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High Taxes and Expansive Government Destroyed the Roman Empire

According to Herbert Spencer, “The Man Versus the State” (1982, page 60), In Gaul, during the decline of the Roman Empire, “so numerous were the receivers in comparison with the payers, and so enourmous the weight of taxation, that the labourer broke down, the plains became deserts, and woods grew where the plough had been.” …

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Companies Cutting Employees’ Hours In Response to “Affordable Care Act”

We previously reported that the “Affordable Care Act” (“Obamacare”) was expected by the Congressional Budget Office to result in 1.5 to 2 percent fewer total hours worked by Americans. Now a survey shows the damage to American productivity is even worse. A survey by the Society for Human Resource Management of 743 human resources professionals …

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The “Scariest Chart in the World”: After Decades of Government Anti-Saving Policies, Half of Americans Save Nothing

The Business Insider is out with a chart showing that almost half of all Americans (47 %) save nothing and live paycheck to paycheck in response to decades of government policies that punish savers. Chief among the government’s anti-saver policies is the Federal Reserve system, which has set interest rates artificially low for more than …

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Socialist Talking Points About Libertarianism Eviscerated by Cato Institute

Remember Michael Moore’s movie “Capitalism: A Love Story”? Or the book by socialist Naomi Klein called “The Shock Doctrine”? Both relied on a claim (which probably originated in Klein’s “Shock Doctrine”) that the free-market philosophy of economist Milton Friedman was instrumental in the Chilean coup in 1973 which enthroned fascist Augusto Pinochet. Naomi Klein claims …

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Urban Institute: Social Security Transfers Wealth From Poor to Rich

A 2004 study by C. Eugene Steuerle, Adam Carasso and Lee Cohen of the Urban Institute, entitled “How Progressive is Social Security and Why?,” found that Social Security is a massive transfer from poor groups to rich Americans. Although “Social Security was designed to redistribute income from those with higher lifetime earning to thos with …

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American Universities Have Become Orwellian Thought-Control Zones Where Diverse Views Are Rarely Allowed

Brown University is like many others. Expensive, and overwhelmingly socialist in its messaging and content delivery. Reason Magazine recently reported on a debate at Brown University that featured a typical socialist, government-trusting professor (of which there are many hundreds if not thousands) debating libertarian-feminist Wendy McElroy. The Brown University students were so sheltered from non-government, …

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FBI Agents Are Now Paid More than Doctors or Lawyers

Trusters of government can often be heard griping about the “one percent.” Often, these delusional government trusters call for more government; more government regulators of industry, more laws and regulations to control businesses, and slave-plantation-level taxation on industry. Yet increasingly, the one percenters can be found in the ranks of government bureaucrats. Consider that the …

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A video of a helicopter recovery of a dead climber from Grand Teton

by Dr. Roger I. Roots, Founder of Lysander Spooner University Last year I attempted (unsuccessfully) to climb Grand Teton via the “upper Exum” route. I had twice previously summited by way of the easier ‘Owen-Spaulding’ route. While trudging uphill above the area known as ‘the meadow,’ I observed a helicopter flying around above. I also …

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More cash-strapped Americans turn to tax refund advances

If you save anything in modern America, you are an utter fool. The Federal Reserve Bank has set interest rates at near zero for years now, and almost all of the world’s central banks are also pouring out paper currency at near-zero (or below-zero) interest rates. In the modern world–erected wholly upon a financing model …

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Decades of Extravagant Spending on Public Education Have Produced Few Good Results

Cato Institute’s Daniel Mitchell describes U.S. spending on public schools in this way: “Never Have so Many Paid so Much to Achieve so Little.” Incredibly, Americans are made to pay more for schooling than the parents of any other society. Yet American students–ranked head to head with students in other countries–perform very poorly. The graph …

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