission, the regulatory group
The hypocrisy of the federal government appears limitless. Now it’s suing the big tobacco companies for $25 billion. Mind you, they’re not going after the cigar companies, which, of course, don’t have “deep pockets.” Just cigarettes smokers and makers—America’s most embattled minority. How can the government sue these companies? It sanctioned the
“There is no doubt that the real destroyer of the liberties of any people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and largesse.” Plutarch “Nothing could be more obsolete than to attempt to liberate mankind from poverty by political means; nothing could be more futile and dangerous.” (Hannah Arendt) From its beginning in the mid 1930s,
At the height of the Vietnam War, a war most Americans either want to forget or not learn about in the first place, a search and destroy mission was captured on film. A young American lieutenant and his patrol took a Vietnamese village, then, noting the Vietcong had been using it for months, ordered it burned to the ground. He explained to CBS
Recently, one of my lords and masters on the Potomac sent me a letter. Social Security Commissioner Kenneth S. Apfel wrote to say that, “We are pleased to send this Social Security Statement to help you understand what Social Security means to you and your family.” I’m glad someone is “pleased.” Looking at the record of my payroll taxes over 30
When does a federal government “fee” become a tax? Probably when it starts grossing about six times more than it was designed to take in. Probably when the government is in no hurry to end a windfall that generates an extra billion or two of play money each year. Probably when the government says that to cut the fee would be a boon to the rich,
The stock-market bubble of the past few years has distorted American economic values. The wealth effect is leading Americans to think that stock prices will never go down, so there is no reason to save. Americans, whose savings rates have been declining for decades, should save more. The stock-market boom of the past few years has been fueled by
In deciding on a tax cut, Americans must make a choice. Will we make the same mistake as Britain’s Labor government of 1945, which reluctantly cut taxes, targeting the cuts to ensure that none went to the rich? Or will we follow the route of the German Federal Republic of the late 1940s and 1950s, which repeatedly cut taxes across the board and
Some people and firms in the securities industry are cooperating with—or, should I say, surrendering to?—Jesse Jackson and his “Wall Street Project,” which pressures corporate America to adopt its own reparations program. The phenomenon reminds me of the aphorism attributed to Lenin: Capitalists will sell the rope by which they will be hanged.
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.