Mar 30
Government-funded professors of social science frequently extoll the supposed virtues of socialism, ‘single-payer’ government healthcare, and ‘free’ college, entitlements, and redistribution. Here is a Jon Stossel interview of Gloria Alvarez, a Cuban-American who recounts that under Castro’s centrally-planned government economy, Cuban hookers could be had for a tube of toothpaste. See the interview at 3:20
Mar 17
Governments everywhere have overregulated transportation and travel. In typical regulatory schemes, a good-ol-boy taxi service lobbies for laws that prevent competitors from starting up and competing with them. The laws are generally passed with assurances that the laws are needed to “protect the public” from dangerous, unsafe, diseased cabbies, etc. Of course, the laws create …
Mar 17
Central banking and big governments have long shared in something of a symbiotic relationship. Central banking allows governments to give their subjects the appearance that government is a “good deal.” By running up massive debts to central banks, governments can trick their subjects into thinking that big government is “worth it.” Modern Americans, for example, …
Mar 16
When people are free to choose and purchase energy in free markets, there are rarely any power outages or energy shortages. The private sector can quickly scramble to profit from people’s energy needs. But in centrally planned economies like Venezuela, government picks and chooses energy sources for everyone. Government also chooses what prices will be …
Feb 24
For much of two centuries, the United States was the global flagship of capitalism and free enterprise. New York City, with its New York Stock Exchange, and its large investment banks, was the world capitol of commerce. The buildings on the Manhattan skyline–the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building (built mostly by the investors of …
Feb 21
The TPP (“Trans-Pacific Partnership”) was enacted as a trade treaty by political insiders, despite being imposed by vast democratic majorities within the countries that supposedly agreed to it. The Electronic Freedom Foundation recently discovered that after the TPP was supposedly finalized (and after the original text was released in November 2015) the original text was …
Feb 20
Brian McNicoll, a columnist who follows the economic plight of the U.S. Postal Service, says the Service has lost money every year since 2007. The U.S.P.S. has lost more than $51 billion since the [2008] downturn began. The Service has not made a payment since 2011, and is more than $50 billion in arrears now. …
Feb 14
Gail Marksjarvis of the Chicago Tribune reports that only 46 percent of banks are still offering free checking accounts to customers. “That’s a major change from 2009, when more than 78 percent of banks offered the freebie.” The reason: banks are facing higher costs due to the Dodd-Frank Act, passed in 2009. (Ironically, the Act …
Feb 13
Socialism is a curse that should be wished only on one’s worst enemies. Any society that embraces it will eventually become sick and weak. Venezuela was developing and prospering rapidly during the 1980s and ’90s. Then the country went hard-line socialist. Venezuelans are accustomed to severe shortages of cooking oil, diapers and other staple products. …
Feb 12
Governments everywhere benefit from central (government) banking. Central banking allows governments to extend their alleged “benefits” without directly and immediately taxing their oppressed subjects. Essentially, governments are able to game a society’s cost/benefit analysis and appear more attractive. But it is all a lie. Government deficit spending means that government currencies are constantly being debased. …
